{"id":10980,"date":"2020-04-10T11:25:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T16:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10980"},"modified":"2020-04-10T11:25:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T16:25:20","slug":"theres-not-place-like-home-zoom-yourself-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10980","title":{"rendered":"There’s not place like home. Zoom yourself there!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like just yesterday when I watched with longing as “Genie” wiggled her nose and like magic, she was there.\u00a0 \u00a0 I guess I “dreamed of genie” perhaps in more ways than one.\u00a0 \u00a0However, we won’t dwell on that right now.<\/p>\n

When we started our winters afloat in 2012, staying in touch was very tough and even finding Wifi hot-spots and trying to feel connected with home was an all consuming pastime.<\/p>\n

Our “disconnectedness” reached it’s zenith, and not in a good way, when we were in Cuba where the only way to connect was to “rent” time on a government computer in 30 minute installments.\u00a0 We would purchase what looked like a lottery ticket, scratch off a small area and reveal a code, for time on the computer.\u00a0 While the time itself wasn’t expensive, tickets could be hard to come by and when they weren’t in stock, there was no way to connect.\u00a0 As you can imagine, “ticket hording” was common among cruisers.\u00a0 And, to make matters worse, the service, via a cable from Venezuela, was S-L-O-W, like an old version of AOL dial-up.<\/p>\n

Knowing that we had to be prepared to work fast when we finally were able to get on-line.\u00a0 In order to get a post done in 30 minutes,\u00a0 we would work up all the text of our blog posts and then frantically upload photos that we reduced to a much smaller size and then flowed in the copy as best we could, plugging a USB stick into the computer.\u00a0 Getting a post done at all was a huge effort but somehow Brenda and I were able to put up 30 posts over the two months that we were in Cuba.<\/p>\n

However, the worse part of the experience was being so out of touch, being denied all but the most rudimentary contact with family for that two months.<\/p>\n

Well, here we are, 4 years later and so much has changed.\u00a0 With Covid-19 raging around the world and so much uncertainty, we are still able to stay in touch with family and friends in a very personal way and we can do so, using our phone as a hot spot.\u00a0 No, the service is not particularly speedy but compared to past years, SO MUCH BETTER.<\/p>\n

Yesterday was our younger son’s birthday and her partner Melody hosted a surprise party for him on Zoom.\u00a0 \u00a0Even with very limited bandwidth on my Google Fi phone, we had a blast joining in.\u00a0 \u00a0\"\"Brenda even baked him a cake, which we each ate a piece of on his behalf.\u00a0 Sharing experiences was easy but “sharing” a piece of cake still isn’t possible.\u00a0 Something to look forward to perhaps.\u00a0 Check back in a few years and we’ll see how it goes.\u00a0 \u00a0A cake teleporter perhaps?\u00a0 “Get on it Chris!\u00a0 You’re a physicist.\u00a0 How hard can it be?\u00a0 As they say, it’s a piece of cake. ”<\/p>\n

Teleporter or not, we showed the cake Brenda made, complete with a candle, to him first before cutting and eating a piece ourselves.\u00a0 \u00a0The “party group”, some 20 in all, were scattered over a dozen time zones, I think.\u00a0 Chris, Melody and a number of others in CA, us in the eastern Caribbean and I believe that I heard one participant say that it “was the middle of the night”, where he was.\u00a0 Europe perhaps?<\/p>\n

It was so much fun to be able to sing happy birthday to him.\u00a0 \u00a0With the web delay on each window, let’s say that “you had to be there” to even know what song was being sung.\u00a0 Of course, everyone knows that “it is the thought that counts”.\u00a0 We “thought” it was great.<\/p>\n

The birthday boy. \"\"And Mila, their ever attentive husky, seeming to say “can I have a bite?”.\u00a0 Wondering what that is on her neck?\u00a0 A party hat?\u00a0 Or is that a doggie tracheotomy?\"\"Along with much of the world, we are struggling to stay sane while confined at home, or in our case, aboard Pandora and in a very small space.\u00a0 Did I say that Pandora is about the size of a generous bathroom?\u00a0 “Yes, Bob, more times than we can count!”<\/p>\n

In a feeble attempt to stay active within the confines of our now so restricted world, we have been spending time each day swimming around the boat, Brenda wearing her Apple watch, that somehow knows she is swimming, even if she doesn’t tell it.\u00a0 \u00a0One lap, two laps… “the wind splashed water in my eyes!\u00a0 I just hate that!”\u00a0 Ok, no more laps today.<\/p>\n

Everyone is struggling to stay active given the rules that require us to say aboard except for “essential” trips ashore.\u00a0 Unfortunately, some cruisers in the harbor seem to be finding an “essential need” ashore just about every day.\u00a0 I hope that doesn’t end up backfiring on us all.<\/p>\n

However, most are doing the right thing and are adhering to the “spirit” of what’s being asked of the cruising community.\u00a0 This morning I saw a guy doing arm exercises on the bow of his boat using some sort of green strap wrapped around the rigging. \"\"Yesterday, after nearly a week of very light winds, the trade winds began to fill in again.\u00a0 This crew deployed their spinnaker to do a bit of “surfing”.\u00a0 The process involves securing the top of the sail to the mast facing aft with a seat secured to the two lower corners.\u00a0 When the wind catches the sail just right, up you go. \"\"It’s a very tricky maneuver with some risk to both boat and crew.\u00a0 After one quick jerk out of the water, it suddenly looked\u00a0 like things might be getting out of control.\u00a0 \u00a0A strong gust, would put a lot of strain on their anchor and it would get messy pretty quick if they started to drag.\u00a0 <\/span>\"\"It seemed to take a long time to reel the flogging sail back into the cockpit.\u00a0 “Ok, ok, enough fun for one day guys.”\"\"So, here we sit, not knowing how long it will be until we are able to head to the US.\u00a0 It’s still too early to head north anyway with cold fronts making for challenging conditions north of the Bahamas with a constant parade of cold fronts exiting the east coast.<\/p>\n

Yesterday I spoke briefly with Chris Parker, our weather router, and his advice to me.\u00a0 “If you are comfortable in Antigua stay where you are for a month and then consider heading north when the weather is more settled.”\u00a0 Sounds like good advice.\u00a0 \u00a0Besides, our family has said, time and time again, please stay away until things are more under control in the US, with they clearly aren’t.<\/p>\n

With so many cruisers in the USVIs right now, all raring to go home, much earlier than they would during a normal year, I asked Chris what he made of that.<\/p>\n

His answer, “they are assuming that the grass is greener on the other side”.\u00a0 \u00a0I guess that’s human nature but we’re staying here in Antigua for the time being, hoping that things will somehow get better at home.<\/p>\n

One can always hope.\u00a0 In the meantime, we’re enjoying “Zooming” from one “event” to another.\u00a0 Tonight, happy hour with fellow cruisers, some local and some in the US.\u00a0 At least it’s a taste of “normal” in a world that’s anything but that.<\/p>\n

All I can say that if there was a way to Zoom ourselves home, we’d do it.\u00a0 Where’s a magic genie when you need one?<\/p>\n

Perhaps if I click my heels together.\u00a0 “There’s no place like home.\u00a0 There’s no place like home.”\u00a0