INSIGHTS: Family Cruising – Jumping the Hurdles
Kiwi cruiser Kia Koropp, has been cruising for over a decade in the Pacific, SE Asia and the Indian Ocean with her husband John on board their yacht Atea. They and their two children (aged 7 and 9) rounded the Cape of Good Hope earlier this year and tackled the 6000 NM voyage north to Europe. Now on the next leg of their journey to the Gambia, Kia will be contributing some insightful articles on the challenges of family cruising. To start – she explores the new challenges Covid-19 has brought to the world of offshore cruising.
Published 4 years ago
There is nothing positive about a global pandemic and Covid is truly a savage beast, tearing apart lives and shutting down nations. There hasn’t been a country or individual around the globe who hasn’t been affected by Covid-19. For those of us in the cruising world we have the added complication of being far from home and separated from our families. Given major decisions such as where to travel, when to go, and concerns whether you will get locked in or concerns whether you will get locked out, many cruisers have abandoned their cruising plans for the year to wait for a time of more certainty and clarity.
Dealing with Crisis
S.V. Atea and her crew have been cruising for almost a decade now, so this isn’t the first time we’ve been faced with calamity.
Our first major crisis happened in 2013 when we had just wrapped up an extended stay in Sydney Harbour and we were heading up the coast to spend the season travelling through Indonesia. Unexpectedly, I discovered I was pregnant and an ultrasound in Cairns revealed complications. The following 24 weeks would be filled with ultrasounds to monitor the growth and health of our child. What should we do? Return to New Zealand where we had a home, support and a first-class medical team ready to support me? Carry on and find a way to get tests along the way in locations that may or may not have the facilities? On top of the deep emotional sadness that our child was struggling, it was not an easy decision to make. I did some research and found a doctor in Malaysia who was willing to assist me along the way and the decision was made: We would press on.
Our second major crisis happened in 2015 just as we’d just completed major work on Atea in a Thai boatyard, filled her with a year’s supply of food stores and cleared out of the country ready to explore the Indian Ocean. Our son had been increasingly sick and doctors in Malaysia and Thailand came up with a series of prognosis, however none of them had been able to identify the issue. As we readied ourselves for a long passage to Sri Lanka, I knew things weren’t right: My son was not fit for travel. On the verge of departure a doctor finally made the correct diagnosis: My son had acute ketoacidosis due to type 1 diabetes. After four days in intensive care and a month being stabilized in hospital, we were medically repatriated to New Zealand where we were given a month-long crash-course in diabetes care and treatment.
After receiving a thumbs up by the medical team, we were on our own. We needed to decide whether to return to our home in Auckland and remain under the support of the medical team or return to our boat that had been abandoned in Asia. What should we do? After a trial of our capabilities as medically competent diabetes support by way of a camper van tour around the South Island, we decided we would return to our cruising life. It was a big decision, as I couldn’t find anyone who had taken a newly diagnosed child away from medical support so soon after diagnosis and I couldn’t find anyone who was travelling with a T1. Sailing into the Indian Ocean out of season would mean we would have to be truly independent and capable of handling a medical emergency if it came up.
And then came Covid-19
Our third major crisis has just unfolded on the world stage: Covid-19. We had just flown back to our boat in Cape Town from Auckland two weeks prior to South Africa’s national lockdown. Our pre-pandemic plan had been to break our journey up at the sand dunes of Namibia, the quirky isolation of Saint Helena, the remote secrecy of Ascension and the mystery of the Cape Verde islands. However, these destinations closed their borders one by one as countries around the globe responded to the pandemic.
We considered our options: We could give up on cruising this season and repatriate home to New Zealand. We could stay in our current location and spend a cold winter stuck onboard our boat in South Africa, or we could keep to our original plan and head for Europe in the hopes that we would be able to reclaim some of the cruising year. If we left we would depart a country we hadn’t finished exploring to sail past countries we would be leaving unexplored — not ideal for a woman who suffers an extreme case of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Not only would we lose out on seeing these notable destinations, it also meant a long-haul from South Africa to the Azores. Rather than a soft launch to a bigger journey via these neighbouring countries, we would depart South Africa for a 6,000-mile direct transit to Europe. Not only is this significant in mileage, it means we would tackle our longest passage after the boat had been ashore and untested for over a year.
We were getting an indication that things in Europe were starting to settle with a decrease in infection rates which we hoped would lead to an easing of restrictions. We calculated a two month transit would get us there when borders were beginning to open, but it was a big risk given our destination in the Azores was not allowing entry at the time we were making our decision.
Time to Gamble
Gambling on countries with ever-changing Covid regulations means that making a choice of available options is a risky decision. The right choice one week may become the wrong choice the following week. For us, our decision was based on an eight-week window with no idea what our reception would be at the other end. What should we do? We decided that we wouldn’t continue to wait for the borders to open; we would cut our losses and move on.
In a high-stakes game of international travel during a pandemic, our gamble paid off. The chaos that resulted in the early Covid confusion had cleared into a smooth entry protocol; as we sailed into the Azores we were accepted into a country that had a clear and efficient process in place.
An email was sent to our iridium a week before our arrival by Mid-Atlantic Yacht Services (MAYS) welcoming us to the island and accepting food orders in preparation for our arrival. We were greeted by two men in PPE suits an hour after our anchor dropped with a bag of hamburgers in one hand and a bag of fresh vegetables in the other. We were told to stay onboard for the night, but invited ashore in the morning for a free Covid test with a 24-hour turn around on the result. By the morning of our second day we were officially welcomed into the country and given permission to freely travel throughout the islands. We had placed our bet on the Azores and reaped in the sweet reward.
The Gamble Paid Off
After spending two months under strict lockdown in South Africa and two months of total isolation at sea, being given the pass to travel freely through the archipelago was akin to winning the lottery ticket. The weather was warm, the water inviting, the islands Covid-free and we could wander around the streets freely. We slowly island-hopped our way around the country enjoying our new found freedom, we were finally doing what we’d set out to do four months earlier — cruise.
After filling ourselves with the splendour of the volcanic isles and treating ourselves to a very relaxed atmosphere free of the usual bombardment of summer tourism, we decided to pick up what remained of our original plan of cruising the European Eastern Atlantic.
We sailed across from Terceria to Porto and spent the next two months exploring mainland Portugal from the northern to southern tip. We struck it lucky again as Covid was under control and restrictions were light. Bars and cafes were open, no reservations were required and the lines to get into the top sights were non-existent. Given the reduced tourism, we were free to experience the country void of the usual throng of summer holiday-makers and beer-binging beach-goers. Places that usually required bookings weeks in advance and would pack you in with another 200 visitors were on a walk-up basis and you shared with no one. We explored castles and cathedrals, drove inland through mountains, sipped port in the valleys and sailed around Europe’s westernmost tip down to the stunning cliffs and caves of the southern Algarve.
After the indecision and gamble of deciding to go cruising in 2020, so far we have experienced hassle-free entry into Europe through the Azores and a wonderfully relaxed and comfortable cruising season; for us the decision has been the right one.
Keep On Moving
As Spain and France experience their second wave of Covid infections and winter descends on Europe, we decided it was time for us to start moving on. We sailed for at the Canaries at the end of October and are currently enjoying the stark beauty of these volcanic islands.
Looking towards 2021, we are again confronted with a second wave of national lockdowns as countries around the world begin to close down their borders against a rise in Covid infection rates and we must decide if we are going to maintain our seats at the 2021 poker table.
Do we fold and head home?
Do we hold our cards and remain in place through uncertainty?
Do we place our bet and head for the Caribbean, hoping we hold the winning hand?
No one can guarantee the outcome and we can only hope that our luck holds as we sail forward into uncharted territory in this Covid-influenced world.
The Right Decision for You
Like many families around the world in many different situations, our plans have been interrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak. When we looked towards plans for the cruising season we had a rough idea of how we expected the year to unfold for us. Due to the delays brought on by the global crisis we have had to wipe the whiteboard clean.
We have been faced with tough decisions before and this year has been no exception. As in 2013 with my pregnancy and in 2015 with my son’s diagnosis, 2020 has been a difficult year. Through the past decade, however, we have managed to continue spinning our cruising dream around us with most of our big life moments – the good, the bad and the ugly – happening to us through our travels.
No one person can decide what is the right course of action for another, and it is only on reflection that we can look back at the decisions we have made and know they were the right ones for us.
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About the Author
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny had cruised prior to meeting each other, so there was a guarantee they would like the lifestyle when they met, bought a boat and started cruising together in 2011. Starting from their homeport in Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed S.V. Atea 40,000 miles from the South Pacific to the North Atlantic. A decade, two children and two cats later, they are still at it.
Atea: A Maori word meaning unencumbered and free.
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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.
Related to following destinations: Azores, Canary Islands, Portugal, South Africa
Related to the following Cruising Resources: COVID-19, Cruising with Children, Insights
Update from Kia – March 29, 2021
After the Canaries, a detour took us to Gambia [see my report here – https://noonsite.wccstaging.com/report/gambia-skirting-the-covid-chaos/%5D before sailing for the Caribbean in early January 2021, where we are currently enjoying ourselves.
The Caribbean is our first experience in navigating the complex and ever-changing Covid protocols, as regulations in inter-island movement different between country. That said, there is something quite nice about a less frenetic Caribbean: The charter industry is relatively non-existent, tourists are at a minimum and anchorages aren’t crowded. Of the cruising boats that are here, they are choosing fewer island groups and staying in areas longer, giving more opportunity to get to know each other.
When we look back at our choices over the course of the past year, we see that the decisions we’d made had worked well for us. Other than our initial two months of lockdown in South Africa, we have travelled freely through the year and sailed more or less to our intended plan. We have managed to enter countries relatively free from Covid and make the most of their open borders. As we travelled from open border to open border, running away from any Covid-insurgence before countries closed down again, we’ve felt very little of the hit of Covid outside updates in the daily news. Those who said, “head to sea, you’ll be safe,” were right in many ways. We left multiple times to arrive in multiple countries throughout the year, exploring the Atlantic as we’d set out to do. It is only on reflection that one can determine if their decisions have been the right ones. Looking back at the cruising we’ve done throughout the year, it is without doubt that we chose well.