Wednesday 15 Dec, Anchored Lake Worth FL, cruising day 18: First dinghy ride ashore for long visit to CBP office, and gathering Hookha dive system to take ashore. Plus more heavy rain.
It was supposed to be very windy today, but we wake up to just a light breeze. So today will be the visit to the CBP office (Customs & Border Protection Agency). Let’s hope they don’t have any issues with our last passage plan vs reality. It does seem we can never quite get it right with them. And each office we visit seems to have a slightly different slant on rules and advice.
Oana doesn’t relish dinghy trips where there is potential to get sprayed with salt water, so I go alone. CBP is all about the boat and not the passengers, so it’s fine for just the Captain to go. I’ll keep the commodore in reserve, in case I get into trouble 😊
The dinghy ride is about 1 mile, across Lake Worth to the port area on the west side. On arrival, I first try to tie the dinghy at the Cracker Boy Boat Works, which is right next to the port. But I’m told to leave. Apparently, they are not insured to have dinghies land at their dock. That’s a new one, I haven’t heard that “on-your-bike” reason before!
The next stop along is the Riviera Beach Marina. I tie up once, then moved on, then 2nd time the same, then finally I find a spot where no one objects. But I visit the marina office just to be sure. They are very pleasant and give me the thumbs up to moor there for an hour. This is another Florida specific thing: challenges landing the dinghy. Either it’s a big NO WAY, or there is some disproportionate dinghy landing charge. Sometimes as high as $25! All other states and countries we have cruised (bar Sicily, Italy) we have never had an issue landing the dinghy to go shopping or just a quick stop. I guess Florida just has too many boats, and for any service, money must be paid.
Arriving at CBP in the port office, the duty officer takes my transit form 1300 into the back office and 5 minutes later a supervisor comes out. Uh-ho. Here we go. Contrary to what CBP in Beaufort told us, our destination port (which had been St. Augustine) has to be the port we check into. We cannot simply overshoot and arrive here, into West Palm Beach. I pleaded that CBP in St. Augustine was closed on weekends and the weather was getting bad and we had to leave. Gladly, they forgive us and check us in.
Also positively, they highlight to me a system called DTOPS where we pay $30 for a year’s worth of entry and exit fees. Given each entry and exit is 2 x $19, I’m happy to sign up, which I manage to do using the internet on my phone. But it took a full 40 minutes of questions, crazy long and complicated password criteria, setting up the payment account and finally actually paying the $30. Only a government system could be so complicated!
Another new CBP rule (new to us) is their demand to hold onto our boat’s original registration document. We will receive it back when we come back in, to complete check out formalities before moving onto the next port. Very odd. Imagine being a tourist coming into a new town and having to surrender your passport until you depart that town for a new one? This is basically what they are asking. But rules are rules, so the document gets handed over and they give me a receipt. But it doesn’t quite feel right handing over that document. We’ve never had to do that before, in any country.
Although in general the CBP guys are very professional and friendly, we do find it odd that each and every CBP office we visit or call into has at least one quirky rule and different advice or system to use. For instance, why didn’t previous offices tell us about the DTOPS system? This office is super keen we use it. And if we’d known about DTOPS earlier, we could have saved some money. And why now, for the first time, do we have to surrender our documents till we depart? Maybe it’s just a Florida thing. We will see at the next port.
Before I depart in the dinghy again, I take a look around the marina. It’s very nicely kept and with fancy boats and I’m guessing it’s quite expensive to dock here. I’m so glad that Oana is happier anchoring than in marinas. Otherwise, in the USA, we’d be penniless in no time!
Back at Cloudy Bay, after explaining to Oana why I took so long, I’m happy to find someone interested in buying our Hookha dive system. This guy had seen the ad on Craigs List. His daughter lives in West Palm and I get in contact with her to arrange the exchange. It will be so good to get this expensive piece of kit off the boat and have that storage space back again.
For the next hour I dig out all the various pieces of the system, dust them off and ensure they look like new, as advertised. I’m very glad that I sprayed the compressor with T9 when we first brought it on board. With a quick wipe-down it does look like new, with no corrosion whatsoever. I had feared it might have suffered from its 2-year stint in the aft locker.
In the early evening we are again treated to a torrential downpour and strong gusts as a rainsquall passes over. Yesterday’s rain was welcome. We needed the salt rinsing off. But now that we are clean, all I can think of is the wear this fresh water is doing to our poor teak decks. Well, I guess like with the sails, we will now have to start a piggy-bank for deck replacement. Next time, there will be no wood! We will have synthetic. Save the trees, if we can help it.
It’s an early night for me, because I have a call with Spain at 4am regarding the Mastervolt charging issue. Ivan will log into the boat’s system and try to see why the charge amperage is dropping off too quickly. Fingers crossed he finds something that is simple software corrected.
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