Cruiser-unfriendly Curaçao – Checking in Procedures

When arriving in Bonaire, you take the dinghy ashore, walk to Customs and Immigration (open “25/8”), fill out some paperwork and after about 15 minutes, you are checked into the country and good to go, free of charge. In Curaçao, not so much. After four years of cruising, mainly in the Caribbean, it proves to be the most time-consuming and inconvenient country of all the places we have stopped at.  First and for all, you are anchored in Spanish Waters (more about that later) and the check-in procedures have to happen in the capital Willemstad, about 30 minutes away.  You are dependent on bus schedules and opening hours and you have to walk all over town and get back to your boat when finally done; this is how it works…

Mark and I arrived on a Friday, late afternoon and you are supposed to check in the country within 24 hours. So, first thing Saturday morning, around 8:30 am, we take the dinghy to a cramped and small dinghy dock, walk to the bus stop to catch the 9am bus, wait for an extra 20 minutes until it arrives and takes us to the bus station in town. From there, we walk to Customs (Douane) in Punda and wait until someone opens the door. The formalities take about 30 minutes and we are off to Immigration in Otrabanda, on the other side of the river, supposedly under the big Queen Juliana Bridge. The floating pedestrian Queen Emma Bridge is broken, so we hop on the free ferry, shelter during a massive rainstorm, and walk along the shore. We pass a gated rundown area and wonder where to go. There are no signs anywhere; when we ask a local, she sends us back to the other side of town. We persevere, following a dirt track until we find ourselves under the massive bridge, up high, in the middle of nowhere. Not good.

We backtrack, return to a main road and ask a bus driver where Immigration is located. He points us to the rundown area where the gate is now open. No signs! We have to check in at a little booth, receive a permission card and look around the dilapidated buildings. Where to go? Back to the booth, where we ask for directions. We are pointed towards one side of the long dock and try again. This is an unattractive cruise ship dock area, but we cannot imagine that it is actually still in use (it is).  After another 5 minute walk, we reach two buildings, of which one is set back and says in small letters “Immigratie” above the door. Ha! Inside, we fill out the paperwork, call for the officer and get our stamps. We mention that we are anchored in zone A in Spanish Waters. Now, there is one step left: Port Authority to buy our anchor permit. But… it is Saturday and the office is closed. We walk all the way back to Punda, explore a bit over there (which doesn’t count), wait 30 minutes for the bus and arrive back home after 5 hours of total time spent on checking in. And, we are not done yet!

On Monday, I go back to Willemstad. Wait, ride the bus, and run (this time over the Queen Emma Bridge) to the Port Office, about 1.5 miles away, because it is approaching 11:30 am and the office closes at 11:45 am, until 1:30pm… Sweating profusely, I open the door, right in time. I wait in line, buy an anchoring permit for US$10 and we’re done! In Curaçao, you are only allowed to anchor long term in Spanish Waters, where there are four zones to do so, restricting sailors to a relatively small area in this massive bay. You pick your zone and have to stay there, unless you go back to the office (and purchase another permit ?). There are a few other – more attractive – bays to anchor, but you need a separate permit for each one of them, pay US$ 10 every time and leave that area after a maximum of three days. 

Permit in hand, I make my way back home, after another 3 hours. That brings the total check-in time to 8 hours, before we feel comfortable and settled. Now, we are ready to battle a few boat projects and see what Curaçao has to offer. More about that in a next blog!

Marie-Galante and Onwards

Marie-Galante was a nice and refreshing stop on our way north. After giving it a pass a couple of times before, the weather approved our stay this time. Mark and I rented a scooter for a day and explored this flat and rural French speaking island. We left from St. Louis (where Irie was anchored) up the west coast and stopped at a couple beautiful and quiet beaches. Traffic was very light and we took it easy, gazing at the farm land scenes and sugarcane fields.

At the northern end of the island, we had a look at a big sink hole and some scenic rock faces. We continued inland and made a brief stop at the renovated wind mill Moulin de Bézard. We had seen several of the hundreds of ruined wind mills before, but this one was in tip-top shape. Before noon, we managed to explore the grounds of Marie-Galante’s most famous rum distillery, Distillerie Bellevue. There trademark white rum, rhum agricole, is 59° alcohol. Of course we had to try a sample! The tastings are free and they also have a variety of flavored rums.

In Capesterre, a small supermarket offered the cheapest lunch option (bread and salami), devoured at a gorgeous beach where we watched some kite surfers “take off”. We considered a swim, but, believe it or not, the water is too cold for us to get in. It is winter after all! Via a side stop at an interesting old slave plantation, the coastal road brought us to the capital Grand Bourg, where we got lucky to find the customs office open and finally checked in (and out of) Guadeloupe. The hospital perched on top of a hill was supposed to offer great views, but we were a bit disappointed. Our fun and interesting island tour stopped where and how it began, in St. Louis. I’m keeping it a bit short here, because I am planning to write an article about our experience on the island… :-)

Marie-Galante is a quiet place with many wonderful beaches and we had a hard time not having Darwin with us. The climate this winter is also perfect for dogs and humans. Today Darwin would have turned 10 years old and we miss hem more than ever. He would have had a great time on and off Irie this cruising season!

After waiting a week for a weather window of lighter (around 15 knots) winds, we left for Deshaies, on the northwest side of Guadeloupe. A lack of wind in the channel called for three hours of motoring, but we tried our best at sailing up the coast of the “big island”. After a bad night of sleep with funky winds in this deep bay, we continued on to Antigua.

Jolly Harbour, without a dog this time, was still a hassle and a negative experience. This is the only place in the Eastern Caribbean that we know of, where you have to bring your boat to the customs dock. We arrived in the harbor close to closing time and didn’t want to take the chance to stumble upon a full dock (there is only space for one boat) and having to circle forever or having to turn back because it was 4 pm, so we took our dinghy. A rude woman snapped at us to bring our boat. When we asked why, she got offensive, indicated that this was normal procedure in all the islands and threatened us with fines and sentence to prison for disobeying a customs officer. When we turned back to our boat, another sailboat pulled up the dock. Purely out of principle, we were not going to bring Irie over the next day or deal with the big and power trip attitude of the woman, so we checked into Antigua’s capital St. John’s were people were much friendlier!

Destination Luperon

On June 19^th, we bit the bullet. We decided to leave for Luperon in the Dominican Republic the next day. Mark checked us out of the country and the alarm clock was set for 5:30 am.

We could have easily spend more time on Grand Turk and the anchor got set pretty well, but the growing temptation of being settled for a little while and the growing chances for storms and hurricanes got us going. That and the fact that there wouldn’t be a good window to make the crossing for at least another ten days. As it was, the weather wasn’t ideal for our voyage, but we took our chances. The wind would blow between 15 and 20 knots. Its direction would be south-south east, so we could sail close to the wind. Not the most comfortable point of sail, especially with the higher wind waves, but manageable. The reason you want winds under 15 knots, is not only the smaller waves, but what’s called the “lee of the land” effect. At night and in the early morning, the waters off coast of the Dominican Republic are dead calm, making it easy to motor into and towards the harbour from wherever you end up sailing. The hotter and the less windy the previous day is, the bigger this effect. When it blows more than 15 knots the previous day, the wind doesn’t slow down and might even accelerate off the land.

Anyway, we started our trip with a great three hour sail to Big Sand Cay. There we anchored very close to the beach in some swell, being the only boat. We rested for a couple of hours and took the dogs to the pretty island for one last potty break. Early in the afternoon, we left the Turks and Caicos to soon enough be all alone in the mighty ocean. We motored for an hour to clear a big reef. Then, we sailed the rest of the 80 miles to Luperon. We tried to steer as close to the wind as possible to keep to our course as close as possible. The autopilot helped with that. Mark and I took turns at the helm and Irie charged forward, pounding along the waves, slamming onto the bridge deck. A bright moon kept us company during the quiet and tiresome night. Kali and Darwin handled it all very good and I didn’t get seasick. The wind never stopped. So far for that “lee of the land” affect.

Around 4 o’clock in the morning, we started to smell dirt in the air. An hour and a half later, the outlines of mountains became clearer and the smell of flowers penetrated our noses. Right after dawn, at six ‘o clock, we entered the harbour. While the sun and the temperature rose, the lush surroundings appeared. We saw green hills, palm and other trees, grass and flowers. What a contrast with the flat, barren land and beaches of the other countries we visited! The wind died inland, making our approach very easy. We weaved our way through the brown water and between the many boats. Being tired and wanting to scout out the area later by dinghy, we dropped our anchor in the middle of the long bay, not too far from town. After a couple of tries and an hour of digging the anchor in the mud with our engines, we called ourselves temporarily settled. We quickly cleaned the boat up a bit and Kali was a good girl peeing on the trampoline. Darwin waited until we took him and his “sister” to shore, not too much later. We checked into the country and got all the paperwork and fees straight.

For other cruisers who plan to visit the DR: immigration cost $63 (for the boat and two people), $10 goes to a tourist card (money for the town?), $10 has to be paid to the port authority, agriculture is $10 for fruits and vegetables and $10 for dogs (people without dogs get that $10 charged for something else, like meat), these amounts are just for the officials because they come out to your boat and inspect a few things. My understanding is that you always pay these fees, whether you posses these products or not. The last fee ($20) has to be paid to the “comandante” upon departure. You do have to check in with him when arriving, though. All the money has to be paid in dollars and ideally in exact amounts.

Well, just like that, we had made it to Luperon harbour, our summer destination! Tired, but happy, we are ready to explore a new country. We’d better start brushing up that little bit of Spanish we acquired on previous travels…

Cruising the Turks and Caicos

Most cruisers use the Turks and Caicos merely as a stopover between the Caribbean and the Bahamas. Mark and I, on the other hand, like to explore and weren’t in a hurry quite yet, so we decided to stay a few weeks. Checking in at customs in Provo is done by the captain of the boat and appeared to be quick and easy. On Monday, May 26^th, Mark walked from Sapodilla Bay over the hill to South Dock. Once at customs, he paid the fee for the boat ($15 or $23 for overtime, on Sundays, holidays and after hours) and received permission for all of us to stay a week in the country. The woman in the office didn’t even care to see our passports, let alone stamp them. The dogs were also allowed to stay without a problem, when Mark told her he had the required vaccination papers. The officer was not entitled to give us more than a week’s time, so she said. If we wanted to stay longer, we had to obtain a cruising permit from her for $75 and go to immigration in town to ask for an extension at no cost. So she said…

Provo (the island and the city) is booming. Everywhere you can see, new houses, condos and other buildings rise up out of nowhere. It doesn’t make the land look pretty, but it creates a lot of work for the locals. The town, about four miles inland from the anchorage, is very spread out with US-like roads and malls along it. The only differences are the left hand traffic and many roundabouts. Even payment is dollars! When we hitched a ride to immigration a few days after our arrival, we were told to come back later, two days before our “visas” expired. We were happy to just relax, sit on the boat and make some walks for a few days, especially after the long and tiring trips to get here. One evening we hiked to the top of a hill for a nice view over Chalk Sound with its turquoise water, Sapodilla Bay with its four sailboats, and the not so attractive industrial harbour. Some of the rocks near our feet had the names of previous adventurers (ship wreckers) engraved in them.

The day after Irie arrived in the Turks and Caicos, we saw a familiar boat show up… Finally, we met up with our friends Cindy and Gray again. It was great seeing them and we had a lot to catch up on after the necessary rest. On Thursday night, we all went to a nice BBQ, organized by the friendly folks of Southside Marina. They also have a cruiser’s net on channel 18 every morning at 7:30.

On Friday, Cindy and Gray rented a car to run some errands. We joined them for part of the day. All of us drove to immigration in town, to receive our extension. That didn’t prove to be easy and simple at all. After filling out forms and waiting for an hour, we discovered that we each had to pay a fee of $50 to stay any longer. Nobody had told us anything about an extra fee! We asked the immigration officer for an explanation and said it wasn’t fair that we only got a week, when people arriving on a plane receive a month to visit the country. We felt in a bind now, because we either had to pay the $100, on top of the $75 for the cruising permit we just obtained, or we had to leave the country in two days, an impossible feat knowing that we need the weather on our side. We discussed our options for a bit, while showing total disappointment with the system and the hospitality of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).

Then, somehow we got lucky. The officer approached us, asked for our passports and paperwork and disappeared with the words: “I’ll see what I can do.” At this point we just wanted a little bit of extra time to leave the country safely. When Mark got called inside the office, he explained his previous experience at customs. Apparently the officers there are allowed to grant cruisers a visa for a month and are supposed to stamp the passports! At the end, the miscommunications got figured out and we were allowed to stay another month without paying extra. Cruisers, be warned! When you check in at customs (and you want to stay longer than a week in the TCI), make sure you get a month’s stay and a stamp in your passport, or let them verify all this with a phone call to immigration…

Now, we were ready to explore the islands, and we soon found out why most people don’t even bother… We left swelly Sapodilla Bay and crowded Provo by early morning, to make the long haul over the Caicos Banks to Fish Cays. We motored the whole 50 miles, dodging black spots and admiring the beautiful clear waters. Once anchored off Big Fish Cay, it felt as if we were anchored in the ocean. The swell was huge. We couldn’t even walk around the boat without bumping into everything and I was continuously seasick. After a lot of difficulty, we managed to load the dogs, in live jackets, into the hopping dinghy. The waves then threw aforementioned device and passengers onto the beach, where all of us stayed as long as possible. The island itself was quite interesting with its barren, rocky appearance, mucky, lukewarm, fresh water pond (the dogs loved it), and extensive bird colonies. A big osprey was sitting on his huge nest, made on top of the highest rock.

After rocking and swaying all night, Irie understandably left first thing in the morning. We managed to sail the last stretch to South Caicos. In dare need of water, our only option there, was to tie up at a concrete dock (ouch!), and wait until the water truck showed up. In the meantime, we strolled around what was called town. It had the feel of a sleepy fishing village. Nothing much was happening and even less was there to see. Even though, we had arrived around 11am at which point we ordered the water, it took the truck until 5pm to show up and deliver our 65 gallons. We had grown antsy by then, since the good light was disappearing, making it hard to find a spot to anchor and we wanted to leave the damaging dock, before all our lines were chafed through. We took our chances and left from the moment our tank was full. The anchorage next to Long Cay (about half a mile from town) was pretty nice with clear water, but quite some current. The east winds created a lot of wind waves, but nothing too uncomfortable. The snorkelling on the nearby reefs was very good and we enjoyed some peaceful days in the company of Cindy’s Island. The only problem for us was the lack of a good beach to take the dogs to shore. The areas where you could land a dinghy, were totally stacked with sharp conch shells. We managed to clear a little bit of a path through the pointy mess for the time being. No fun time for the dogs, though, and lots of mosquitoes.

From South Caicos, we went on to Grand Turk, crossing 22 miles of bumpy ocean. My seasickness played parts again. Mark and I decided to sail the stretch tacking back and forth. What would have taken five hours under motor, now took almost 8 hours. But, we saved some expensive diesel and we (Mark) brushed up our sailing skills. We also got company from a pod of little dolphins, jumping along the boat.

Grand Turk made up for all the other places in the Turks and Caicos. After finding a decent sandy spot to anchor, amongst all the rocks and coral in the “harbour”, we were settled and comfortable. The land protects us from the trade winds, the water is beautiful, the reef offers great snorkelling, and Cockburn Town is wonderful with its shady park (with benches, tables, electricity and a bit of wireless internet!), historic buildings, friendly atmosphere and vibrant community of Belongers and immigrants. When a cruise ship arrives, us cruisers can take advantage of the busy pool at the terminal (a 15 minute dinghy ride away) and pretend we’re on vacation. As you can see, this isn’t too bad of a place to get stuck for a little while! If it was up to me, the precious weather window to get to the Dominican Republic can wait another week or so...

Pictures:

On the lookout for dark spots on the "lower deck" since it was rough out.

Kali plays in the muddy pond, Big Fish Cay

Mark and the dogs on buggy Long Cay, Saouth Caicos

Cockburn Town, Grand Turk

Post office building, Cockburn Town