18. To Cross or Not To Cross

Once we were settled in at the marina in Ixtapa, Eitan and I flew back to California for a week to visit our families one last time before leaving to cross the pacific. Unfortunately, my time at home was primarily spent resting on the couch as I fell ill almost immediately after arriving. After some rainy and windy weather, the area was in full spring bloom and the pollen fire up my seasonal allergies with a sore throat and sinus congestion. After talking with my cousin, whose COVID symptoms were similar, I started to panic that I somehow caught COVID on the way home and would now have to self-quarantine for another two weeks, delaying our crossing even more. Luckily, my rapid COVID test came back negative and confirmed my suspicions that it was just a severe case of allergies and the scheduled plans continued. I met Eitan back in San Diego the next day and we crossed the border into Tijuana to catch our flights back to Zihuantanejo.

During the layovers, we started discussing the upcoming crossing and I was surprised to hear the doubt and hesitation in his voice. Just weeks ago, the plan was to head to the South Pacific as soon as possible, which is why we had scheduled this short trip back home. We were all clear to enter French Polynesia, covering us for three months from the time we landed in the Marquesas. During his time home, Eitan began planning out the remainder of the year. Since French Polynesia had stopped granting visa extensions, our time there would be limited to three months. We had also heard from other boats that the French Polynesian government was becoming less friendly to cruisers and they were using the current pandemic as an excuse to implement more restrictions.

Based on the current COVID restrictions, the only other places in the South Pacific where we could go next are either Fiji or American Samoa. This means we would have to skip all the other incredible islands including Tonga, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and the Cook Islands. We were also up against the hurricane season which runs from November to April in the South Pacific and since Fiji is in the hurricane zone, American Samoa is our only option. Even though it’s an American territory, our attempts to reach out to the local government to guarantee entry went unanswered. So, even though we had permission to enter French Polynesia, afterward we could potentially be stuck out in the ocean with nowhere to go and hurricane season approaching. And to top it off, you can’t even see most of the cool places the South Pacific has to offer.

Eitan shared this sad news with the crew once we arrived back on the boat. Plan B would be to take it easy and stay the year in the Sea of Cortez and attempt the crossing next year. Plan C would be to hustle down the coast to Panama to make it out of the Central American hurricane zone which runs from June to November. Unfortunately, we will likely lose our new crew members if we stay since they are trying to make it west to Thailand for a yoga-teachers training school. So, for now, we continue to enjoy mainland Mexico and wait on any good news from the South Pacific!