Couple are isolating on idyllic uninhabited Bahamas island with nine-month-baby
A couple who have been isolating on an idyllic uninhabited island in the Bahamas for over 100 days during lockdown have told how they may soon be forced to return home due to the onset of hurricane season.
Captain Brian Trautman, from the US, and his Swedish wife Karin, live aboard their boat SV Delos and host a crowdfunded travel vlog, exploring the world's oceans.
The pair - who have a nine-month-old baby daughter, Sierra - had only planned to remain in the area for a month, but when the global pandemic broke in March, they decided to extend their stay.
Speaking to the BBC World Service, Karin said: 'We've been able to stay very isolated and we've been able to stay very self-sufficient, catching our own food.'
Captain Brian Trautman, from the US, and his Swedish wife Karin, live aboard their boat SV Delos and host a crowdfunded travel vlog, exploring the world's oceans
Brian added: 'We're making our own power with solar and wind, we're making our own water with our desalination plant.
'We're thinking, like, "Well... if we can stay here, and we can stay safe, and we can stay healthy then it sounds like a much better place to be than heading off to some marina or dock in the US where we're just literally trapped on board".'
Despite the chances of them becoming infected with Covid-19 being pretty low given how isolated they are, Brian pointed out that if they did, medical assistance is 'three days' [travel] away'.
The couple have limited power, water and food. Brian added: 'When we run out of tomatoes or avocados then that's it. There's no running to the store to get more, it could be weeks or sometimes even months.
The couple have been able to stay very isolated and self-sufficient, catching their own food (pictured)
'On the other hand you get to live in these incredible places and that barely any people get to see.'
The couple are also using cloth nappies for their little girl.
Describing their current lockdown home, Brian said: 'There's basically nothing here, it's a completely uninhabited island. It's just us, a bunch of beaches, some sharks, some rays, some turtles, that's about it. No people, no nothing. It's kind of an idyllic little paradise where we are.'
He admitted that they are now concerned they may have to leave imminently due to the start of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season in June, which is forecast to be higher than average.
The pair - who have a nine-month-old baby daughter, Sierray, pictured - had only planned to remain in the area for a month, but when the global pandemic broke in March, they decided to extend their stay
The couple make their own power from solar, have a desalination plant and are also using cloth nappies for their little girl (left)
'In recent years there's been two massive storms that rolled right through here on our very position. It's happening more and more frequently,' Brian explained.
'There's no protection out here from storms.'
He continued: 'At some point, we will have to make a decision to leave because I don't want to stay here, you don't want to stay here through hurricane season – it sounds like a terrible idea.
'Hopefully things will improve toward the end of this month.'
Karin and Brian are now concerned they may have to leave imminently due to the start of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season in June, which is forecast to be higher than average. Pictured: SV Delos in their idyllic lockdown spot
Describing their current lockdown home, Brian said: 'There's basically nothing here, it's a completely uninhabited island. It's just us, a bunch of beaches, some sharks, some rays, some turtles, that's about it. No people, no nothing. It's kind of an idyllic little paradise where we are'
The Bahamas declared a state of emergency for the pandemic on March 17, days after confirming its first coronavirus case, and the nation closed its borders on March 23, with US citizens on private vessels urged to return to their country of origin.
Brian told the BBC: 'When this happened the government [of the Bahamas] acted very quickly and they set in a place of rules.
'They did things like, first of all, put the entire country on a lockdown. They closed the borders and they closed inter-island travel on all sorts of transportation.'
It is unclear if the couple followed maritime protocol to be docked off the uninhabited island.
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