Saturday, April 4, 2020

Division Belle during Covid-19

I am acutely aware of the suffering of so many people all over the world during this pandemic. My heart goes out to those who are sick and to the untold millions of people in severe economic distress caused by this tragedy. We are doing fine and are very fortunate to live in a community that has battened down the hatches. Any small misstep can put many in danger, so I urge everyone to stay strong and in place.

As for Division Belle, she is still safely tied up at Brown's Marina in Bimini, and I am informed by the dock master that they are keeping an eye on her for me. She is still transmitting her AIS position regularly, and it shows up on the marinetraffic.com website like this:

The Bahamas have completely closed their borders to everyone, including their own citizens and residents who might be stuck elsewhere. There is no telling when it might be safe to travel again or when The Bahamas might begin to let people in. These islands are mostly quite poor and have very limited health care facilities. It took more than 24 hours to get one citizen of Bimini airlifted to a hospital in Nassau and she unfortunately passed away upon arrival. I wish nothing but the best for the gentle people of The Bahamas.

One final screenshot of the marinetraffic website. If you look carefully you can see eight Carnival cruise ships anchored together off the Bahamas, and numerous other cruise ships just aimlessly meandering between Florida and The Bahamas. One ship's AIS transmitter shows its destination as "drifting".

Stay safe everyone, and I'll check back in when there is something to report.

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