Getting vaccinated on Union Island

We had a very peaceful night in the very empty marina, and a good breakfast at their bakery. Rowan was trying to borrow some tools off the neighbouring yachties and discovered that they had just had their vaccines done in Union island where they have spare vaccine. We tried calling the clinic and never got through, so Rowan thought of the brilliant idea to ask Romeo, the boatman in the Cays, for advice as he told us he had his vaccine last week. He is the one and only local we have met who has had the vaccine, almost all of them have the standard reply ‘they need to do their own research first’! What a winner Romeo was, his sister is one of the Covid/vaccine nurses. So he called her and she said if we go there today they had left over vaccine. James was over the moon too as he wanted it done, we felt a little responsible and made sure his parents were happy with it.

The empty marina with wonderful manicured landscaping……I saw more gardeners than yachties!

We left promptly for Union island. As we had James on board as an extra pair of hands and we had good gentle following winds, we decided to get our Gennaker sail out of the front locker. Thankfully it all worked like clockwork getting the sail untangled and up. We landed up having a great sail down with over 9 knots of boat speed most of the way, with the wind well under 20 knots for a change.

We roared into Clifton the main harbour town where the clinic is and had to do a very energetic walk to the top of a very steep hill to get to the Clinic. Rowan galloped up, he was so worried about missing it, so we arrived absolutely drenched in sweat and our hearts pounding…..not ideal! It didn’t help either, having to walk past the Morgue to get there. The nurse had to be called which took a little time as we sat on the bench outside and recovered. The vaccine room was in a plastic gazebo, curiously with signs saying it was donated by Japan. The nurse was very friendly and efficient, when she finally got there. Luckily all the temperature and blood pressure tests were ok. James went first and there was a little panic when it appeared that he had been given the last dose (Rowan would not have been happy!) but luckily they found the other two doses. We got an official certificate, so cross fingers it is all legitimate. It was quite amusing the scrappy piece of paper all our details were written on. Sadly she explained the locals are being very reluctant to come forward, they are happy with the Astra Zeneca vaccine because it is British and non profit, they don’t want to touch any American products as they are all for profit. But they want the vaccines made in Europe apparently because they don’t trust the Indian manufacturer! The fact that a lot of medication is made in India does not reassure them. So sad how they are all being influenced by social media and all say the same thing. We did not have to pay but there was a donation box….. Rowan put in $500 as he was so grateful! The clinic really looked like they could use a few spare dollars!

Our vaccination Gazebo

From the people of Japan

You all have to have a photo!

Looking down from the clinic, at PolePole parked alone outside Happy Island Bar.

Too hot in Clifton so we headed back to the Cays to sit on the reef, to get all that trans Atlantic wind blowing through the boat to cool us down.

We invited Romeo and Juliet (his wife!) to have dinner on board with us, but they declined as they had other paying guests for dinner. So we decided to have a beach dinner at Romeo’s again. Delicious fish and a fun ambiance for James to experience. Poor Romeo and Juliet have a 3 mile journey home by boat, in the dark, to Clifton, where they live. Such long hours they work and then the other guests cancelled at the last minute! He is always upbeat and thrilled we got our jabs – thanks to his sister. I think he was really touched to be invited on board for dinner, I don’t think he has ever been invited before!