We have arrived back in Grenada. The primary reason for our side trip to Barbados was to get my (Bill’s) passport renewed at the US Embassy there. Although there is an embassy in Grenada, it seems to carry minimal staffing and could not give a specific timing when they could accept an application. That process was smooth and uneventful. Now we wait…
When we first arrived in Barbados we were instructed to tie up in the main ship harbor to clear customs. We felt like the smallest of small fry tied up to a dock designed for ships that outweigh us by a factor of 50,000 times.
Harmonie tied to the customs dock in Bridgetown, Barbados.
When we returned to the customs office for our clearing out procedure, there was another boat had taken our spot:
The yacht Octopus tied to the same spot.
This is the bow of the SuperYacht Octopus built by the late Paul Allen, founder of Microsoft along with Bill Gates. If you are interested in this 417 foot monster you, and 11 of your closest friends, can charter her (and all her toys) for $2,200,000 per week.
Our sail back to the waters of Grenada was uneventful. We couldn’t get much fishing in during the crossing, the amount of sargassum weed in the ocean here is enormous. Once in the lee of Grenada we did get some lines out, and had good luck getting wahoo to bite, but couldn’t reliably turn strikes into hookups. The one we DID hook we lost at boat side… bummer….
We anchored off Grenada for the night, and lit the flood light on our stern for entertainment. We were not disappointed. Soon we had many small fish swarming in the water. Before long, a bird was darting back and forth grabbing small fish. It was moving so fast and was in the light for such a short time we couldn’t really get a handle on what kind of bird it might be. So out came the camera gear.
It’s a challenge getting a photo of a fast flying bird during the day in full sun. At night, with a (relatively) dim lamp it’s orders of magnitude harder. Not exactly expertly, but good enough we can make a positive ID, and good enough you can see the fish he is feeding on in the water…
Our nighttime fish eating visitor….
Yep… not a bird, but a bat! I had no idea there were fish eating bats. The “Greater Bulldog Bat,” bigger than most bats I am familiar with. Larger than a pigeon, smaller than a big seagull. How does a bat “see” the fish underwater? Well, apparently it doesn’t. Instead it uses its sonar to detect the ripples on the surface made by the fish just under the water, and then grabs them with its legs. Nature never ceases to amaze.
Local fishing boat, Grenada.Typical summer afternoon rain squall over the Caribbean Sea.The entrance to Port Louis, Grenada is guarded(?) by the hospital.The long-line tuna fleet, downtown St George’s, Grenada.
Barbados is the most densely populated of any island in the eastern Caribbean, but for cruising sailors it is distinctly off the beaten path. There are two major reasons for that. First is that it is literally 100 miles off the route that most cruising boats take, the other is that it is an island that is very nearly round, and it has an extremely limited choice of mediocre anchorages.
This lack of visiting boats leads to a couple of follow-on effects. The local regulatory infrastructure is not really in tune with the needs of cruising boats, and the amount of information about cruising the island is limited and is frequently limited, conflicting, out of date, or just plain wrong. It is not even mentioned in our printed cruising guide to the Windward Islands.
Almost all of the data sources we consulted (including the official Barbados web pages) indicated that Port St Charles in the northwest corner of the island was a port of entry, and a place we could easily clear customs. We called the marina there before we left Grenada to confirm the schedule, and found out that they are no longer a port of entry, and we would have to clear in in Bridgetown.
Upon our arrival in Bridgetown, we contacted “Bridgetown Signal” on the radio to let them know of our approach, and we asked permission to anchor in Carlisle Bay and dinghy in to clear customs. Our advance information from usually reliable sources suggested that this was pretty standard. Not true, or at least not true today. They instead directed us to enter the main harbor and tie up to one of the cruise ship docks and only then go to customs.
This is more than a bit of a pain, tying a 53 foot sailboat to a dock designed for a 100,000 ton cruise ship is not simple. Everything from the bollards to the fenders is just not to our scale. Getting off, and back one, the boat is a gymnastic exercise.
Harmonie at the big boy dock. The perspective here is a bit deceiving, it’s a LONG way down to our deck from the quay surface.
Fortunately the weather was benign, and the process went smoothly. The local customs officials were reasonably efficient, but obviously not used to such small vessels. Once we cleared in, we were released to go to the anchorage.
There are a number of boats in the Carlisle Bay anchorage, but they are all local boats and tourist day boats. Not one other visiting cruising boat is visible.
Carlisle Bay is a pretty terrible anchorage. Ocean swell consistently wraps around from the south west, and hits you sideways as you sit to the easterly blowing tradewinds. This means that boats roll… a lot. None of the usual tricks of trying to turn the boat into the waves work for very long because the wind and current change direction through the day. Whatever you do for a comfortable set at noon fails at 17:00 and then it changes again by 23:00.
We broke out of the marina the other day, and spent some time out fishing. Today, we are taking advantage of favorable winds, and we are sailing over to Barbados. Should be about a 30 hour sail. Usually, this would be straight upwind, but there is enough south in the weather today, we should have an easier time of it.
Why Barbados? Well, because it is there… but more specifically I (Bill) need to renew my passport, and the US Embassy in Grenada is not currently set up to do that. There are a couple of hoops to jump through, but it seems like this is the best way to get that done in the time we have here in the eastern Caribbean.
Barbados is a round island with no natural harbors, and being 100 miles off the beaten path it is not frequently visited by cruising boats. A lot of the online information about formalities is out of date, and inconsistent. We think we have the current data… we’ll find out when we get there!
Sometimes people have a boat located at Point A that they need at Point B and do not have the time themselves to do the move. People purchase a boat in one place and need it to be in another, and they need help with the move. If a boat is much different than a new owner has previous experience with their insurance company might want a sign-off by a licensed Captain that the new owner had the basic skills needed before they are allowed to sail “solo”. For what ever reason, sometimes people need the services of a “Delivery Captain.”
I have done deliveries many times. Sometimes Karen comes along as crew, sometimes the owner(s) are the crew. Most of the deliveries I do are of Amel yachts, and that’s because that is the sailing community where I have the most connections. But other sailboats, and even power boats are welcome.
For many new owners, a delivery with an experienced Captain along is an opportunity to quickly learn the boat, sailing, and a lot of nitty-gritty details about long range cruising. As a wise person once said:
Smart people learn from their mistakes. Wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.
How it Works
Most Delivery Captains are independent, and can have their own way of doing things. Typically, they charge by the day, or sometimes by the mile. Trips much longer than average are sometimes quoted at a fixed price. Expenses for travel, living, and boat costs are billed through at cost without markup. Typically, the contract is executed with an advance payment of 50% of the expected charges, not including expenses.
A detailed contract should be presented as part of the initial quote process. Costs and expectations should be clear. Do read them. Do not hesitate to bring up any of the contract points for discussion or negotiation. If there is a hard budget for the total cost, the time to discuss that is up front, NOT at the end of everything when you get the final invoice.
You should expect the contract to specify some of the minimum gear expected to be onboard the boat. Pay careful attention to this. The Captain included this list because he considers it minimum required for the safety of the boat and crew. If there are deficiencies that will not be corrected before the Captain picks up the boat it is important to discuss them ahead of time.
The captain will expect to be named as an “also insured” on your policy, and he should have credentials ready to submit to your insurance company for their approval. The completion of this paper work can take longer than you expect, so get it started as soon as possible. No responsible captain will leave the dock without the insurance issue being settled.
As part of the quote evaluation, consider the travel costs involved. If your boat is starting and/or ending its voyage in a remote location, bringing a captain in and getting him home again might be a significant part of the cost. Hiring a skipper to sail a boat from the Canary Islands to Antigua will require a significant travel budget. A delivery from Miami, Florida to Annapolis, Maryland, not so much.
Understand that travel expenses can be expensive, and difficult to predict. This can be especially true at the end of a long delivery. It is not unusual that a delivery with an expected time at sea of 10 days can easily take 12 days, and then add on a potential delay of a week for weather before departure, and you realize that you can not know with certainty the final arrival date. There are a couple strategies to deal with this, and for potentially expensive travel, the boat owner should be in the loop on whatever decisions are made, since he will be paying the bill!
Challenges
The primary issue with any delivery is usually the condition of the boat. Especially for long passages, ensuring the boat is really ready to spend a week or more at sea is a MUCH more complex and comprehensive inspection than the typical survey done in support of a purchase. Starting from scratch, getting a boat ready for sea can take several days of hard work. Inspections, testing systems, maybe a short trial run, getting provisions aboard.. all take time.
Crew?
On most of the deliveries I have been involved with the owner(s) have been along. There are some delivery skippers who joke (maybe it’s not a joke?) that they charge extra for that. I enjoy to opportunity to meet and interact with people on this level. I honestly enjoy the chance to teach people about their new boat, and give them a flavor of what cruising can be like.
Finding the Right Fit
Finding the right delivery skipper for you and your boat can be a challenge, especially if you as the owner want to go along on the sail. It is essential that everybody onboard gets along for the length of the trip. A captain with a good background in boat repair and maintenance is important, and can make the difference between a on-time delivery and and large boatyard bill from somewhere half-way along. Familiarity with boat’s like yours is a good thing. In many cases it is not REQUIRED that the Captain have a formal license, but that does give you a bit of an assurance that the individual takes his profession seriously. It will also smooth the process for insurance approval.
Do not be afraid to ask for contact information from previous clients.
As we navigate the oceans of the world, we sometime find that it is more complex navigating the local officialdom than the high seas. In the case of Grenada, we have pretty much worked out what we need to do to import things at the lowest cost.
Import duty on the island is complex, and can get expensive. Most of the eastern Caribbean islands use a common customs schedule which is a large book that lists the duty due on thousands of different classes of goods. The amount due can vary from nominal (5% or less) to pretty steep (greater than 50%). And duty is calculated on the value of the goods PLUS shipping PLUS any taxes paid.
There are (legal!) ways around this for people in our situation. The exemption we can work within is for “ship’s stores.” A vessel in transit through Grenada to another country is allowed to buy and import things at a fixed rate of 2.5%. This can be done at the local chandleries, you show up with your boat paperwork (cruising permit, and documentation) and they register you for duty free purchases. Easy.
If you are actually importing things yourself it gets a bit more complex, and the services of a customs broker, while not technically required, make the entire process MUCH easier. Here is the procedure that has worked for us.
We signed up for an account with E-Zone Grenada to act as our broker.
Packages are delivered to their warehouse in Miami, and held there. Once we supply the invoices listing the value of the items they are released and take the weekly cargo flight to Grenada. At this point, all the paperwork is treated as a normal importation, and full duty is calculated.
In the meantime, we take the invoices and boat paperwork to the customs office here in the marina. The items are reviewed, and the customs officer issues a “Permit to Ships Stores,” universally known on the island as the C-14. The customs officials here in the marina have been very accommodating, and easy to deal with.
Once the package arrives at the broker’s warehouse in Grenada, we receive an invoice for the shipping, brokerage charges, and full duty.
We go to the warehouse with our valuable C-14 form, and present it to have the duty recalculated at the much lower “Ships Stores” rate.
Pay the brokerage fees, revised duty and shipping and we’re off!
Nothing very difficult, once you know the drill, but as always there are a couple things that can catch you up and greatly increase your bill while adding no value to you.
The shipping and brokerage charges are per box as delivered to the Miami location. Those can add up if you have several boxes coming at once. If you have someone in the USA who can consolidate boxes for you, and then ship them on to the broker in Miami you can save a lot.
Another issue that can bite you is when you pay what is called the “dimensional weight” for the shipping from Miami to the island. We have all had the experience of a box shipped from Amazon or other online supplier with a very small, light object in a greatly oversized box. Amazon doesn’t care and doesn’t charge you extra, but the air freight company carrying your order from Miami down to the island most certainly does. If the weight is low relative to the package size they will charge you by the volume of the package, and that can get expensive in a hurry. This is also best solved by having a friend or family member repack things before shipping them on to Miami.
All these steps and rules are different in each country, but you do gradually learn the common bits.
We are enjoying Grenada. It is a very interesting place. Sometimes interesting in a fun way, and sometimes in a way that makes for good stories…
Port Louis Marina, St George’s, Grenada.
The Marina
Port Lois Marina in St George’s is well run, reasonably priced and exceeds our expectations. The staff is endlessly helpful. The facilities are modern, well maintained and clean. The cost is reasonable. Pretty much a great base to explore from.
The Weather
We are only 10º north of the equator, so it is hot and humid. Pretty much every day, the weather is the same: Hot and humid, with occasional showers. Much of the time the tradewinds blow which helps, but the marina is in a well protected harbor surrounded by high hills so the breeze is not reliable. The air conditioning systems on the boat are getting a workout most days.
Weather forecasts here are so bad it is almost funny. There is no weather radar that covers the local area, and the weather approaches from the east, where there is no real detailed information about what is headed this way. A few weeks ago while I was traveling in the states, at 5AM Karen was literally thrown on the floor out of bed when the boat rolled on its side in a gust of wind. What the…!??!
It turns out a tropical wave, of which about one rolls through every week, decided to get a bit of an attitude as it approached the island. The airport (about 10 miles away) reported sustained winds of 70 knots. Most of the morning was pretty wild and crazy. Completely unforecast, and a surprise to everybody. Other than a few downed powerlines, no damage that we saw.
Getting Around
The bus system here is pretty great. There are nine routes across the island, and the fare is EC$2.50 (about US$0.90). The buses are run independently, and pretty much all of them are minivans configured to seat about 15 very friendly people.
Each bus has a driver, and a conductor. The conductor’s primary job is to keep on eye on the sidewalk to be sure no potential customers are missed, and he collects the fares. During the day you rarely have to wait more than three or four minutes for the next bus. They are all crowded, but somehow they always seem able to squeeze one more passenger in. Everybody is polite and accommodating.
Party Time!
Mom, daughter and sound truck.
This past week was the Grenada version of carnival, or as it is locally known, “Spicemas” or more likely, just “‘Mas.” Of the local celebrations we have seen, this one was not one of our favorites. There was almost no live music, rather all recorded techno-dance stuff, and really, really, REALLY LOUD. How loud? Our boat was over a half mile away, and the “music” had our hatches literally vibrating to the beat.
People who know me (Bill), will likely know that loud music has never been my cup of tea, but this was too loud even for Karen who described walking past one of the trucks and having the breath knocked out of her chest.
Getting Stuff Done
We always do our best to follow the rules wherever we are. Trying to be the kind of visitors that any place is happy to welcome and have back. As part of that, we did our research ahead of time and discovered that to get a local fishing license we needed to go to the Fisheries Department in downtown St George’s. So we hopped on the Number 1 Bus, and off went on an afternoon adventure.
The Fisheries Department is located above the Fish Market. Since this was half a block from the bus terminal, it was easy to find. After that, things got a bit more… confused. Wandering in we are eventually greeted by someone, and when we explain out reason for being there, she sends us to the “third door on the right”. We knock, and enter, and explain that we are there to get a fishing license. The two young ladies in the office look at us like we have two heads. Like they have never heard of such a thing, except we are in the fisheries department… “Maybe you need to go to the next door.” So off we go to the fourth door on the right…
Once again we are in an office with two women, who in the absence of any other work give us their full attention, and have NO IDEA what we are looking for. We try to explain that we want to fish recreationally, no selling of fish, and we want to have whatever permits are needed. They ask many very simple questions, and finally decide that they need to bring in the boss. Really???
After a few minutes the boss comes in and we explain what we want to him. He seems puzzled, like this is the first time this has ever come up. He says that this office can not issue a fishery registration to a foreign vessel, we will have to go to see the Minister of Agriculture.
By this point, I am convinced we are not speaking the same language. There are many non-Grenadian boats we have seen in our marina and in the local yacht club sport fishing locally, and I am sure they have not gone through this.
We get back to the marina, and Karen grabs one of the local charter boat captains to get the scoop. Turns out no permits are necessary for sport fishing, only for commercial fishing for market. Oh well, it was fun and educational…
Hunting Season.
Karen first heard about hunting season in Grenada from a local taxi driver. We saw a poster for hunting season in the fisheries office. It was more than a bit out of date, but so were ALL of the posters on the wall… but it had the basic scoop…
The taxi driver described a dinner of Mona Monkey. “Like eating a burnt baby.” This year hunting season opens Oct 1. Apparently you can put in an order with a local restaurant and hunter for a monkey dinner. Karen might try an iguana, I haven’t yet decided if I want to eat a “burnt baby.” Mona monkeys are not native, and can be serious pests in the agricultural regions of the country.
Our sail from Bequia down to Grenada was epic. Fast, and fun. Just the boat blasting along through the water as fast as she can.
We are settled into Port Louis in Grenada just soon enough for… the first tropical storm of the season to blow right over the top of us. Shouldn’t be much of an issue actually. Although is is ironic that the place we picked to be as safe from hurricanes as possible is bullseye for the first Atlantic tropical storm of the year.
Why Grenada? It is outside of the normal route of severe tropical weather. Because it is so close to the northern coast of South America, it is hard for a serious hurricane to spin up here. It DOES happen, but they are very far apart. Our insurance company was happy to cover us here, so all is good. The marina we are in is very well protected, and we are securely tied down.
Because of the relative safety from severe tropical weather, Grenada is a popular summering ground for boats that spend the rest of the year cruising the Caribbean. We are sandwiched in between two other Amels here. Another Super Maramu who we met 4 or 5 years ago in the Chesapeake, and Amel’s newest and grandest model, the Amel 60.
Grenada is a beautiful island, and one we are very much looking to explore.
I have been a bit too busy to make time to post (and a bit too lazy, to be honest!). We spent almost all the time since our last posting in Martinique. Which we loved. We’d probably love it even MORE if either of us spoke French. Martinique is officially categorized as an “Overseas Department of France” In France, a “Department” is roughly the equivalent of a US state. In my thinking, Martinique is MORE French that Puerto Rico is American, but a little LESS French that Hawaii is American.
But no matter the finer political divisions, the markets are loaded with delicious French food. Prices are very reasonable. The island is an agricultural powerhouse. Most of the vegetables in the local supermarket are grown on the island. Bananas and sugar cane (exclusively for rum) at the largest crops, at least of the acreage we saw. Supplies of all things European are available. For us, as visitors, the local cost of living is quite low. For the locals, saddled with the very high French taxes, the standard of living would not be very high.
The local rum is a bit different. “Normal” rum is made from molasses, a by product of making sugar. The local rum is called “Rhum Agricole” and is made from raw sugar cane juice. In multiple tastings we found it nasty, with a very off putting taste and aroma. But the locals seem to like it.
The big attraction for us was the service center that Amel Yachts maintains here. Having our boat attended to by people who are “factory trained” was a delight. They understand the systems and the way everything was designed to work. Every single part of the boat they touched they made BETTER than new because they incorporated the designed changes and ideas that have been worked out over the last 25 years. If you have an Amel, in the western hemisphere, you need to get here and turn your boat over to Alban LeRoy and his crew. It will come back to you better than you imagined it could be, and at very reasonable rates. The marina is cheap, and the skilled labor rates are the lowest we have found yet.
When we left Martinique, we sailed 18 hours south to the island of Bequia. It is a beautiful and funky place. With none of the sophistication of the French islands. We had planned to spend a week or so here exploring, but the weather has brought us up short.
We will definitely be back here, there is a lot of fun to be had.
Main Street, Port Elizabeth, Bequia
You have to love a place that sells fuel priced in Eastern Caribbean Dollars per Imperial Gallon. Where else in the WORLD do they still use imperial gallons??? For those of you who have never run into them, an imperial gallon is 5 quarts, not 4 quarts like the US gallon. Proof that the British empire is not quite dead….yet. The Eastern Caribbean Dollar (also used in Grenada) has a fixed exchange rate with the US Dollar. One EC$ ==US$0.37 What were they thinking??? Could they POSSIBLY have chosen a less convenient exchange rate to use?
OK, Let’s see.. Diesel costs. EC$16.3/Imp Gal, so *0.37*4/5 = US$4.83/gallon. Not bad these days!
Right now there is a “tropical wave” in the middle of the Atlantic that is currently expected to become a tropical depression by the time it reaches the eastern Caribbean. Nothing particularly dangerous, but potentially very uncomfortable. Because of that, we have cut our sightseeing short, and after 24 hours we have checked back OUT of the country of “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” and early tomorrow morning will be headed straight to the marina in Grenada that will be our home for the summer.
The commercial hub of the northeast Caribbean is the unusual divided island of Saint Martin. 60% is an overseas Department of France, and the reminder is a country under the Dutch Crown, and called “Sint Maarten”. Similar in status to one of the British Commonwealths, except the “homeland” is the Netherlands. The border here is, and always has been for hundreds of years, invisible. No signs, no border guards. People live in one country and work and shop in the other.
On the Dutch side of the island, English is the standard language. We did hear a few conversations in Dutch, but that was not at all typical. On the French side, the standard language is (surprise!) French. Our French is nonexistent, but everyone we interacted with could speak English, and was helpful and friendly. The only place we struggled at all, was grocery shopping on the French side. Where it seems a rule that no French label could ever include any other language.
France to the right, Netherlands to the left.
A lot of what we learned about this place was due to a former Amel owner, Alex Uster von Baar who lives here on the island, and took us under his wing. He has been our tour guide and taxi service for the last several days, and we are endlessly grateful for his help!
The island is beautiful, with mountain peaks rising 1000 feet and more above the ocean. It is a huge center for boats of all sizes, from tiny little Optimist prams in the Yacht Club Youth program to huge super yachts.
A harbour on the French side, packed full of boats.
As beautiful and interesting as the island’s people and geography are, the thing we are most likely to remember is (believe it or not) the shopping. Seriously. It has chandleries (a boat parts store to you landlubbers) that are better stocked than ANY we have seen–anywhere. Even in Fort Lauderdale. Prices are a bit higher, but not insanely so. We found parts here we needed, and in the USA would have to order in, but here they were on the shelf. Even more amazing (if it’s possible!) than the boat supplies, is the food.
Oh My. The Food. First you have to understand that the locals seem to not understand what the English word “super” means. By way of example, this is a Supermarket:
To be fair, this “Supermarket” is pretty similar to what we expect to find “out in the islands”. You could live very well from this market, it is well stocked with fresh produce and all the normal stables.
But… drop the word “super” and you walk into this “market”:
Carrefour Market on the Dutch side.
In the Dutch Market the prices are posted in US Dollars, Euros, and NAF.
NAF? Netherlands Antilles Guilders. Which doesn’t makes any sense on a lot of levels… Somehow “florins” got translated into “guilders.” And the “Netherlands Antilles” no longer exists as a political entity. But Money is slow to change. The NAF is fixed at the rather computationally inconvenient rate of 1.79NAF to US$1. I don’t think we have seen any NAF in circulation. Everybody uses USD.
And to add to the amusement, pretty much everything in the store is either priced in Dollars or in all three currencies–except meat, which is only priced in NAF. I am sure there is a logical explanation…
Considering that the island has no agriculture at all, the produce is abundant and inexpensive. Meat is of a quality I can only dream about, and imported European products (canned fois gras anyone?) are cheaper than a US consumer could even dream of.
When you are traveling on a boat, you stock up on things when you can, because you don’t know when you might find them again. We added a lot to our ship’s stores here!
From here, we are sailing in a day or two to Martinique, another overseas department of France. The attraction there is the Caribbean Service Base for Amel Yachts. We have a few projects that we want the experts on our boat to take care of.
Once we run out of money to spend at Amel, we are heading further south. We are not at all sure how many stops we will make between Martinique and Grenada. Timing, weather, and our curiosity will decide.
Important: All the procedures described in here are valid for USA flagged boats, with all crew members holding US passports. Other situations might very well have different requirements.
Most countries in the world keep track of who crosses their borders, both coming and going. When a vessel “clears out” of a country, they are issued a document that is informally known as a “zarpe” (from Spanish for “set sail”). Most countries want to see this zarpe from your last country to be sure you are not running from something and therefore an “undesirable.”
The USA has never been very interested in keeping track of who leaves. Recreational vessels leave the USA every day with no paperwork at all. If they are going to neighboring countries who are familiar to this odd quirk of the USA (like Canada, Mexico, or the Bahamas) it’s not an issue. Officials in these countries don’t expect to see a zarpe from the USA. Further afield, it gets more difficult.
Many of the Caribbean countries now insist on seeing a zarpe from the USA if you arrived directly from a USA port. The official line is that they will turn you away if you do not have it, but in practice, I do not know of a case where that has happened. They can make your clearing in process long, slow, and painful however!
The USA has gradually worked out the bugs in their online check in process for private vessels and it is now pretty painless. Fill out the form on the CBP ROAM app, maybe a short phone conversation, and usually that’s about it. The process to check out is not as clear cut, and certainly not as convenient. It must be done in person at a CBP office. Seaports, airports, are usually the places to look. Call ahead, they can work odd hours.
To clear out of the USA you will need to get a copy of form CBP-1300, and fill it out. I assume that you could just show up and get a copy of this, but having it pre-done makes everybody’s lives easier. This form is definitely a square peg in a round hole because it is designed for large commercial ships. Some of the boxes on the form will make no sense. Leave them blank and let the officer doing the clearance ask for the information he might need in a way you can understand. You then need to take that form to the nearest CBP office, and get it approved and stamped. You will also need to present passports for everyone aboard, and the vessel’s CBP decal number.
This gets a bit worse, because many CBP officers will not have seen this form used this way. Immigration and Customs law in the USA is only rivaled by the tax code for complexity and opaqueness. Nobody–even their own senior staff–knows it all, and in many seaports and airports outbound clearance of recreational vessels is not something they see very often. It should go without saying that patience, humor, and good manners will get you further than confrontation and frustration.
Once complete, you will have your own copy of the completed CBP1300 with a stamp. Immigration and Customs officials the world over LOVE their stamps. This is now your zarpe that you can present at your next port of call showing you left the USA legally with no charges pending.
A completed US zapa, with the all-important stamp!
A couple of things to be aware of on the form:
Box 10 and 11: These come off your documentation form. They have nothing to do with the actual weight of anything. Just copy the numbers.
Box 16: You have no cargo. Ship’s stores (i.e., provisions) are not “cargo.”
Box 19: Unless you are licensed to carry passengers for hire, this is ALWAYS zero. Everybody onboard is “crew.”
Box 22: “Bunker” is engine fuel and a “barrel” is 52 gallons. I doubt anybody cares about these for us, but here you go…
fetchinketch 