While Puerto Rico has only five confirmed cases of coronavirus so far, the island has announced a series of strong measures to contain the virus in the territory, according to Discover Puerto Rico.

“Puerto Rico has put an Island-wide issues management plan in place as a preventative measure, and is exercising an abundance of caution with strict new policies to avoid mass spread of COVID-19 throughout the Island,” the organization said in a statement. 

In what Puerto Rico officials are calling a stronger response than many states on the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico has imposed an island-wide curfew from 9P to 4AM through March 31, with exceptions for cases of emergency and those who are working. 

All visitors to San Juan’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport will receive a “brief” temperature check, with further screening if necessary. 

The island has also suspended all large events until March 31, while all “non-essential businesses,” ranging from casinos to theaters to bars and gyms, closed immediately. 

Taxis and Ubers will only work from 5AM to 9PM, excepting those servicing airports, while supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations will remain open. 

— CJ

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American Airlines has announced a series of changes to its schedule in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including some adjustments in the wider Caribbean.

For a nearly two-month period from March 16 through May 6, the carrier is planning a major reduction in long-haul flights to the tune of a 75 percent decrease in capacity compared to the previous year. 

That comes “in response to decreased demand and changes to U.S. government travel restrictions due to coronavirus.”

While the long-haul reduction affects areas like Asia and Australia, American Airlines has announced far fewer modifications to its Latin America and Caribbean flight schedule during that period. 

American Airlines has announced the suspension of service from both New York and Miami to Georgetown, Guyana. 

Other flights in the wider Caribbean Basin region that have been suspended include Miami and Dallas to Bogota, along with suspension in service on routes to two destinations on the Caribbean coast of Colombia: Miami-Barranquilla and Miami-Cartagena, among others. 

That means few changes to the carrier’s massive flight network in the wider Caribbean region. 

Indeed, a survey of American Airlines’ website showed flights continuing on offer. 

American Airlines is for example, flying seven daily flights between Miami and Nassau, The Bahamas. 

Having said that, a number of countries are mobilizing to buffet against the spread of the virus by restricting travel from certain countries. 

Most notable is St Maarten, which will launch a restriction March 17 on travelers from the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland entering St Maarten. (That does not apply to visitors currently on neighboring islands or St Maarten scheduled to depart through Princess Juliana International Airport in the coming weeks. 

The restrictions are set to run for a two-week period, according to the office of the Prime Minister. 

“The restrictions do not apply to St. Maarten/St. Martin residents, nor residents of neighboring islands who transit through St. Maarten,” said St Maarten Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs. “All returning and transiting residents are reminded to continue to monitor themselves upon return and to notify their doctor should they start to show symptoms.”

Another destination, Haiti, has shut down most flights to the country and closed up its border with the neighboring Dominican Republic. 

— CJ

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I take a sip of the Rhum Saint James and I am instantly in Martinique. 

Therein lies the transportive power of rum, a, transcendent gift bequeathed to no other spirit in the world. 

There’s just something about rum, about Caribbean rum, about how it can take you away, even if for just a delightful, prolonged moment. 

There is of course a romantic quality about the rhum agricole of Martinique, about the dozen-odd distilleries that dot the French Caribbean island, some of just a few rums in the Caribbean that truly have a terroir. 

It’s something we’ve long said in these pages: when you try the agricole rums of the island you can truly taste Martinique. 

And my one-way ticket to Martinique on this night was in revisiting an old standard: the Rhum Saint James Tres Vieux Millesime 2000, one picked up years ago at Aime Cesaire Airport. 

This, Saint James says, is the result of the brand’s first harvest in Martinique in the new millennium, aged in small casks. 

The 43-degree rum has a slightly dark amber color, with an aroma of butterscotch and cane stalk. 

It’s marked by flavors of caramel, marzipan, with a hint of pepper and spice and an edge of anise. 

It’s been years since I tried it, when I remembered it as something far smokier; now, uncorked for half a decade, it’s more mellow, rounder. 

But it’s still the essence of Rhum Saint James: fine, elevated, and, most importantly, endlessly elegant. 

With each sip Martinique whispers, taps, lightly plays at the senses. 

This glass of rum transports you to the waving canes and the volcanoes, the sands, the ti’ punch rituals of the late morning, the bakeries of Fort-de-France, the banana fields on the eastern coast. 

In these uneasy times, there is great comfort to be found in a brief sugarcane-fueled vacation to the Caribbean.

Rum Journal Review

94 Points

— CJ

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