Girl with patreon account goes sailing in hot place

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

what you have to do to check out

I’ve heard of this before but never understood what this “check out” of a place means. I’ve only ever sailed from Canada to Alaska/US then back to Canada; and from Hawaii/US to Canada. Neither country required us to check out - we simply left - but entering either country obviously required us to check in, as at any land or air port of entry.

If, say, I’m in French Polynesia on my boat and I want to sail to England, say, I can’t simply (if I knew what I was doing ) sail away, go East, round Cape Horn, then sail up to England and, once arrived, check in to an acceptable port there? I have to have checked out of French Polynesia first? Who’s to know? Or would English (or other country) immigration authorities ask where I cleared out of from last, whether Uruguay, Germany, Japan, Russia, French Polynesia, etc.? Just curious why the next country you’re entering care whether you’ve filled out some forms to leave a place? I thought countries only cared about entry (in terms of not bringing in contraband, having the appropriate visa for entry, not having an infectious disease to spread upon entry, etc etc). Is this just a French bureaucracy thing (they seem to like paperwork and rules), or a general practice?

 

[accnick]

I’ve heard this before but never understood what this “check out” of a place means. I’ve only ever sailed from Canada to Alaska/US then back to Canada; and from Hawaii/US to Canada. Neither country required us to check out - we simply left - but entering either country obviously required us to check in, as at any land or air port of entry.

If, say, I’m in French Polynesia on my boat and I want to sail to England, say, I can’t simply (if I knew what I was going ) sail away, go East, round Cape Horn, then sail up to England and, once arrived, check in to an acceptable port there? I have to checked out of French Polynesia first? Why/who’s to know - would English (or other country) immigration authorities ask where I cleared out of from last, whether Uruguay, Germany, Japan, Russia, French Polynesia, etc. Why would the next country you’re entering give a damn about whether you’ve filled out some forms to leave a place? I thought countries only cared about entry (in terms of not bringing in contraband, having the appropriate visa for entry, not having an infectious disease to spread upon entry, etc). Is this just a French bureaucracy thing (they seem to like paperwork and rules), or a general practice?

Some countries (or at least their officials) want to see the outward clearance from your last port of call. Typically, they want to know where you have been to assess whether you might be bringing in disease, hitchhikers (like zebra mussels), or things that might be illegal to import.

Not every country gives outward clearances, and not every country requires them when you arrive. They generally do require you tell them where you are coming from on your inward clearance form, and sometimes (like Israel) want to know every country you have been in during the last six months, as I recall.

When we left the EU from the Canary Islands, headed back across the Atlantic, we had been totally within EU countries for a number of months, and I forgot to clear out. When we got to Antigua, I was petrified because I didn't have the outward clearance, having been in countries for the last few years that wanted to see them.

The immigration guy in English Harbour just shrugged it off.

When we were in French Polynesia, you needed to get an outward clearance to get the significant bond back that you had to pay on arrival. It was quite a bit of money, the only place we ever had to pay anything like that. Not sure if they still do that or not.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

If you drive into Sweden intending to leave by boat they will check you in and out at the same time.

 

[toddster]

I used to travel quite a bit with laboratory/commercial equipment. Usually there was some sort of temporary import permit (by various names) that had to be stamped on every entry and exit. If you missed one, you could get charged hefty duties. Similar to the TIP for taking your boat into Mexico. The challenge was often finding someone who knew what the heck it was and was willing to sign it. In the hour before the next flight…

 

[Jim in Halifax]

'Zarpe' is pretty standard if you're cruising internationally Jud. The oceans of the world may be unencumbered by national politics but the shores aren't so unless you're going to be like Reid Stowe and just wander the oceans like a Flying Dutchman, you better clear out (and in) officially. (Clearing out between USA and Canada is not required, as you mention.)

 

[blurocketsmate]

^^^ I've heard it's to make sure you're not a fugitive from the last place, or had skipped out on your bar tab.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

'Zarpe' is pretty standard if you're cruising internationally Jud. The oceans of the world may be unencumbered by national politics but the shores aren't so unless you're going to be like Reid Stowe and just wander the oceans like a Flying Dutchman, you better clear out (and in) officially. (Clearing out between USA and Canada is not required, as you mention.)

Oh, I always thought a “zarpe” was specifically to do with Chilean Patagonia...some years ago I was reading about cruising there, quite possibly something estarzinger had written, about the Armada (Chilean Navy) requiring a zarpe, clearance papers (literally means something like “set sail” in Spanish), to go further south, and around Isla Hornos (Cape Horn). As I understand it, there’s a bit of bureaucracy down there —they keep track of who’s coming and going. Didn’t realize a zarpe was a more general “set sail” clearance paper!

 

[jmh2002]

...Didn’t realize a zarpe was a more general “set sail” clearance paper!

It's not, but North Americans seem to have generalised the use of the term Zarpe in this way...

 

[TheDragon]

Jud, so far I have only checked out of Panama, who gave me 24 hours to leave, and French Polynesia, who gave me a week (which is very nice as you can then legally go to the even more leeward spectacular island of Maupiti and the atoll of Maupihaa before actually leaving FP, but there is noone to check on you there, so you could stay a lot longer if you wanted, as some cruisers did, some because they were trapped in Maupiti by strong conditions at the difficult pass).

But on checking into French Polynesia they wanted to see my zarpe from Panama, and entering Fiji they wanted to see my zarpe from French Polynesia. I have no idea what would happen if I did not have those. The Panama one was arranged along with passport stamp in a couple of hours. The French Polynesia one takes overnight because they send the paperwork by email to Papeete from Borabora and the next day you get the forms back and they stamp your passport, and curiously, then ask you to mail one of the forms back to Papeete! Which allowed me to get a commemorative stamp for Darwin, since he has yet to be cancelled there.

Accnick, yes, FP still requires a large deposit that you get back at exit, but I used an agent to avoid dealing with all the French paperwork, and they covered it for me. Problem for those doing a deposit, equal to an airfare home, is they give it back to you in FP francs, not the dollars or pounds or whatever you paid it in. Fiji does not require any deposit and everything is in English, so I did not bother with an agent, but they do charge quite a lot of fees, as does Panama.

 

[Elegua]

Checking in to your first stop after leaving the US is fun because the US doesn’t seem to check out small private yachts. I heard people say that it can be done, but when I called USCIS, they insisted that they didn’t clear out small private yachts. Multiple times. I’ve also not met anyone who did clear out of the US. If someone has the right number to call…

 

[CapDave]

We checked out of Norfolk VA in October 2021 enroute to Antigua. Just called CBP and asked for it, they do a “courtesy” clearance on Form CBP 1300. We had to go to the office in town to get it, and pay $19 in cash - exact change only.

CBP Norfolk - 757-533-4200

 

[CapDave]

I’ve heard of this before but never understood what this “check out” of a place means. I’ve only ever sailed from Canada to Alaska/US then back to Canada; and from Hawaii/US to Canada. Neither country required us to check out - we simply left - but entering either country obviously required us to check in, as at any land or air port of entry.

If, say, I’m in French Polynesia on my boat and I want to sail to England, say, I can’t simply (if I knew what I was doing ) sail away, go East, round Cape Horn, then sail up to England and, once arrived, check in to an acceptable port there? I have to have checked out of French Polynesia first? Who’s to know? Or would English (or other country) immigration authorities ask where I cleared out of from last, whether Uruguay, Germany, Japan, Russia, French Polynesia, etc.? Just curious why the next country you’re entering care whether you’ve filled out some forms to leave a place? I thought countries only cared about entry (in terms of not bringing in contraband, having the appropriate visa for entry, not having an infectious disease to spread upon entry, etc etc). Is this just a French bureaucracy thing (they seem to like paperwork and rules), or a general practice?

In my experience, needing an outbound clearance to show at your next port is the rule, not the exception.

 

[Munz]

But on checking into French Polynesia they wanted to see my zarpe from Panama, and entering Fiji they wanted to see my zarpe from French Polynesia.

Where did you clear into FP? Hiva Oa? How does that work? They come out and inspect the boat? Or it's more the case of going ashore and finding a police station or immigration office to clear into?

Sorry about the thread drift, but I hope the moaners appreciate that we have moved on from hairy dudes in cold places to sweat-stained paperwork in warm places.... That's an improvement right?

 

[chester]

Where did you clear into FP? Hiva Oa? How does that work? They come out and inspect the boat? Or it's more the case of going ashore and finding a police station or immigration office to clear into?

Sorry about the thread drift, but I hope the moaners appreciate that we have moved on from hairy dudes in cold places to sweat-stained paperwork in warm places.... That's an improvement right?

is the paper work being carried by a hot chick in a bikini?

 

[Diarmuid]

is the paper work being carried by a hot chick in a bikini?

I'd watch that.

 

[chester]

I'd watch that.

I know, right?

 

[accnick]

Where did you clear into FP? Hiva Oa? How does that work? They come out and inspect the boat? Or it's more the case of going ashore and finding a police station or immigration office to clear into?

Sorry about the thread drift, but I hope the moaners appreciate that we have moved on from hairy dudes in cold places to sweat-stained paperwork in warm places.... That's an improvement right?

In most places, you go to them. In some places, they came to you. In some places, like Australia and Israel, there are dedicated quarantine and customs/immigration/border control docks that you must come into.

Approaching Israel--maybe 20 miles out--a large patrol boat shadowed us, hailed us in English on VHF, and asked where we were headed. I broke out my US ensign for the first time since we had left SE Asia.

We were directed into a secure, gated dock in Ashkelon (about five miles from Gaza) surrounded by a high chainlink fence topped with razor wire, and told not to communicate with anyone until they had cleared us. Were boarded by two agents, plus one guarding us on the dock.

They separated us, and one sat with my wife in the cockpit and interviewed her, while the other took me below, interviewed me, checked all the ship's papers and passports, and went through every single locker on the boat, keeping his hand inside his jacket as he opened larger doors that might be used by a person.

There was no joking or lighthearted banter. They were all business, and the whole process probably took more than 45 minutes. It was somehow both un-nerving and reassuring.

There were two glitches in the process. The guy taking the interior apart found a small zip-lock bag containing what looked like crack cocaine in a drawer. He held it up, and said "what's this?" I had no idea, and then finally realized it was some frankincense that we had been given as a gift in Oman.

They confiscated it anyway.

The other glitch was when I asked them not to stamp our passports, as some countries back then would not let you in if you had an Israeli stamp in your passport. After some back and forth, they stamped some other official paper and gave it to us to keep with our passports, but they were not pleased.

Australia was complex in a different way. When we were about 100 miles off the coast, a P-3 came over the horizon straight at us, maybe 100m off the deck. It circled, called us on the radio, and asked our last port of call, destination, ETA, how many POB, nationalities, the usual stuff.

The story about AUS Customs seizing and destroying about $500 worth of just-purchased NZ beef and lamb from us when we cleared in is another story, for another day.

Both of those countries take border protection very seriously, including paperwork. There are others that do, as well.

The cruiser networks on VHF and HF back then were pretty good at keeping people up to date on what and what not to do when it came to customs/immigration. They did not, however, have every detail exactly right.

The nets now may be mostly online.

 

[Diarmuid]

I know, right?

 

[TheDragon]

Where did you clear into FP? Hiva Oa? How does that work? They come out and inspect the boat? Or it's more the case of going ashore and finding a police station or immigration office to clear into?

Sorry about the thread drift, but I hope the moaners appreciate that we have moved on from hairy dudes in cold places to sweat-stained paperwork in warm places.... That's an improvement right?

During covid you could only check into FP at Nuku Hiva, which was unfortunate as then I struggled and eventually gave up trying to sail back upwind to the other islands, so that was the only island I visited in the Marquesas. I think they have relaxed that now. I had paid for an agent, so went ashore, met him, and he handled all the paperwork at the gendarme office. Took perhaps an hour.

For Fiji you need to submit a form by email two days ahead of arrival and my wife did that for me. Then you wait on a mooring at one of the three (maybe more now) marinas that are allowed to check you in, in my case at Savusavu on Vanua Levu. Then a whole bunch of officials come to your boat and go through endless forms, all very pleasant folk if large, and then you wander around town paying three or four different fees at different offices. Took several hours.

 

[Munz]

During covid you could only check into FP at Nuku Hiva, which was unfortunate as then I struggled and eventually gave up trying to sail back upwind to the other islands, so that was the only island I visited in the Marquesas. I think they have relaxed that now. I had paid for an agent, so went ashore, met him, and he handled all the paperwork at the gendarme office. Took perhaps an hour.

For Fiji you need to submit a form by email two days ahead of arrival and my wife did that for me. Then you wait on a mooring at one of the three (maybe more now) marinas that are allowed to check you in, in my case at Savusavu on Vanua Levu. Then a whole bunch of officials come to your boat and go through endless forms, all very pleasant folk if large, and then you wander around town paying three or four different fees at different offices. Took several hours.

Thanks, for the info!

I'm thinking of trying to make it down as far as the Gambiers to clear in if the winds co-operate. Hopefully this will give me a decent angle to get to the Marquesas afterwards.

RE Fiji: what was the situation regarding AIS transmitters when you where there? They made it compulsory for all boats to transmit their position during Covid right?
But I also read about boats managing to get in without one (by providing a chart plotter track for example).

Is this still something they are still insisting on? or are they not so strict about it after the Covid panic died down?

Cheers!