Closed Borders

You know that halting sound a car makes when someone suddenly slams on breaks? That’s kind of what happened the last week of March 2020, which just so happened to be the week our buyer (the second one, now) was scheduled to travel and have Snowflake surveyed. 

We had been following Covid-19 news for a couple of weeks, grimly noticing that it appeared to be slowly spinning out of control. When Grenada confirmed their first case, they locked the island down like Fort Knox. Who was in stayed in, and who was out stayed out. 

Good to prevent the spread of the virus, but not good for many people… business owners, travelers, sailors at sea (many in the middle of ocean crossings), and people trying to sell a boat. 

Despite the discouraging state of the world, our buyer was still very keen and we agreed to hold the boat until he could travel to Grenada. I’m not exactly sure when we thought that would happen… maybe another month? To be honest, we were like everyone else and we just didn’t know what to expect. (We still don’t, so if any of you has a crystal ball, perhaps you can give us a heads up?)

One thing we did know was that we needed to sell our boat. With a committed buyer and an accepted offer on the line, we figured the only thing to do at that point was to hold and keep a watchful eye on the world. It wasn’t like anyone else could travel to Grenada to look at Snowflake. 

Amazingly, even with the global pandemic and travel restrictions, we continued to receive inquiries from people about Snowflake! It seems that everyone suddenly saw a boat as the perfect quarantine situation. Apparently, they just hadn’t worked out the tiny problem of being able to actually travel to said boat in order to quarantine. 

Honoring our commitment to our buyer, we informed all inquirers that Snowflake was pending sale and if anything changed once the borders opened up we would let them know.

This went on for two months. We stayed busy with projects on Soltara, as we waited on parts for the prop shaft (a completely different story, which we will share in another post). Between projects we anxiously listened to the news as Grenada confirmed more cases on the island. The days passed by, one by one. We seemed to be perpetually doomed to live the same day over and over, like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

While Grenada’s Covid-19 numbers were not huge (as of present 21 total confirmed cases with 13 recoveries, no deaths), a growing sense of dread crept forward. The island airport announced that employees would be laid off until first part of August. It didn’t appear that Grenada would be opening borders anytime soon. 

Hurricane season was fast approaching. It’s stressful enough being responsible for 1 boat during hurricane season, we definitely didn’t want to be charging into hurricane season with 2 boats! 

It was time to have a talk with our buyer and move on. We knew chances were slim that anyone outside of Grenada would take a chance and buy a boat, sight unseen during these times. But perhaps we would have a chance at selling to someone already on the island. 

There was only one way to find out… With hurricane season fast approaching in less than 30 days, we began our search for a local buyer.