Coming up on Hold Fast.
What if I really did get the bug?
What if I really do contaminate and pass it on to my crew?
What if, because of me, something terrible happens to everybody else?
And once again, an infinite, very scary list of what-ifs possessed me and didn't let me go.
This is the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avantour and its crew of 15 on a wind-powered mission to transport olive oil,
cacao, coffee and rum between Europe and Central America.
But before they even make it halfway, everything they're counting on is thrown to the winds.
I'm Siobhan McSweeney and you're listening to Lives Less Ordinary Presents.
Hold fast.
From the BBC World Service.
It's now the 12th of April 2020.
The Avantour is in the Caribbean Sea,
sailing north along the coast of Belize in Central America and heading towards their next port of call in Mexico.
It's three months since the ship first set sail and around six weeks
since the crew last set foot on land,
having been repeatedly denied shore leave on account of Covid regulations.
And no shore leave means no break from sailing,
having to continuously work around the clock to keep the ship on course.
The captain decides the crew urgently need a break for their own safety and that of the ship.