WHAT time is it?!?! - March 28, 2020

Along with lots of stress and uncertainty of what is going on around all of us, in the islands as well as around the globe, come some good things. With the demands of regular everyday life somewhat modified, we are all spending more time doing things differently. Most of us are getting back to the basics on some level: Dinners as a family, talking more, cooking at home, playing games together, and getting to know one another better.

Although Dirk and I have spent most of our working days together for the last few years, even we have become closer during this time. With fewer demands from chartering and other things, we have both had experiences come to the forefront of our minds that we haven’t ever shared with each other in almost 20 years of being together. Some are life-shaping memories, and some are small things, but they are all fun to talk about and help us to discover more of the meaning behind the person that we each have grown into over the years.

A few nights ago, we had dinner, then had a couple of cocktails and were just sitting here talking about anything and everything. Then I looked down at my watch and thought – “Oh no, my watch stopped sometime this afternoon! What happened?!?” Only to realize that my watch was just fine, and it had not stopped in the afternoon, but it was actually 3:35AM and we were just sitting here talking like it was 10PM. That was all good, except that we had a conference call in the morning at 8AM followed by dive class at 9:30, but we grabbed some quick sleep and rallied and were just fine for our morning tasks. The opportunity that we had to just sit there and talk and be together until almost 4 in the morning was priceless.

I would love it if you all would mention in the comments something positive that this trying time has brought out in your lives. For me, I feel there are so many. Getting closer to Dirk, the opportunity to do my Divemaster class, working on playing the ukulele (which will get more attention once dive class is over), the chance to just slow down and appreciate my surroundings morning, noon and night, and so much more.

We sit here from our vantage point in the US Virgin Islands and are very grateful. We have our own outpost here, and we are mostly isolated from the rest of the world as we go about our day to day. We can take some time to swim or have a walk on the beach by ourselves, and we don’t have to go ashore to run the gauntlet of risks the most people have to deal with. We do have our own challenges here – yesterday someone blew out a belt for their generator and did not have a spare, which is a big deal since the generator is critical for so many systems on the boat, but another vessel was able to help out with a spare part. We are undergoing challenges with our business and how this pandemic will affect our business model going forward, but for today, for the most part, we feel very blessed to be right where we are in this moment. As our friend Kenny says, “If I’m gonna be down, I’d rather be down right down here.” Fair winds to all and have a great weekend. Stay safe and keep flattening the curve!