It used to be that when you arrived in a new country, you flew your Q flag for the few minutes it took to get cleared in. The yellow quarantine flag rarely saw any use since it was only set for a short amount of time.
With Covid, all of that has changed and our Q flag is seeing a lot more time flying from our starboard spreader!
COVID-19 has granted tiny countries incredible power, control the likes of which they never had before. As Americans with our blue passport, we used to be able to arrive in practically any country and simply check in. No visas ahead of time or any hassle!
In the name of Covid, however, countries are now able to ban any person they desire granting them authority that was always out of grasp!
When we got to Cape Verde, instead of going to the customs office like normal, we were told to wait indefinitely at anchor until the authorities came to our boat to clear us in. On the 5th day of waiting, I called a friend who called in a favor for me to finally get us checked in; otherwise, we would still be anchored and waiting!
Covid has completely changed the cruising world, altering it from a freeing experience in world travel to a test in bureaucracy. Before setting sail, you need to see if a country is even open to cruisers; more importantly, whatever it says today could be completely different by the time you arrive! Then you have countries with no real form of government struggling to create the illusion of control by stonewalling any attempts you make at legally checking in and forcing you to subvert the entire process by residing at anchor unannounced.
The saddest part is when corrupt government officials only allow you to check in after paying a bribe to them. The villagers in their towns are starving from the lack of tourists due to this political power play, yet the police watch as their own town withers further into poverty as they reject all tourists who refuse to line their pockets.
This is the ugly side of the pandemic, nothing to do with disease control or the well being of its citizens; just incomprehensible power granted to those who cannot fathom its repercussions!
