Our struggle to get back to the boat!!! As the corona virus started to get serious in Europe we decided to change our tickets and try to get back to the boat...

Closed Captions (CC):
hello and welcome to a new season of

sailing learning by doing

it is pretty much real time right now it

is that what is it 17th of April

yeah and we're sort of in the middle of

the corona shutdown everywhere obviously

but we're on the boat here we're on

Shahi Leone in Raja Ampat in Indonesia

it's been a bit of an adventure getting

back here but yeah we'll tell you about

that in this episode that's what it's

all about I want to introduce to you my

new crew mate and girlfriend Marie

Morgan from France hello I'm Mary Morgan

I am from Germany in France and let the

last year I came on the boat to his

burner for three weeks and I really

enjoyed it so I decided to say to follow

him for some months on this a boat and

try this lifestyle

I'm glad Maria was along for the the

journey so far because alone it would

have been a bit of a nightmare that will

tell you more about that now okay so

this might be quite a long story with no

sailing at all in it so just get ready

for that but I think it's an interesting

story anyway so we were in in Europe and

we were both working she was in France I

was in Austria and Switzerland and then

everything started to become look you

know like wow the coronavirus Italy was

already sort of shut down and and then

the ski resort i was working in an

austria st. Anton shut down and then I

really realized well this is this is it

it's really gonna you know it's got to

impact everything and for me just

getting back to the boat was the number

one thing that's my home or our home

we've both don't have apartments or jobs

in Europe and summer so that was the

main thing and so we just decided to

change our tickets and fly as soon as

possible so basically we changed our

tickets to two days later so that sort

of meant quite an upheaval what do you

think about that

for me it was really like overreacting

at the beginning because I had just quit

my job and say I'm gonna not come back

and move all my stuff because I had a

flight in Germany and I have to take all

my stuff to my parents place in two days

in yes that was pretty crazy yes anyway

we we basically spent two days packing

all our stuff up and then driving

through a few different countries to

drop off my rental car and take my

snowboard gear and blah blah it all went

okay

and when ended up in Zurich at the

airport and we were sort of worried we

wouldn't be able to get on the plane

because of the corona but also we only

had a one way ticket to Indonesia so it

was also a bit of a bit of a you know

well are we gonna make it and this whole

journey actually was sort of like oh

what's the next step are we going to get

past the next step and it just kept

going and it's still sort of like that a

month later but anyway so we got on the

flight and we looted Doha who landed in

Doha and we were like yes one one

segment done had only a couple of hours

in Doha and then got to Jakarta and that

was the one we're worried about are they

going to turn us back or not before we

landed about to fill out this Health

Forum it was sort of to me just like

another customs form like have you been

here have you been there did that went

through the airport everyone had to line

up and get their temperatures taken and

and a piece of this health warm taken

off and then the rest was just normal we

just got our bags went through customs

now on kid blah blah blah got out into

the main part we were like huh it was so

easy we didn't didn't expect that so we

went through to the domestic part to buy

a ticket to Sarang and we bought that no

problem at all

and it was a 12-hour wait so we had a

airport hotel just for a few hours to go

and sleep freshened up we started

feeling pretty positive about getting

back to the boat now we arrived back at

the terminal at midnight I think oh no

10 o'clock and our flight was at

midnight and so we lined up at the

chicken and then it all started to sort

of

then who the only white people in there

and they pulled us out and people were

shouting and screaming and so anyway

long story short it turned out that just

that day so wrong the mayor of sarong

had had done an unofficial lockdown and

said to all the airline's don't let any

white people on board or don't need any

West's on board put it that way so yeah

we were we were so close to just being

in sarong and back on the boat but they

wouldn't let us on the flight so we sort

of looked at their the departures board

and asked the guy well where can we fly

to he goes well anywhere apart from

sarong so I sort of looked through and

like half an hour later there was a

flight to tonight a and I said can we

fly here he goes you have no problem so

we booked a flight to tonight a just

because I'd been sailing there the year

before I got some good contacts and know

some people and I like the area and it

was really the closest place to to the

boat to Y site so yeah we flew there and

then what happened on arrival there just

like when we arrived we had to go to the

toilet so I

a bathroom for the women and just when I

arrived like all the girls just take

this calf on the face and try to get

away of me so I feel not really super

work on me

like when we go to take when to take

them thanks no train of army people just

came super fast on person and asked for

I didn't know really what they asked is

like want a lot of information and why

we were here not really I could see us

yeah yeah they were straight away just

honest like boom like mosquitoes and

yeah and they took us into the health

office and took temperatures and

basically just wanted to find out what

we were doing there and they'll come and

I said well we're allowed to fly and

we're trying to get back to to Wi-Fi and

so ended they ended up saying well

there's a ship leaving from tonight a to

go to Sarang tonight you could get on

that they were just being helpful to try

and get rid of us and so we're like yes

perfect that's all we want to do and so

they put us in a taxi and we went in a

taxi down to the harbour waited about an

hour in line to get to this ferry and it

all looked good again like we thought we

were going to get on and it came to the

payment part and suddenly they just took

a long time a long time we're waiting at

the window and then it was like could

you come into the back office please and

I was just like yeah it went in and they

said sorry we can't sell you this ticket

you're not allowed to go to Sarang the

mayor of Sarang has made a unofficial

lockdown but we have to stick to it

since we're like damn it and we sort of

just gave up a little late okay so I

rang my friend

Adi who owns the midi cottage I've done

a couple of videos from there beautiful

place and I said hey can we just come

and do quarantine at your place settle

this all down if we thought if we do

quarantine we'll get a health

certificate and everything would be

easier and he was like yep so he rang up

the health department the local health

department there and organized it he

came over and got us and it all sort of

got official then that the

Department came to where we were staying

and made us fill everything out and

that's where the little health

certificate that we filled out on the

plane I just sort of chucked mine away

in the first place because I was like

well we've got another Airport we don't

need it anymore and no one had said we

have to keep it and suddenly that was a

massive issue because I didn't have my

health certificate even though it was

just a health certificate that I'd

filled out and put whatever I'd want on

you know like it was nothing official no

stamps nothing if suddenly I didn't have

one she did and suddenly I was like the

suspect one there anyway so they took

out all our details and and so we're on

the system as potential coronavirus

people anyway so we've got a you know

three hour taxiing right up to Metis and

there we we did our 14 day quarantine

there now what are your memories of

Metis a really beautiful place like

crazy paradise just it was bit distress

for me because you had to check the

temperature like three times per day and

the like the ELSA fish I think you are

sick if you have more than 37.5 yeah and

like that you don't really know how to

use the temperature things that

sometimes it's super low and they think

it's too big you just technically you

should be secure at this temperature 35

point to some days he like yeah you're

actually really sick if you have that

Coach temperature so yeah it's a big

stress because you don't really know

sometimes it's just because you are

under the Sun and they would take the

Champa Church with me - I yeah yeah but

I mean it was greater than thanks very

much for doing all that oh no you had to

pull a few strings so no committee was

closed down there's no more tourism but

it was really nice of him and the food

there is amazing and we we were under

complete lockdown because it was really

a you know metias sort of an isolated

place there's no village close by we

were allowed to you know just stay

within the bounds of it but we could go

swimming on it wanted and we could take

the canoe out for a paddle and even go

for a walk in there coconut groves and

stuff so I mean it was really really

cool you know we were just under stress

but I guess all of you guys know that

you all under lockdown you just even if

it's really nice you just want to be

free you know like we want to be free

and there was mosquitoes deer that were

bugging me I've got a few likes war

started to pop up and I think it was

just yeah we were just under stress but

you know don't feel sorry for us

everyone's under that thing at the

moment so anyway

towards the end of this two weeks we

started looking at possibilities to get

back to the boat we sort of thought in

the beginning I will have this document

saying we're safe and they'll take us

back in blah blah but no it wasn't like

that everything was locked down there

was no official way to get back to Raja

Ampat it was impossible we even looked

at chartering a plane and we looked at

all different options and in the end we

couldn't keep staying here maybe because

it wasn't free there was quite excu know

it's quite expensive like if you staying

there for months at a time anyway and

you know we just want to get back to

here to the boat this is this is our

home it's it's the only thing I own

really it's you know it's it's just home

it's where I want to be so I just sort

of one day when we just tried everything

I was just like all right bugger and so

I sent a message out on what's up to a

few different boats that I knew were

still in Raja Ampat saying right I'll

pay two and a half thousand bucks to

anybody who sails over picks us up and

brings us back to Raja Ampat and that

was about a two day sale each way so

four-day round trip

and yeah three people wrote back pretty

quickly and said yeah we'll do it and

that you know like they're short of

money and and also helping out a fellow

sailor I think was a bit of a motivation

so they were supercooled so we picked an

old Canadian guy Jim he's been sailing

you know for thirty years I think mostly

by himself nice boat and so yeah he just

didn't really ask many questions he just

said alright I'm setting off he put some

diesel and got some food and he picked

us up the day after our quarantine

finished he didn't set foot on land we

didn't we just said goodbye quickly

jumped in his dinghy went on his boat

and we turned around and hit sailed two

days without sleeping so basically he we

got out of the channel and then he went

to sleep and I just sort of well we

basically murdered the whole way and

Marie was yeah how are you feeling super

seasick and for the first time for me I

never had this before so yeah the first

day was really terrible I just keep

doing five hours the whole time I tried

to tell her this go downstairs and go to

sleep it's much you know like just have

lying flat makes it feel better but this

Ian would just come off land for two

weeks and sort of stressed and you know

for Marie it was just straight into the

movement and the engine was on the whole

time and it was super hard and yeah so

just got it I think once she started

being seasick it didn't really finish

anymore but eventually she got really

tired and went downstairs and then then

it was much better basically stayed down

there for the next 24 hours where I'd

slept and just chilled and drank lots of

water and started feeling much better I

me and Jim took turns he slept a bit and

then I slept a bit and we just took

turns and basically motor sailed through

the whole night and and it made it to I

saw in the evening of the second day

thinking yeah well we're really coming

around the corner I could see the boat

and thinking finally we made it we like

after all this we finally going to be on

our boat

and yeah it wasn't quite to be we

anchored outside the ferry terminal here

and Jim put the engine on his dinghy and

we jumped in and then what happened just

started to you know like some people

yelling and somebody strange noise and

we just realized like all the army and

so Fisher and cops were all together and

just yelling say no no no don't go this

don't don't go this way and they just

like asked us to come the entry of the

Arbour and just like was always

raincoats and plastic gloves and masks

and really afraid about us we have to

wait on a bench and some button a little

question to us and yeah yeah it was

pretty crazy I mean it was 8 o'clock at

night and we were super tired and it was

just some girl boom it was just honest

and they just hated the fact that we

were there they you know it was lockdown

I understand that and we sort of sneaked

in undercover like ninja style and they

weren't expecting us and they weren't

expecting to see any white people around

but yeah as I said this is our home

we're trying to get back and so anyway

it turned out they let us stay they

couldn't really well kick us out they

couldn't tell Jim to take us back so we

got another 14 day quarantine confined

to the boat this time so it wasn't quite

as nice as many we haven't been swimming

Labine 14 days and today is our last day

tomorrow we should be able to leave Oh

quick

nothing changes tomorrow yeah we had a

health exams you see some of the video

footage we had to go to the hospital

here well three times to the hospital we

had to get blood taken twice and we had

to go three times because the power kept

cutting out and they wanted to do chest

x-rays of us but the power kept cutting

out and they couldn't do the x-rays but

every time they would come pick us up in

the ambulance and the ambulance is all

separated with plastic walls and that

and we were in the back and then and

they kept telling us distancing distance

implicitly but then three guys in this

tiny little like toyota hiace ambulance

like sitting like this and you're like

okay well that's a lot of distancing

right there but and then the driver will

say put on this sort of I like one of

those clear like an a4 page that you put

your documents in sort of semi matte

clear he had one of those over space and

he was he was trying to drive and after

two minutes of realizing that he

couldn't see anything happy through this

thing he pulled it off and took his

gloves off as a it's all good it's quite

funny but I mean they were taking it

seriously which is which is good and

there is no cases confirmed here on this

island so I guess something's working

yeah and it started off they took our

temperatures everyday for about the

first three days and then they sort of

stopped and it was just I think more

that they were punishing us for us

coming here when we shouldn't be here

and they've left us to our self we send

whatsapp messages to locals to get food

and water down here and then we've just

been doing some jobs on the boat getting

it ready to go fill it up with petrol

and diesel and put the sails take on and

fix the mainsail hopefully fingers

crossed it'll last and yeah what else

we've been doing

reading dream Murray's been doing a

podcast she's doing a podcast in French

for some radio stations about herd

adventures she'll be doing it throughout

this whole season so any French viewers

out there there'll be a link maybe in

this one I'm not sure the first want to

be out yet when this comes out it's not

sure

so let's kept her a bit busy and yeah

the days have sort of just faded in with

we're stuck on a 11 meter sailboat we

can leave after dark we can leave to go

up to the showers to have a shower and

other than that you've just been sitting

on the boat so the days of all blended

in it's Groundhog Day 14 days in a row

yeah we've had internet we can you know

we've got books with we've had things to

do it hasn't been too bad yeah pretty

good view and you know we'd be cooking

ourselves and all that sort of stuff

I've had enough food and and it's been

good you know the work I've done on the

boat I could have done in two days but

we've sort of just spread it out over 14

days to just one or two little jobs

every day so our plans for this season

were to first go to worry muck the the

village road is the art competition last

year there's a link here for anyone who

hasn't watched it to all those people

who bought the t-shirts and it's and put

money on my paypal and all that super

cool ended up getting about a thousand

five hundred bucks for for the school

which is amazing the plan was to go

there make a video do that and then

start heading south and west go through

all Flores on Timor and Samba some some

Bower all these places and then end up

in langkawi in october/november so right

now we don't know if we're gonna have to

do that it's really up in the air we

just don't know no I mean none of you

guys know what you where they going back

to work next week or next month or

whether you can go and watch a football

game this year at all you know it's

everything's up in the air but but we

can leave tomorrow and so we're just

going to go and hang out somewhere

pretty remote with us no villages for a

month no internet just get away from

everything

so we're stocked up with food we're

gonna go we'll come back in a month get

back online

see what's going on and make our plans

from there so I wanted to ask all you

people at home especially those

obviously who supported the War II muck

art project with sort of stuck in a bit

of a hard place with this so we've got

the money and we've got all the art

supplies to take back but as it's a very

very remote village we don't know if

we're ever gonna have to get back there

I mean we don't want to wait here six

months until everything opens up just to

go back to worry about village and maybe

we can't even go there because the

smaller the village the more it's

strange here they really believe it's a

white man's disease and you know the

more remote and let's say uneducated of

about world issues places are the more

extreme they are so we don't want to be

in the position to go back there and

they just don't want to have us close by

or or whatever the case you know so I

wanted to ask you what what what would

you recommend we do with this we can't

leave the money and all the stuff with

just someone random here to bring I

definitely want to make a video of the

school to show you that we're bringing

this back and show you yes take the kids

are going to be but yeah we don't quite

know what to do with this situation

whether it's just to keep the art

supplies and the money and come back in

a year and just go there then obviously

some of the kids would have moved on to

secondary school or got married or

whatever don't quite not to do so if

you've got any suggestions please write

a comment below or hit me up on my email

I'd really welcome your suggestions and

ideas on this because it's it's a bit of

a tricky situation thank you to all the

patrons I really expected all of you to

cancel it and keep the money for

yourself during this tough time really

really appreciate the fact that nearly

all of you have stuck with me through

this and even a few new ones have jumped

on board really really stoked okay well

that's it for now

thanks for watching this long tail of

our travels I hope it was at least a

little bit um interesting to hear about

our adventures we probably you know did

a little bit more than a few people in

the last couple of weeks and I hope none

of you get too upset that we travel

during this time but you just have to

realize that we are going home many

other people were leaving places to go

back to their home country we're

actually coming home to our house to our

home and we took all the precautions we

could anyway thanks for watching and

there will be a video coming out very

soon I hope you enjoy nobody