Coronavirus outbreak leaves Sacramento lawyer in limbo during cruise to Antarctica

For Sacramento attorney Bill Portanova, the cruise seemed like the trip of a lifetime, steaming around Antarctica and the Falkland Islands for weeks with his wife, Shauna.

Then, the coronavirus pandemic blew up, and Portanova found himself stuck aboard the M.S. Roald Amundsen off the coast of Chile, where official actions to stem coronavirus evidently include not allowing any cruise ships to dock before September.

“I’m trapped,” Portanova said by cell phone Monday morning as he gazed out at the Chilean coastline near Punta Arenas, where the ship had been scheduled to dock.

“The president of Chile said no more cruise ships until Sept. 30,” Portanova said. “Our captain and the company have been trying to negotiate something for a number of days.

“We’re offshore and, apparently, the story we got is that they worked something out where we would be taken to the port, health screened, removed from the ship with masks and gloves directly into buses and straight to the airport. But some locals got wind of the plan and there was some kind of a protest, so the deal fell through.”

The couple began their voyage a month ago, flying into Chile on Feb. 16 before the coronavirus became a worldwide pandemic and enjoying their stops at various ports, including one visit to the world’s southernmost bar at the Vernadsky Research Station, a Ukrainian outpost known for the vodka distilled on site.

“We spent eight days down in Antarctica,” Portanova said. “It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

But it remains to be seen when the trip will end.

Portanova had been expected to be back at work as a criminal defense attorney Tuesday until Chilean authorities banished the ship from landfall.

“Instead, I’m looking at the coastline of Chile,” he said. “It’s beautiful, but just out of reach.”

In fact, the ship’s livecam shows the coastline with another cruise ship sitting idly by near the port.

The delay in getting home has been only a minor inconvenience, he said, with plenty of food and drink available on board.

And no one among the few hundred passengers on board is ill, he said, and there is plenty of help if someone becomes sick.

“We have a doctor’s convention of Australian physicians,” he said. “So we’ve got 120 Australian doctors on the ship with us.

“You can bet Australia wants them back right now.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 12:22 PM.