Well, since my plans to cross to French Polynesia are basically not happening this year (their borders are closed, along with almost every other country in the south pacific) the thing now is to decide what to do next (lots of time to do that while self-isolating on the boat). There are basically three options

  • Leave the boat in a marina, fly back to Canada and work over the summer
  • Sail the boat to the sea of cortez and spend the summer up there
  • Sail back to Canada

The first one has a few issues, namely that no one is hiring right now, and even if they were it’s really hard to get back to Canada. Very few flights and you have to self-isolate for two weeks on your return – pretty hard when you don’t even have a place to live! It would be good to get some more money in the ol’ kitty though, as I will be out an extra year over what I had planned.

The second option would be really fun – however as mentioned, it would involve an extra years expenses, limiting what I can do further down the line. It also apparently gets bastard hot – however, the snorkelling is apparently unreal, with whale sharks swimming around your boat etc. Fishing is great too.

The third option is by far the toughest – it involves a loooong sail, probably 30-40 days as you have to swing way out into the ocean to get on the other side of the pacific high – you can’t just go back up the coast.  Most people doing this stop in Hawaii – but with the quarantine on, that’s not an option as I am not a US citizen. The weather in the North Pacific in spring can be pretty awful as well, so I’d probably leave in late april/early may. This is a good option if it looks like the pacific countries won’t be opening until a vaccine is available, which is one of the things I’ve heard. In which case I’d hang out in Canada for those couple of years, before heading south again. This is an example of the route one of my friends did.

Anyway – three options, none clearcut. For now, I am going to head North towards La Paz, as I can get a flight out of there, leave there to sail back to Canada and it’s the gateway to the Sea of Cortez, so no matter what option I chose, it’s a good starting point. There is a rumour that the ports may start closing soon – so heading North asap is definitely on the agenda!

 

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