Stranded: These Ottawans can't get home due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Having unlimited time in a sunny destination in March might sound like a dream, but for two Ottawa residents stranded due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, it's turning into a nightmare.

An increasing number of countries are closing their borders and grounding flights as the pandemic spreads, leaving some Canadians like Alex Poulin with no way to get home.

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Poulin flew to the tinyCaribbeanisland of Bonaire, off the coast of Venezuela, in January to volunteer repairing coral. The island has now invoked quarantine measures.

"It's just a ghost island," Poulin told CBC by phone on Wednesday. "Everybody's in their home. It's sunny, it's beautiful, but it's eerie," he said about the state of the island which he said has gone into quarantine measures.

"They're shutting hospitals to tourists, so if you have anything that's non-COVID related, you cannot even access health-care facilities. And if it progresses even worse, it will [limit] everything from drinkable water to food sources."

Poulin was supposed to fly to Curacao, the island next door, on March 27, and then boarda direct flight to Toronto with Air Canada.

But with the quarantine measures now invoked, Poulinnow can't get to Curacao.

Onlyhope left

He says he hasone hope left:a Sunwing flight which will fly direct to Canada on Sunday.

He's been trying to book a ticket, but was told by the local Sunwing representative she can't sell him one until the day it leaves.

• Trudeau says Canadians will be stranded abroad. Here's what travellers need to know

"It's a bit frustrating that you can't talk to the people in charge of the bookings," he said."There's also the fear of being stranded here because that is the last charter flight to Canada, and after this there is nothing. So until borders reopen, which nobody has any idea when, you're stranded here."

A Sunwing spokesperson told CBCtheir focus was on saving enough seats on their planes to first repatriate their own customers, and that they could sell a standby seat Sunday if there was space available.

Stuck in Peru

Mlanie Seaman is in a similar predicament, and feeling similar fear. She's been on a trip in South Americafor the past two months celebrating her graduation from the University of Ottawa.

Now, sheand her boyfriend are stuck in Cusco, a city in the Peruvian Andes, their return flight to Canada later this month cancelled.

"The country has effectively gone into full lockdown for 15 days ... there's no buses, cars aren't able to drive between cities and there's no internal flights. So they're taking this very seriously," Seaman said.

That's left her stranded in a hotel whilearmed guards patrol the streets to discourage hoarding. Seaman said she's been trying to get help from the Canadian embassy, with no luck.

The federal government said it has no plans to repatriate stranded Canadians, but it did announce a special financial assistance program to provide travellers with an emergency loan of up to $5,000 for plane tickets, or to cover other needs while they're waiting to return.

Seaman said if she's unable to get home soon, she might have to access that fund.

"We'll last for a while, but if it goes on longer than that we will definitely need the financial assistance."