Currently somewhere between Tahiti and New Zealand, Craig Little is a long way from home.
Last year, the Kiwi yachtsman was asked by a friend to sail a yacht from New Zealand to Tahiti and is not expected back in the country until some time this month.
“Since then we've found ourselves in the middle of the Corona crisis," Mr Little told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp.
"So far we've been to Panama, we went through the Panama Canal, we crossed from the Atlantic to Pacific, then to Galapagos, and we thought we'd have some down time there, do some diving and have a look around, during that time Galapagos went into lockdown,” he says.
"The police and the army with mirrored sunglasses and automatic weapons and the coast guard turned up with a gun boat to escort everybody out."
Since then, their sailboat has became their lifeboat.
"Kind of like floating refugees in our own little bubble," he says.
But despite all the comforts of their boat, which has four people on board, there was no comfort in the stunning news from home.
Covid-19 had made landfall in New Zealand.
"We use a little gadget called Iridium Go which works off satellite, we can download emails, so friends and family send updates about what's going on.
"When we first found out it was pretty emotional really. We use the word unprecedented about 10 times a day, because every thing we're hearing about seems to be unprecedented really."
There’s another 2,500 miles nautical miles to go until Mr Little gets home where he says he’s looking forward to “being able to walk more than 55 feet”.
Watch their full story above.
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