When they left Europe, they knew the coronavirus was in Asia, but it seemed to be isolated there, so it was barely on their radar. However, before Manighetti and Osborne left, they told their family not to give them any bad news because they wouldn't be able to do anything about it while in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, their family gave them very few updates on the coronavirus.
"On day 15, we started hearing that a few islands had closed their borders," Manighetti said. "It was really hard to understand at the time. Without all the facts, it was really hard to grasp what was happening. There was absolutely no way we were expecting a pandemic."
On day 25, March 25, they arrived at the Bequia island in the Caribbean and started reading the news for the first time.
"When we landed, we read on the BBC website that there were thousands of deaths, and we were like, 'Oh my god, that many deaths?'" Manighetti said. "To learn that it was worldwide was shocking. It took us a few days to catch up with what happened throughout our crossing."