‘WE GOT LUCKY’
The Porter family was forced to store their 42-foot catamaran, which had been their home most of the past six years, in Guaymas, Mexico, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit
Swimming with sharks, rays and dolphins, worrying about pirates, outwitting storms on the open sea, all great experiences but maybe not as much of an adventure as the Porter family had getting back to B.C. during the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Brad and Krista Porter and their 14-year-old son Cole have been living on a 42-foot catamaran called Saltair 3 for six years. For the past two, they’ve returned to B.C. for five months in the summer for Cole to hang out with friends and to run a mobile mac-andcheese operation, Trio’s Truck.
On their way back north this year they began to get the sense something was wrong when, in February, officials in Costa Rica took their temperatures and asked them a lot of health-related questions.
“We went through the Panama Canal (for two days in mid-December), there was nothing going on,” Brad Porter said. “We spent Christmas and New Year’s at Panama City, there are amazing anchorages around there.”
From there they sailed their catamaran (they try to barely use the diesel engines) to Costa Rica.
“That’s when we said, ‘Hey, there’s something weird going on in the world, what’s up?’ ” Brad said. “It still wasn’t serious, we enjoyed Costa Rica and then made our way north, stopping at anchorages along the way.
“When we got to Mexico, then it really got serious.”
They made it to the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), where restrictions were in place preventing more than one person from going ashore and only then if it was for essentials.
It was like COVID-19 was nipping at their heels, so to speak, as port after port shut down behind them. By this point, countries from Panama to Guatemala were not letting boats in, even for food or fuel, and the Porters could only wonder if Mexico would shut down its ports without notice. “We got lucky.” They’d safely sailed 6,500 kilometres, from Guatemala’s Caribbean side to the Sea of Cortez, where they sat at anchor for three weeks while Mexican navy boats made daily passes to bullhorn the message “Stay on your boat!”
Now they had another 3,000 kilometres to go to get back to B.C., if they could only get ashore and store Saltair 3.
“The hard part was finding a place to leave the boat,” Brad said.
They wound up foregoing a US$500 deposit to store their boat farther north after suddenly being allowed to leave it at Guaymas, outside San Carlos.
“We were allowed two days to haul our boat and then be gone,” Krista Porter said. “We said ‘let’s get out of here,’ but I couldn’t book any flights.”
They caught an evening bus and made the 700-kilometre overnight journey to Phoenix, Ariz. — the Porters in the back, the only other group on board to the front.
The Phoenix airport was almost deserted, as was SeaTac, where they rented a car, then dropped off a key with a security guard at the Abbotsford airport (which was closed) before being picked up by family.
Twenty-six hours after boarding the bus in Mexico, they were safely at Brad’s mom’s house in Chilliwack. Their 14-day self-isolation in the basement suite ended Friday.
The couple had always travelled and backpacked since Cole was about five, but six years ago they decided to really pack it in, sold their house in Saltair on the Island, bought and refit Saltair 3 in Florida, and took off to explore the Caribbean from Florida to South America, the Panama Canal and the Pacific coast of Central America.
They lived full time on the boat for the first four years.
“It’s been awesome, honestly,” Cole said. “When you’re on a boat the whole mentality of making friends is different.”
Anyone who has travelled for extended periods will tell you the same. For one, you instantly all have a common interest, exploring.
“I have lots of friends here, I’m going dirt-biking with them in Tamahi (outside Chilliwack). Of course I miss them, but I come back in a few months and get to see them again, it’s great.”
We said ‘let’s get out of here,’ but I couldn’t book any flights.”
Krista Porter