We house is in a gated community and we are located on an isolated cove within that community.  So we have a fair amount of freedom to go out and walk around the grounds without coming remotely close to someone.  We’ve started using the rectangle in the main part of the development as our outdoor track walking laps around it. It gets toasty as the sun rises so we try to get out early. 

The early morning walks are followed up with afternoon swimming in the cove.  Again, nobody in sight so no risk of catching the Coronavirus unless a turtle or fish transmits it to Kyle. The owner of the house has a paddleboard and oars which she is letting us use. Leanne and / or Justin paddle out to the end of the reef while Kyle swims beside the paddleboard.  

Walking laps around the development’s rectangle can get on the monotonous side.  One lap is 0.4 miles so a four mile walk takes 10 laps and each lap has the same scenery. So today, we decided to venture outside the gated community to walk to Antigua’s Devil’s Bridge National Park.  We are well prepared to turn around and flee back to the safety of the development if we see even one person. 

We only have to walk a short way on the “main” road which is deserted and then we turn into a backroad which is really deserted. It’s a solid 45 min walk to reach the entrance.  Along the way, we pass the Hammock Cove Resort which is shut down and locked up tight as a drum.  There is not even a security guard in sight.  The door down to the resort and cove is flapping open in the wind. 

Kyle suggests they trek down and check it out.  “I don’t really feel like getting arrested for trespassing,” Leanne responds. “Ok, not a problem,” says Kyle and they keep walking.  Literally, two minutes later a police truck drives by with two officers waving and smiling at them.  Ok, no trespassing for us.  At least if we’re going to see someone in a deserted area, it’s the police.

We enter the park.  Well, there’s technically no entrance as we “enter” by just walking past the sign that announces the park. The sky is filled with clouds that look like exploding nuclear bombs.  I guess the pessimistic could say they could like a pile of exploding Coronaviruses.  Either way, it doesn’t detract from capturing some of the best nature pictures we’ve taken on the trip. 

We romp and roam and explore the park at our leisure.  “The Bridge” is actually just a natural rock formation molded by wind and erosion into a shape that vaguely resembles a bridge. Justin apparently was expecting a real bridge to an island.  “That’s not a bridge!” he exclaims in protest. “Well, I guess it’s a bridge to nowhere,” Kyle responds. 

The name is actually derived from myths that slaves, during the time of slavery on the island, leapt to their death off the natural arch where the devil was waiting the water below to claim their souls. There is no historical evidence to suggest this is true but there is evidence that it was a prehistoric Amerindian site whose people used the area for fishing and settlements.

At least we got one thing checked off for the week so far in Antigua as we add another National Park to the list.  That pace of things would have never happened on the trip but these are different times. We walk back and encounter nary a soul making the two police officers the only people we saw on the trek outside the gated community.

On the Coronavirus front, things continue to escalate as we monitor the news from afar.  There are 305K total reported cases and 13K deaths.  The US has 24K reported cases which has quadrupled in the past 4 days sending alarm bells screeching.  Congress continues to fight over the $1 - $2 trillion relief package with a vote pushed to at least Monday.  

New York is clearly the epicenter in the US with over 10K reported cases of which 6K are in New York City.  New Jersey Governor Murphy orders residents to stay at home and all non-essential businesses closed.  New York is scrambling to increase hospital capacity converting the Jacob Javits Center into a Corona hospital. And in the worst sign off all that things are going south, Starbucks announced it will transition all its stores in US and Canada to drive-through only.

Egypt announced the closing of all museums and archeological sites only a few short days after we successfully exited the country. Yes, we got out of Egypt just in the nick of time. Even from afar, things on the Coronavirus front feel like they are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.