Author: kerrizane

April 14th-15th, 2014 (-4 on UTC)

Dear F&F,
So this is the \”get it out of my system\” blog! it will be replaced tomorrow by the \”fun part\” of the USVI.
Some of you may be bored, some may laugh….I hope the later. If it\’s not your cup of tea, skip it and wait till tomorrow\’s blog…:-)

I\’ve always had the thesis that the \”bigger the country\”, the less headache we run into with customs and immigration. Up till now, it\’s been absolutely true as it was in New Zealand and Australia. Needless to say, our \”arrival\” at Cruz Bay, St. John\’s (US Territory) blew that assumption out the window.

We departed Jost Van Dyke in the BVI having had a great time; most especially at the Soggy Dollar Bar!…:-)
The customs check out included the usual \”jobsworth\” who fortunately was issuing his wrath to the three charter boats and not me. Despite that, watching him in action was less than pleasant.

We took a circuitous route to Cruz Bay, St. John\’s (USVI) as it would only be a few hour trip between the two islands. We motored by a few of the smaller islands like Great Thatch and Little Thatch (supposedly named after the famous pirate \”Blackbeard\” where he would jump out unexpectedly on his hapless victims). We arrived at Cruz Bay, St. John\’s – dropped anchor and hoisted the USVI courtesy flag. Yes, despite being a US Territory, the USVI has it\’s own flag. Soon we were to find out, in at least a euphemistic way, \”Blackbeard\” was about to jump out yet again. This time from behind his desk – on to us..the hapless victims!…:-) Alright, alright, I\’m being dramatic….:-)

We took the very short dinghy ride to the US Customs dock and presented ourselves as usual. Here I was, all prideful of my first US landfall in 6 years and how smoothly our arrival would be. The cubicles looked just like the ones you see at an airport as these guys have to check in \”international passengers\” from the BVI. The difficulty came when they asked Nikki if she had an \”ESTA\”? \”Yes she did we told them\”. They confirmed this on their computer. An \”ESTA\” is the US Visa waiver program\’s short hand name. The ESTA is given to nationals of friendly nations, most especially those with British, Aussie and NZ passports. For Canadians, it\’s even easier. It was designed to allow citizens from the UK (for example) to enter the USA without having to go through a lengthy visa process; especially those passing through en route to another country. A US Visa is required for instance to simply \”pass through\” a US International Airport – EVEN IF IT IS NOT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION and you are staying only an hour or two in transit. It mandates that the person using it is not living in the United States and will be \”in country\” less than 90 days per stay – it\’s good for two years and renewable. Here\’s where we got into a fuss. The \”small print\” (you know, the stuff on your credit card and mortgage statements?) says that: \”The original entry by the holder in any 90 day period must be on a COMMERCIAL CARRIER\”. Ummm! Why this matters has so many holes in it that I won\’t waste the several paragraphs it would take. The essence of it is: \”If the alien is subject to deportation, the commercial carrier will be responsible to insure the persons removal at their cost\”.

First, \”Beach House\” (despite my having a commercial license and the vessel is approved for commercial service) is not considered a commercial carrier.
Second, if Nikki were to fly to Des Moines, Iowa and it was determined that she should be deported…what are they going to do? Fly her back to the USVI and send her out out to the BVI on a Commercial Ferry? Well…yes we were told. In addition, as she attempted to enter the country \”illegally\”, they were supposed to pull her \”ESTA\” and she would have to apply for a Visa at a US Consulate in Puerto Rico or Barbados! The revocation would be permanent. Okay, bureaucratic nonsense is NOT my strong suit. As such, I did become a bit frustrated, but essentially only wanted to ask some questions to see how we could work around this issue most expeditiously.

I asked if we could put Nikki on the next Ferry back to the BVI (only an hour) and have her clear in and out, returning on the Ferry (Commercial carrier). \”Nope\”, was the answer, I had to take her back, then send her on the Ferry, bring the boat to the Customs Dock and clear in. She could then join me.

I\’ll jump ahead….
We learned in Puerto Rico from US Customs that these guys have a reputation as being (I\’ll be polite)…hard nosed. And that there were two easy work around\’s.
First, she should have been able to do as I suggested above take the Ferry to the BVI and back and second, she could have been issued what is known as a \”pardon\”. This would enable her to do either of the above; round trip on the Ferry or have me bring her back and place her on the return Ferry without all the fuss.

Well, my frustration and questions put the chap off and he then issued me (not Nikki) a paper instructing me to have the attempted entry of the person mentioned \”removed\” from the USVI immediately. I told him that of course we would follow his rules, but to no avail, the \”official document\” was to be signed and executed immediately. This all had a bit of a \”Big Brother\” feel to it, don\’t ya\’ know. So much for the bigger the country and customs rule thesis goes!

As such, we upped anchor and went back to the BVI where we rechecked in and out. Which of course had fees! The Customs gal there (who was the nicest one in the BVI at Soper\’s Hole) told me this wasn\’t the first time this had happened and of course we wondered why:

A) The BVI customs folks did not warn us of this potential issue and B) Why the US Customs service doesn\’t put a pamphlet at the BVI offices to prevent this situation from happening. But alas, I\’m a thinker.

To keep this tale reasonable in length – we returned to Soper\’s Hole, BVI. Nikki went the 9 miles back on the Ferry the next morning and I took \”Beach House\” over by myself. Nikki had no problem entering at the Ferry terminal and all was well. You of course see the importance of Nikki having to arrive by \”commercial carrier\” by now, right? The good news is..it\’s only the \”initial entry\” that must be on a commercial carrier in any 90 day period and that we have till July 12th for Nikki to enter in Florida BEFORE the commercial carrier rule would then go back into effect…..WHEW!…. Who knew?

Okay, I\’ve got that out of my system and friends behind us beware! If your crew is not all US Citizens, watch out for \”Blackbeard\”…:-)

Our next \’Ships Blog\’ will be about the rest of our time in the USVI, much of which was delightful.
KIT,
Scott and Nikki

 

April 6th – April 14th, 2014 (-4 on UTC)

Dear F&F,
We were looking forward to the 75 mile day sail from Anguilla to Virgin Gorda as it would be only our second chance this season to use our spinnaker pole. The spinnaker pole allows us to sail more or less directly downwind. You can use it with any of our front or \”head sails\”. We picked a great day with 15-24 knots behind us and seas which had not built up too much. We were flat and happy with a full main and genoa poled out to starboard – a really great sail; Sirius Satellite Radio a blasting.

Wikipedia – British Virgin Islands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_Virgin_Islands

As we approached Virgin Gorda, we got a chance to sail very close to Sir Richard Branson\’s private and very own Virgin Island – Necker Island. It rents (we heard) for $55,000/day. But hey, you can have 25 people and it\’s ALL inclusive….:-) They even have a small submarine with Captain at your disposal! It looked lovely and we watched several people who were kite surfing, one of whom zipped by right in front of us. Not the safest maneuver as we have no way to quickly avoid him, but all was well and he waved and smiled as he went by. We did gybe once, but not till the last hour of our sail which is how stable the day was.

Cindy and I chartered a small monohull (aka: monomaran) here in 1996, so this would be a first for me – entering somewhere I\’d already been! (At least since French Polynesia in 2009). We took a mooring and headed straight for Saba Rock. This is a very small island (you can walk across it in about one minute) and is in the heart of the Virgin Gorda Sound. When Cindy and I were there in 1996, it had a few rooms and a very small bar that was right out of the bar scence from \”Star Wars\” with all th appropriate characters. Well…things have changed. They did a complete make over of the place and it\’s now quite up-market. We enjoyed the drinks and wifi and had a an early dinner. The next day, we went over to the Bitter End Yacht Club and enjoyed walking around their facility. I toyed with the idea of taking some kite surfing lessons, but the prices were outrageous and it was too windy in any event.

I took the dinghy across the mile wide bay to Gun Cove and checked in with Customs. The usual \”jobsworths\” as Nikki calls them, but for the most part, I just smile and say yes Sir, yes Mam. The word \”jobsworth\” comes from the British saying, \”I can\’t do that mate…it\’s more than my jobs worth\”. It describes the act of asking someone to do anything slightly out of their job description who in no uncertain terms…will not! The customs and immigration department\’s of most countries can be described as \”jobsworths\”. I have always believed that the bigger the country, the easier it is to deal with the customs and immigration officials when you\’re in their physical presence. In a few days time, I was about to find the definite exception to THAT rule….(next blog!)

We decided to move on toward the \”Baths\” at Virgin Gorda which are one of the highlights of the island. We anchored in a beautiful and shallow area behind a protective reef that we were told about by one of the Bitter End YC guys and avoided the crowds. We dinghied into Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor and took a quick look around. Not much going on there. The next morning, we got up early to insure we\’d get a mooring at \”The Baths\”. It was only a 15 minute trip (can\’t stay there overnight) and we got a really nice mooring close ashore. The Baths are a beach area about 1/2 mile long with incredible rock formations, very large boulders and nice clear water. By 9:30 am, all the 20 moorings were taken. Several boats were anchored out. We took the dinghy to the outer swimming area (no dinghies allowed inside) and went for a really nice hike on the west side of the island. From here, you could see \”Fallen Jerusalem\”. Fallen Jerusalem is a small island that when the early explorers saw it, said it looked like the Temple after it was destroyed by the Romans. Frankly, it does. We swam and hiked and really enjoyed our day.

Two features of the BVI are First, it\’s really crowded and second, all of the 10 or so islands are very close to each other. This is a reason it\’s so popular. You can get from one island to the next in an hour or so and it\’s very close to the US. The islands are definitely part of Pirate lore as well…more in a minute. We sailed to Trellis Bay, which I\’d not been to before, and it was packed like the proverbial sardine can! We did go ashore, but decided this was just to be an overnight stop off. The next day we headed back across the Sir Francis Drake Channel and went by Cooper and Peter Islands. Neither looked all that appealing to me in 1996…things haven\’t changed!… We did go by \”Dead Man\’s Chest\” and \”Dead Man\’s Bay\”. A \”Dead Man\’s Chest\” was a Pirate term for a coffin. The infamous \”Black Beard\” (Edward Teach or Thatch?..no one knows for sure) apparently marooned 15 mutinous crew here with the famous 15 bottles of rum. The island is only 1/2 mile from shore at \”Dead Man\’s Bay\”, but in those day\’s of yore, Pirates (nor most sailors) new how to swim. As they had no food or water, they all made a swim for what would become \”Dead Man\’s Bay\”. None of them made it…. With such history… .we moved on!

See Wikipedia: \”Dead Man\’s Chest\”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Chest_Island,_British_Virgin_Islands

Off Salt Cay lies the famous wreck of the RMS Rhone. The Rhone was caught in a late season Hurricane, October 29th, 1867 and smashed again the southwest end of Salt Cay.  In the 1977 film, \”The Deep\”, a buxom Jacquline Bisset is seen being dragged under the Rhone by a vicious moray eel! (what a croc!…:-))

See Wikipedia:  \”RMS Rhone\”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Rhone 

Cindy and I had done the dive in 1996, but we again wanted to move on. We went by \”The Indians\” (small islets) en route to Norman Island. It\’s this island that Robert Louis Stevenson apparently based, \”Treasure Island\” upon.

Norman Island (Treasure Island): http://www.normanisland.com/info.htm
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island

The bay was very calm, lots of anchorages and a new restaurant bar had just opened. We enjoyed a bite ashore that night and went off to \”The Indians\” then next morning. It\’s a well known dive site and Nikki and I did a short dive off the north end. This was the site of Cindy and my \”Bumblebee Dive\”. When we were here in 1996, we dove the sight and had a small school of barracuda staring at us only a few feet away. Right then (in this most serious of moments…ha!), another very overweight gal in a one piece yellow with black pokadot swimsuit came around the corner. She was apparently still a new diver and literally looked like a bumblebee hovering over the flowers (baracuda in our case). She was a bit anxious over finding herself in this situation and flapped her wings mightily! Maybe you had to be there, but we spontaneously laughed so hard, our masks flooded (in synch!). From our nice time at \”The Indians\”, Nikki wanted to see Road Harbour on the island of Tortola. I told here it was effectively a large \”rent a car\” lot for charter boats without anywhere to comfortably anchor. Well, we did the \”buzz by\” and it was as I had remembered it…Hence, on to Soper\’s Hole.

Soper\’s Hole is at the western most end of Tortola (main island of the BVI). It was a famous Pirate hangout and \”Blackbeard\” reportedly used it as a base of operations to come out against unsuspecting treasure and merchant ships en route back to Europe. There is Great Thatch and Little Thatch islands just outside the harbor and many feel his last name which we have all heard is \”Teach\”, may have been \”Thatch\”.

Wikipedia \”Blackbeard\”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard

We had a nice evening ashore and a lovely dinner at the \”Fish and Lime\” Restaurant. Nikki always likes it when the guide book gives a good recommendation and it turns out that way. Not the rule by the way, but the exception. The next day, we headed off around the north side of Tortola to Cane Garden Bay. We went ashore, but it was too late to visit much of the area. It was a really nice calm anchorage with a great beach and swimming area. The next day, we motored back to Bomba\’s Surf Shack to check it out. It\’s a real dive and we would have had a lumpy time trying to get ashore. As such, we headed off for our last planned stop in the BVI – Jost Van Dyke.

Wikipedia – The Island of Jost Van Dyke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jost_Van_Dyke

We did a bit of a tour and finally ended up mooring in Great Harbour. Another Pirate Island, JVD was a Dutch Privateer. He used this island (only 5 miles from Tortola) as his base of operations for taking prizes with his \”Dutch License\”. The line between \”privateer\” and \”pirate\” could be a very thin one. A Privateer had a \”letter of marque\” from his host country which allowed him as a civilian ship to take prizes (other ship\’s and their cargoes) from nations whom they were at war with. Pirates were in it to take from anyone and everyone. Some of the Privateer\’s crossed the line and were then ruled Pirates. Sometimes, one countries \”Privateer\’s\” were another countries \”Pirates\” and on it went. Jost Van Dyke apparently crossed the line and was just considered a pirate. The English hero, Sir Francis Drake was an English Privateer, but to the Spanish, he was \”Pirata Drake\”. History of course is written by the victors…..:-)

Wikipedia – The Privateer \”Joost van Dyk\”:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joost_van_Dyk

JVD is home to \”Foxy\’s\” bar and also the home just around the corner of the \”Soggy Dollar Bar\” in White Bay. Foxy\’s was really famous throughout the Caribbean but we think it\’s heyday may have finally faded. When I was here with Cindy in 1996 over Christmas, the boats were rafted so thick, you could practically walk ashore. Now, Foxy\’s seemed a yester-year scene. The \”Soggy Dollar\” however was HAPPENING!…

It was the week or so before Easter vacation and the US Spring Breaker\’s were off to an early start. The Soggy Dollar was so named from the original boaters who came here and having no dock to land at swam ashore. They would pay for their drinks with the \”soggy dollars\” in their swimsuits. This is also the bar that invented the potent rum drink, \”The Pain Killer\”. They served them by the dozens in minutes.

They had live music and Chris (who was definitely in touch with his inner Jimmy Buffet) was playing all the Buffet classics. We enjoyed him and became fast friends. He told us he\’d been in the Caribbean for 25 years and that he would be playing at several bars in the USVI (US Virgin Islands) next week and we should come and check him out. The party was all day (and we\’re sure) well into the night.

We picked up a few souvenirs and dinghied the 1/2 mile back to Great Harbour. We did put in an appearance at Foxy\’s but it was like an old folks home next to the Soggy Dollar. The next morning, we checked out with BVI customs (more jobsworth\’s) and made the short trip to Cruz Bay in the USVI…. Now, that\’s another true story – and shortly I will tell it…..:-)

KIT, Scott and Nikki