After having received a lot of questions from a USCIS officer when entering the USA, I make darn sure that I get cleared out of the USA when leaving. Our local officer is extremely helpful in this way, so it has never been an issue yet.
Girl with patreon account goes sailing in hot place
- Thread starter dylan winter
- Start date
After having received a lot of questions from a USCIS officer when entering the USA, I make darn sure that I get cleared out of the USA when leaving. Our local officer is extremely helpful in this way, so it has never been an issue yet.
Fah Kiew Tu
Curmudgeon, First Rank
There is no story to tell.
you either knew that you couldn't bring foodstuffs like that into Australia and thought you'd try it on, or you didn't check on what Australia's quarantine rules were and got caught out by your own lack of due diligence.
Period.
Either way that was on you, not Australia.
I'm not going to discuss the pros and cons of our quarantine rules, they're OUR rules and they (mostly) exist for good reasons. We're disease free for a number of things and export markets are facilitated or even only possible because of that status. Ignorant or deliberate imports of foodstuffs endanger that and we've got zero sense of humour about it.
So don't.
FKT
estarzinger
Super Anarchist
- 7,775
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one time, coming from NZ, we cleared into the Austral Islands (Ra'ivāvae island). We have a lovely relaxed check-in, about the minimum process possible, no questions about visas or bonds or really anything other than a quick look at our papers and a welcome and did we need to organize fuel because it could take a while to come by ship. We were told that we were good to go everywhere in Polynesia, BUT that if we went to Tahati or Nuka Hiva we would have to go thru the full official process.
very different than the times we have cleared into Nuka and Tahati where the situation was always very official french process.
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You're wrong on that one.. We were assured by NZ officials when we left that there were no import issues for this into AUS, that they had complete reciprocity. We deliberately did not bring anything in that was on the carefully-checked list.
They told us in AUS that they were seizing it because we couldn't prove that it was actually from NZ.
We don't "try anything on" with anybody. Don't be an ass.
It's up to you to ensure that everything is labelled. I have fallen foul of this myself recently entering Australia, though the official decided to simply believe my (true) story concerning the origin of the product.
he b gb
Anarchist
Visiting multiple pacific nations while sailing from Australia to Tahiti and back we never heard the term Zarpe once so you’re spot on there jmh.
On our way we stopped off at Atafu atoll (Tokelau) which lays about half way between Wallis Island and Kiritimati. They don’t usually allow yachts clearance here but after radioing in and waiting for permission from tribal leaders they gave us permission to use their only mooring and to come ashore. They don’t have any Immigration or Customs services so the villages only policeman took our details and our outward clearance from Wallis Island.
It was a very interesting place to visit with very friendly and religious locals.
Anyway when we departed there were no official outward clearance papers available and I didn’t think of asking if we get our clearance papers from Wallis Island back. Bad mistake, it was a major hassle arriving at Kiritimati with no clearance papers which took around a month to sort out. Luckily I was preparing to stay there for 4 months(cyclone season) which ended up having its own set of problems
!
TheDragon
Super Anarchist
Munz, Fiji did ask that one keep one's AIS transmitter on, but I don't have one. I figured they could just look at my tracker, but they never asked to see it. I don't know what the situation is now. I had to skip the Cook Islands and Tonga because both were still closed, so instead made an unauthorized visit to Beveridge Reef, which was amazing, and a brief emergency stop at Niue on the way through, plus hung out near the tiny Tonga islet of Toku to watch whales for an afternoon.
TheDragon
Super Anarchist
One of the originals, and yes, she is a "girl" and she sails in hot places.
mckenzie.keith
Aspiring Anarchist
I think that Australia's unbelievably strict rules catch many people off guard. Is there any other country that seizes canned food? Are you sure there is any disease that can be spread from canned food?
Russell Brown
Super Anarchist
Yes, but when they ask you if you have ever been convicted of a felony, you can ask "is that still required"?
Fah Kiew Tu
Curmudgeon, First Rank
First they're not unbelievably strict, they are what they are. They're well documented. Tasmania has an extra level of inspection & quarantine because a number of diseases & feral animals haven't made it to here and we want to keep it that way.
Second, are you prepared to put up everything you own in forfeit for the chance of bringing in an exotic disease in foodstuffs? Your question basically asks us to take the risks WRT canned food while if it happens, you shrug and walk on by. If you're not prepared to risk your vessel and everything you own, why do you think that it's OK to risk the livelihoods of Australian farmers & graziers because you don't want to obey Australian food regulations? It can be incredibly hard to impossible to eliminate the spread of pests & diseases from a single point source.
I'm an ex CSIRO scientist in a past life. I really don't have any sense of humour about exotic diseases. Here's a reference close to my home.
Tasmanian bumblebee decision defies the evidence - Invasive Species Council
A Senate environment committee that has endorsed the commercial use of Tasmanian feral bumblebees seemed oblivious to the serious impacts.
invasives.org.au
I have bumble bees on my place and I think they're really cute - but they shouldn't be here. Smuggled in. The mainland really wants to keep bumble bees confined to Tasmania as they apparently can't be eradicated.
One infested piece of fruit and the eradication cost can be millions even if successful. Tasmania is fruit fly free and I can pick & eat ripe stone fruit without having to think about it. That's far more important to me than your foodstuffs on your boat.
We've deported people on the next plane and banned them from re-entry to Australia for attempted smuggling of foodstuffs & pests. And that's for small personal quantities.
Really guys, it's the 21st Century. All this information is available. If you don't want to obey the quarantine rules, fuck off somewhere else to a different country. We don't want you.
Did I mention I've zero SOH on this topic?
FKT
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
Country border regulations can be very random. The Australians think that, in a globalized world, they can keep the world at bay. In the US, OTOH, they don’t fucking care: when we drove to the US from Canada last winter during Covid after border regulations had eased, the US border folks seriously asked if we had any fruit and vegetables - not whether we had proof of Covid vaccination. They didn’t ask anything about that. Returning to Canada, however, involved a very much stricter set of requirements!
It doesn't matter if they are random. If you want to enter a foreign country it's your responsibility to check - in advance - understand them, and comply with them.
sculpin
Super Anarchist
But Jud - if you cross that border into the US while carrying a piece of fruit, massive wrath. Even if it is an orange with a fucking sticker on it proclaiming to be from Florida...
mckenzie.keith
Aspiring Anarchist
Well when I went I think it was 1993. My boat didn't even have an electric bilge pump or windlass. For all practical purposes the WWW did not really exist. Moreover, it simply did not occur to me that any country would be so stringent as Australia was at that time (and apparently still is).First they're not unbelievably strict, they are what they are. They're well documented. Tasmania has an extra level of inspection & quarantine because a number of diseases & feral animals haven't made it to here and we want to keep it that way.
Second, are you prepared to put up everything you own in forfeit for the chance of bringing in an exotic disease in foodstuffs? Your question basically asks us to take the risks WRT canned food while if it happens, you shrug and walk on by. If you're not prepared to risk your vessel and everything you own, why do you think that it's OK to risk the livelihoods of Australian farmers & graziers because you don't want to obey Australian food regulations? It can be incredibly hard to impossible to eliminate the spread of pests & diseases from a single point source.
I'm an ex CSIRO scientist in a past life. I really don't have any sense of humour about exotic diseases. Here's a reference close to my home.
Tasmanian bumblebee decision defies the evidence - Invasive Species Council
A Senate environment committee that has endorsed the commercial use of Tasmanian feral bumblebees seemed oblivious to the serious impacts.
I have bumble bees on my place and I think they're really cute - but they shouldn't be here. Smuggled in. The mainland really wants to keep bumble bees confined to Tasmania as they apparently can't be eradicated.
One infested piece of fruit and the eradication cost can be millions even if successful. Tasmania is fruit fly free and I can pick & eat ripe stone fruit without having to think about it. That's far more important to me than your foodstuffs on your boat.
We've deported people on the next plane and banned them from re-entry to Australia for attempted smuggling of foodstuffs & pests. And that's for small personal quantities.
Really guys, it's the 21st Century. All this information is available. If you don't want to obey the quarantine rules, fuck off somewhere else to a different country. We don't want you.
Did I mention I've zero SOH on this topic?
FKT
I was not trying to bring bumblebees into the country. Do you think there are bumble bee or fruit fly larvae in a can of butter from New Zealand? Or canned fruit from France?
We fully cooperated with the inspection but were increasingly dismayed at all the shit that the inspector took off the boat. And to this day I think it was ridiculous. But I will never make the mistake again, that is for sure.
mckenzie.keith
Aspiring Anarchist
When I visited it was a lot harder to check in advance. There was absolutely no intention of trying to get away with something. We would have probably showed up with bare cupboards if we knew what was in store for us but we didn't know.
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
Well, yeah, man - I’ve crossed borders on foot, by bus, train, airplane, car, ferry, and sailboat in Asia, Africa, Europe and North and Central America. By “random” in what I wrote above, I meant “unpredictable”. During Covid, the US authorities could not have cared less about proof of vaccine, whereas all the info we had read ahead of time said they would. Border officials have a lot of discretion on what they allow.
I appreciate that, but on the other hand it changes nothing. It's still your responsibility to find out, and to comply.
I arrived in NZ from the Pacific in the 90s too - NZ is similarily strict with entry requirements - and for the most part we knew what we could enter with and what we couldn't and the last few days of the passage we were eating like kings, using up all the food that we knew would otherwise be seized and destroyed.
Even now, when it is much easier to check in advance, there remain some cruisers that think the rules and regulations don't apply to them and can do whatever they think is right, or sufficient, or what they are used to in their country of origin.
With that type of attitude possibly they should not go cruising in the first place...
Yep. I once tried to fly out of Sevilla with some rock and water samples in my backpack. I had notarized letters from the US and Spanish governments authorizing me to have them and certifying that it was all Official Government Business. But I had long hair and... well, a backpack, and the military police didn't believe a fucking bit of the story. Shred the backpack, squeeze out the toothpaste, the whole nine yards. Catch the next flight. Without the samples.
From then on, whenever possible, I shipped everything by courier. Everything except a change of clothes and a book. Except sometimes the cost was thousands of dollars more than checked luggage.
Another time, I walked onto a plane with a forty pound rock in my bag as carry-on and nobody said a word.
mckenzie.keith
Aspiring Anarchist
I believe in complying with host country rules. And I also believe that sometimes the rules are stupid. I wasn't trying to bring contraband into the country, and I wasn't even being cavalier. The inspector who took all our shit did not lecture us or preach at us the way some on this forum seem inclined to do.
