Before entering our approved quarantine location in Grenada, not only were our hands sprayed with sanitizer for the fourth time since arriving but our suitcases and backpacks were sanitized as well. I cannot confirm or deny if COVID lives on luggage but it arrived at the quarantine house with all germs dead by theory. We were free to roam within the house and yard.
My favorite parts of the house were the pool, which is very important for this active group, and the French wooden doors that opened onto the patio. The patio itself was lovely with high archways framing the view of the sea beyond. It felt like being in the governor’s mansion in Pirates of the Caribbean looking out on the bay where pirates might soon sail in to plunder. Fortunately for us all, the only plundering by skeleton pirates has been in our game of D&D. Kaleth is leading it and she’s doing a splendid job as Dungeon master.
Meanwhile, the prolific mosquito population was elated at our arrival. It took only a couple days before we were dotted like chicken pox from our many bites. Advisory calls of, “don’t scratch,” rang throughout the house, but little boys have trouble remembering, as do we all. At the end of the week we were all well munched by mosquitos. Tobias refers to the house where we spent our quarantine as the bug-house in all his conversations. Nevertheless we enjoyed our beautiful location, the great staff keeping an eye on us, and the food delivery, which meant I did not have to go to the store (a chore I am never fond of but especially loath when we don’t have a car).
When our five days of quarantine culminated, our test team arrived at noon and began administering our final test to leave quarantine. It was all conducted very smoothly and nearly painlessly. The trouble came when our results did not arrive 24 hours nor 48 hours later. We were supposed to be leaving the house, but, of course, we could not leave without proof of our negative results. This created quite a dilemma as we were to check out at noon. Our kind host offered to let us stay until two, but after that we had to decide whether to pay for another night or not. Fortunately, Kaleth and Brian both acted as though we were leaving and had continued to pack, because at a quarter to 2 we heard that our tests came back negative and we were free, so to speak.
Although this last half hour was frenzied and rushed, we walked out of our Grenada quarantine home at 2:20 and into our waiting taxi. By now we were all excited to leave and get to the boat; ready for the next step of our journey. So after the day’s prolonged unknown and the worry over our next move, we landed safely at the marina in front of our boat, Ad Astra.
7 Set Sail 