Caribbean Casa during Covid19
UGH...I have been reluctant to blog about cancelled vacation plans and insecurities of travel out of respect for those who have lost loved ones and were not even allowed to mourn according to their beliefs and/or traditions as well! And now the civil unrest that has been simmering for my lifetime seems to be set to boil! I am wracked with empathy and outrage every time I turn on the news. (I really shouldn't turn on the TV. I always regret it...doesn't matter what talking head from which network...spin, spin, spin...) Meanwhile, every day citizens are really suffering! My heart goes out to everyone these days...
But, dammit, I started this blog out of a therapeutic need to express my hopes, dreams and frustrations...And that's what I want to do! A-hem...be warned: I am fully aware that I have no right to complain, but we humans always find a way...
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| Where all the toilet paper went |
...anyway...Spring Break at the casa with my mom and the kids: CANCELLED (re-booked for Thanksgiving this year?? But...who knows??) And now the silver lining that was the usual trip down to the casa with my better half for 3 weeks during summer: CANCELLED And here's the kicker: It wasn't because of airline cancellations. We now finally have our own plane. We could fly ourselves down! Alas, with a single engine plane, you have to fuel up once or twice in the Bahamas, and that is where things got muddy.
We were planning to take a day to fly down to central Florida, spend the
night and then fly out early in the morning. Cruising with our puppy
Piper in the Piper Arrow over the turquoise waters of the Bahamas all
the way down to the Dominican Republic. We can even land in the
Holy-Grail Airport of El Catey!
(Wha
t's so special about El Catey,
you ask? No US airlines fly here and it's the closest airport to
Cabrera, no landing fees either BONUS!) We got the puppy Piper
shortly after getting the Piper plane as was planned. We don't want to
crate our dog and we want her accustomed to flying with us in a small
plane. That part went perfectly...even the lock-down worked in our
favor. No better time to raise a puppy! (She is going to go nuts if/when we all go back to working at our workplaces instead of at home!) She has to be 4 months old and caught up on all vaccinations to visit
the DR with us which was perfectly timed. She is currently 4 1/2 months
old and up-to-date. HOWEVER, the Bahamas could not answer my simple
question: Do I need a pet import permit for transiting through the
Bahamas? We don't have to clear customs if we stay less than three
hours, so...no permit necessary? But, because none of the 5 people I
spoke with could answer that question we decided to apply for the permit anyway.
t's so special about El Catey,
you ask? No US airlines fly here and it's the closest airport to
Cabrera, no landing fees either BONUS!) We got the puppy Piper
shortly after getting the Piper plane as was planned. We don't want to
crate our dog and we want her accustomed to flying with us in a small
plane. That part went perfectly...even the lock-down worked in our
favor. No better time to raise a puppy! (She is going to go nuts if/when we all go back to working at our workplaces instead of at home!) She has to be 4 months old and caught up on all vaccinations to visit
the DR with us which was perfectly timed. She is currently 4 1/2 months
old and up-to-date. HOWEVER, the Bahamas could not answer my simple
question: Do I need a pet import permit for transiting through the
Bahamas? We don't have to clear customs if we stay less than three
hours, so...no permit necessary? But, because none of the 5 people I
spoke with could answer that question we decided to apply for the permit anyway. 
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Long story short: $12 cash fee with application = $80 FedEx envelope shipped to Nassau = Me finally reading requirements AFTER spending the $92! = Cats/Dogs must be 6 months old = No Caribbean vacation for Rene this summer. Nope, instead my better half gets to go while I puppy sit (which isn't easy...did I mention she's a Doberman puppy?) and continue working on our latest house renovation project. (To be fair: I am up to bat anyway. Thomas has gotten the house
functioning with electrical and plumbing...and now I'm "it" so to speak, patching, dry walling and painting the interior...grrrr....)
functioning with electrical and plumbing...and now I'm "it" so to speak, patching, dry walling and painting the interior...grrrr....)The really psychologically torturous thing though wasn't the decision being decided by the Bahamas' pet policy, rather the Will They, Won't They game of all the international borders! We would NORMALLY have flown out mid-June after my kids flew down to their dad's in Florida for half the summer. But, we had to wait for the Dominican Republic...and the Bahamas...to open their borders to tourists. The dates would come and go and often the night before the supposed opening, some minister of something would come on the news to announce the postponement of the border opening. So for months we have been planning for a trip that we were 25% sure we could do, and then 5% and then 75%. It was nerve-wracking. If we had just decided ourselve NOT to travel, then it wouldn't have been such a roller-coaster ride. We love Cabrera and want to be there as much as possible and summer is the one time we get to be there for a few weeks together. *sigh* (I told you this was going to be one of those "1st world problems" kind of post.)
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