WINTER PARK, Colo. — A Colorado couple's trip around the world has been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erica and Warren Cook, from Winter Park, are quarantined on a sailboat in Mexico.
They said about two years ago, they decided to quit their jobs, sell everything they owned and buy a boat to sail around the world.
"We’re out there in the middle of the ocean, we’re surrounded by water, there's no one else out there," said Erica Cook. "The sea life is incredible. It’s a really clean life. We get to travel to places people don’t typically go to."
It was when the couple was in Costa Rica that they said the first heard about the novel coronavirus.
"We heard a little talk about coronavirus this coronavirus that, and honestly we didn’t think anything of it," Erica Cook said. "No, we thought it was a China-based thing or at least not anywhere near home."
But four days later she said borders were shut down almost everywhere.
"All of a sudden they’re like, yeah you can't surf, you can’t go to the beach you can't leave, you can't go," she said. "Nobody's coming, nobody's going. It came really suddenly and really fast.
Erica Cook said as soon as they opened the borders to allow boats to leave Costa Rica, they headed out. She said it took the couple a month to arrive in Mexico.
They are planning to drive from Mexico to Colorado sometime in mid-June to wait out the pandemic.
But, Erica Cook said as soon as they can, they'll be back on the water.
"We are still gonna travel the best we can," she said. "It's still our main goal."
You can follow along with their adventures by clicking here.
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