Where Are We Going?: June 2020 Edition

Well, after months of writing this post and not knowing where I was going, I have set my feet on solid ground. I am in Vermont, USA a little over a week into my quarantine. I had a COVID test done today at a pop-up site and should get my results hopefully by the end of the week (in time for the 4th of July… maybe). I don’t have any symptoms but by having the test I can A) end my quarantine early with a negative test result, and B) know for sure that I am not an asymptomatic carrier (at least right now). Pretty much my greatest fear is that I will be an asymptomatic carrier and give it to someone. Imagine if you were the one that gave someone you love the virus unknowingly? Imagine if you’re loved one died from it. How could you live with yourself? In other news – wear your damn mask!

So, I am here. In Vermont. Stuart is still on the ship. We just celebrated our first anniversary. It was really romantic… him out to sea 11 hours ahead of us and me at home with our cats… The ship is currently acting as a ferry ship for Indonesian crew from other ships that were in Manila Bay en route to Jakarta, Indonesia. There were approximately 500 crew from other ships that joined the Amsterdam and are now on their way home.

After disembarking crew in Indonesia the ship will nearly be at minimum manning level. I think there will still be a few of the extra people that stayed on to help manage the extra crew that came on that will need to be disembarked. Then there is talk of the ship going to Singapore for refueling and supplies. After that it sounds like they are still debating where to go for a longer term lay-up.

Visa’s and a potential charter flight were being worked on to bring crew to the Philippines to facilitate a crew change and get some very long overdue crew home. The problem is if the ship doesn’t return to the Philippines, what does that mean? Stuart’s replacement wasn’t in this group, but was told to be ready to fly on either the 18^th or 19^th. Where would he fly to though? Seems like hope for a whole lot of the crew is fluctuating on a daily basis. Ugh.

Someone a few months ago joked “yeah, it will probably be August before we’re home.” While that seemed insane at the time, as July approaches it seems like they might have been close to right. The beginning of July will be 5 months onboard for Stuart. His contracts are usually only 3 months.

So, Where Are We Going? I am in Vermont. He’s out to sea, going to Indonesia and then who knows where. Hopefully next month my post will be about all of the challenges with us trying to see each other on land due to border closures between countries! What great things to look forward to!