I mentioned while we were packing up the boat that we were about to make a thousand bad decisions and that I hoped to make them as quickly as possible. This wasn't actually hyperbole. We probably did make a thousand decisions.

None of them were bad decisions in that sense that we reached the wrong conclusion based on the available data, only bad in the sense that we would likely have chosen the other option when given the chance to look back retrospectively once all the unknowns become known.

I know there were some dirt dwelling folks who didn't really understand what I was talking about. Anybody who has packed up a boat to lay it up in the tropics for months has an idea.

Some of these decisions were really big ones. Should we stay on our boat here in Mexico, or should we go home? Big decisions like that have a bunch of different dimensions. What is the status of our travel medical insurance? How likely is it to do any good if we actually get sick? How likely are we to get sick? In which country? What happens if we only make it part way and get stuck in the United States? Mexico is perhaps a couple of weeks behind Canada and the US, what will it be like here a month from now? Where can we put the boat? Will it be insured? Who will look after it? Is going back the right thing to do? Are we a burden or a help to those in our host country? All of these variables were given consideration as we motored north from Zihuatanejo.

By the time we reached Puerto Vallarta, we had already made the big decision. We were going home. But we still had more decisions to make. Can we get into a marina in Banderas Bay? Which one do we choose? Do we give up the spot in La Cruz marina that was relatively unprotected for the promise of the spot in Paradise Village which is supposed to be vacated tomorrow by a boat headed for the South Pacific? Do we even ask the marina operator if we can keep the boat there all summer or just get the boat in the spot and ask questions later? Should we just drop Ken and Cheryl off at Sedna and press on to Mazatlan against a building north wind? Should we fly back? Should we drive back?

Those issues resolved and we got busy with the 1000 bad decisions. Do we remove the mainsail or wrap it and lash it? Unbolt the solar panels and stow them below? Leave the thru hulls on the engines open allowing them to easily start the engines? Wash the jib before we stow it? How do we get rid of the food? Who do we hire to look after the boat? Stow the outboard or leave it on the dingy hanging on the davits? Pickle the water maker or hope for the best? Cockroach bait deployed? What do we pack? What do we leave? Should we organize with triage bags so we can shed non-critical ones if we need to rapidly shift transport modes? Where do we rent a car? Can they deliver to the marina so we don't need to go the airport?

All of these decisions, and there were hundreds of them, were processed and acted upon in rapid succession. Normally it takes a week or more to do a good job putting the boat away and the decisions about where it is stored and how to get home are made well in advance. We did it in a day. Obviously not a good job, but it got done.

And you know what? We could have screwed up. Potentially in very big ways. If we get sick here in our quarantine, it was probably really unfortunate that we went anywhere near a Nevada hotel. But if we didn't stay in a Nevada hotel we might have ended up like the folks from Saskatchewan whose rig was a smouldering ruin north of Mazatlan as they raced to beat a border closure.

We already know that all the shortcut decisions taken were unnecessary. We had time to wash the sails. We could have done a deep cleaning. Could have put the splices in the new dock lines. We could have done a lot more. But once we were underway we learned that the US/Mexico border was being closed to non-essential traffic, so we were happy with our choices at the time. It turns out that Canadians going home is essential. Who knew?

But really, this is not a time for regrets. All kinds of people in all kinds of positions are faced with making choices now with poor data and huge uncertainty. For thoughtful people, going to Safeway to buy vegetables involves a careful calculation of the risks vs. rewards. Buying groceries is literally a life and death decision right now.

The point of all this is to give ourselves a break. There are really no bad decisions. There will be some bad outcomes. It is not the time to second guess our choices. It is our next choice that matters. And it is definitely not a time to be judging others for their decisions. (Unless of course they are out wandering around with symptoms or violating their quarantine. Have no mercy for those folks.)

Anyway, I am going to go and have a look at my retirement portfolio and my toilet paper inventory and make some bad decisions.