The Rollercoaster Ride Continues!

How does one make plans with the constant evolution that comes with a global pandemic?!  The saying used to be “sailors make plans at low tide”, but now making plans are only as good from one government announcement to the next.  As it has been for everyone, 2020 was one hell of a mind trip of trying to create Plans A through Z for us and so far 2021 is shaping up to be more of the same.

We thought our plans were iron-clad....yes, this was naive.  For the last few months our plan of going to Japan, followed by Alaska and ending in BC, has remain unchanged.  These countries have continued to be open to us.  We were merely weeks away from departing French Polynesia for our 5,400 mile, roughly six weeks non-stop at sea, journey to Japan’s shores.  And then....

....our friends start texting us saying “Did you hear....Japan has closed their borders to all foreigners?”  DAMN!!  The new strains of the virus have arrived in Japan and they responded as they needed for the safety of their population.  We immediately email the agent in Japan.  Does this end our “iron-clad” plans??  Apparently, all might not be lost...the take on the new announcement is that there is a loophole for sailboats.  Good news, yes?!

We are skeptical.  Really in a conundrum of what to do.  Once we set sail for a course to Japan, we have very few options where we could stop along the way if Japan announces further changes that would prevent us from entering.  Only Guam and Saipan currently would allow us to stop with a 14 day quarantine on board.  Of all those little island nations you can see on the map between French Poly and Japan, just TWO would allow us to stop.  And to be clear, we fully respect the sovereignty of these nations to do what they need to do to protect their people.

To put this distance in perspective.  If it were possible to sail straight across Canada from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast, we are planning to sail the equivalent of a round trip across Canada.  So the question remains, what the heck do we do?!  Do we leave on this long trip that does involve leaving during the cyclone season in the Southern Hemisphere to sail through where typhoons are born in the Northern Hemisphere to attempt to reach a country that is on the brink of a lockdown?!  

You would think the answer is obvious.  But it is not for us.  All four of us have absolutely fallen in love with the idea of sailing to Japan.  So we are back into the wait and see pattern 2020 gave us.  We will wait for early February to see how things evolve for Japan, see if a full lockdown is announced, before we make a final decision...or ultimately we wait to see if the decision is made for us.

In the meantime, we try to make the most of being caught in a spectacular part of the world.  All of us on Maple wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Ringing in the New Year hiking on Bora Bora.