Everything coming through my fingers right now are facts. I apologise. They’re just slipping out on the floor.

Trinidad and Tobago have closed their borders. The French Antilles islands shut tonight. Martinique, Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, the fancy French Leeward ones. It’s done. No more Decathlon runs to Martinique. No running to Trinidad either – in case of an approaching hurricane. Though hurricane season is still a few months away.

These islands exist as a chain – and up until tonight, the chain was intact. You could visit one island, then another. Suddenly it’s not the case.

I didn’t want to leave Barbados anyway – but this is ridiculous. Be careful what you wish for?

Still, thankfully nothing’s changed here. There are no cases in Barbados – yet. Everyone’s temperature are being checked upon entry to the island. They have been for weeks apparently.

Facts over. We aren’t worried about getting sick. Not really. No travel insurance for us Questers unless we have a diving accident. I guess we could say we caught coronavirus from a pufferfish. Though the pufferfish would be right to flick us the birdie. I know this is a zoonotic virus, but dont go blaming a cute pufferfish.

It’s true. We definitely dont want to burden the pufferfish – or the healthcare system in Barbados. We dont want to burden any system. We did buy a month’s worth of food yesterday, but a month’s worth isn’t unusual for yachties. Because of the transient nature of travel, most yachties store pasta, rice and flour in lockers, behind seats, under the floor.

We on Quest however, dont usually store food in this way. Sorry – didn’t. Why? Weevils – little black beetley insects. I once split 10kg of dog food into 250mg bags in Martinique in the Finster days, only to find each bag was full of weevils. The same with a bag of pasta. I poured the bag in to boiling water and found all the bugs floating to the surface, ready to sieve out. The Ormerods were none the wiser. Hehe.

So the facts are out. The weevils are being watched out for. Barbados is officially going to be our new home away from home for now. We still have the valid visa stamp. The surrounding borders and ports are shutting faster than a storm-shutter. There is almost nowhere else to go – except home. We’re going diving in the meantime. Stay safe dear reader.