With the sailing part behind us, we woke up the next morning to face our next challenge, we had to find a way to check in. A week ago we had no concern at all about this process… we figured just the usual present yourself and a bunch of documents to the appropriate government agents… they do a bunch of blah blah blah… give them money and POOF… you’re in.
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CHECKING INTO PUERTO RICO
This magic mysterious process works in almost every country… EXCEPT… the good old screwed up US of A. So as you read in an earlier blog last week we read that one post on an active Captain review of the German guy getting a hard time about entry into PR. We tried to research further into these crazy American rules while we were at anchor in the DR… but everything we could find said that Citizens of VISA waiver countries… (Like Europe) could enter the USA with the VISA waiver document called an ESTA. We even watched a lovely video explaining this on an American CBP website. So from what we could figure out Elena should be good to enter with her current and valid ESTA.
So the morning of our our arrival we woke up stretched and got ready for the day. We have to find a way to check into PR. The reason I tried to angle our course across the Mona passage so high northy, and close hauled into the wind, the last 2 days was because Mayaguez is listed as an official port of entry. We heard of people landing more south in Boqueron to check in and they end up having to take a cab ride north to Mayaguez anyway to check in. We cannot afford to waste money on cab rides so we figured we might as well sail into the official port of entry at Mayaguez.
Our Dominican Sim card was not working in PR so we did not have any internet access or any way to make a phone call. I did find a few possible phone numbers that we are supposed to phone on our arrival, but without a working phone we had no way to call in. Their system really seems to be geared towards phoning them. They don’t seem to understand that many international cruising boats do not have, immediately upon arrival, a working local SIM card paid up and ready to go.
So although it is just lovely that they have so many different possible phone numbers to choose to phone from, without a working local SIM card we could not phone any of them.
BUT no worries… the US government has another solution… just use the CBP ROAM app with your data package on the SIM card you do not have on your cell phone.
We also tried to download the CBP ROAM app which is supposed to be another way to check in to the US but we could not get it to download before we left, and besides… without internet access it would be of no use either. So I tried hailing someone on VHF 16 and VHF 68 in the morning but got no responses. It looked like we would have to physically go to shore find someone to talk to.
It takes us a while to get the dinghy launched, but by around 11:30am we arrive on shore to try and figure out how and where to check in. We are loaded up with our passports and documents and a vague idea that there is supposed to be a Customs and Border agent somewhere near by.
I do not intend this little blog to be a comprehensive how-to guide for entering America but rather simply our experience yesterday. I will however include some useful information for any other sailors that might be thinking of sailing this way in the near future.
When we landed on shore near the (Ruined) docks indicated by the active captain post that is supposed to be near where the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is supposed to be located we were a little concerned about the abandoned and destroyed appearance of the old marina facility.
We did know that there was supposed to be someone somewhere we are supposed to report to so we can check in… but where… hmmmm…
Upon our triumphant landing on foreign shores we approached the first person we saw and asked for help. He did not speak much English. A little further on there were 2 guys standing near their parked cars on the side of the road wearing ID badges of some type. We approached them and asked if they spoke English, they affirmed that they did.
They were government employees who were there for something to do with the fishermen who would come in from the sea with their small catches. We learned very quickly that Puerto Ricans are very nice people, like maybe with a polite kindness that would almost rival a Canadians. Out of respect I did not film them or take their picture. We will call the younger guy Wilson and the older guy Fred for the ease of this story telling.
Us two sailor girls walked up to the two men and asked for help. They were more than please to be of any assistance they could be. We explained that we just arrived by that lone sailboat anchored way out in the bay and we were trying to find a way to check in. We were told there was a customs house here… did they know where it is? They pointed at the ruined marina behind us and said well… it used to be there.. but its not here anymore.
Hmmm… uh oh. Okay well I wonder what we are supposed to do next? I did have some phone numbers written down on a sheet of paper. I asked Fred, who was holding his cell phone in his hand, if maybe we could place a phone call using his cell? He was more than happy to help us and even dialed the number and spoke to the person on the other end in Spanish for us.
After a few minutes of Fred talking to the agent on the other end Fred handed me the phone and said he wants to talk to me. I spoke with a CBP officer who was working at the airport. He asked a bunch of questions and then told us were are supposed to check in with the CBP ROAM app. We explained that we tried ten times to download it but couldn’t get it to work. Then he said well then you are going to have to come here to the airport in the north.
We asked Wilson how far is the airport? He said pretty far.. like 45 minutes by car. We don’t have a car and we don’t have anyway to get to the airport. We said thank you to the CBP officer and ended the call. Well that was not very helpful. How could Mayaguez be listed as an official port of entry if there is no CBP agents here and we are supposed to go 40 miles north?
This isn’t going well. We were kind of stuck.
Wilson, it seems, is a wizard with technology and using cell phones. He wanted to be as helpful to us as he could be and suggested why don’t we try to download the app again on your cell phone? He said we could use mobile hotspot from his phone to connect ours to the internet and he could help to figure out why the ROAM app would not download.
I wish so much that I had filmed Wilson and his heroic efforts to help us. The technical wizard battled valiantly with our cell phone for an hour and figured out how to get the ROAM app downloaded and installed. YAY… score one for the good girls.
So next was to figure out how to use the unwieldy and way too complicated app to check in. It took another hour to get an account setup and get all my information logged into the app, but eventually… slowly… we declared victory over the evil stupid app.
We got to the screen where we submitted our application for processing and waited for another ten minutes logged into Wilson’s mobile hotspot until eventually our phone started to run out of battery power. The app screen still said processing and we had an arrival number… is this good?
We were not sure if it froze up or what. Were we checked in? What are we supposed to do next?
We were kind of stuck in a dilemma. It was very unclear as to where we were in this whole screwed up process. Are we in..? are we not in..? What are we supposed to do now?
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Wilson told us that if we take our dinghy further down the coast to the next doc over we would be within easy walking distance of a grocery store… I got excited… MILK…! real proper refrigerated processed MILK… that I could turn into the magical elixer of Chocolate milk with the aid of my Hershey’s chocolate syrup mix. It has been months and months since I have had a real glass of milk. I was so excited I decided we should take the ride before heading back to the yacht.
We re-launched the dingy and made our way about another mile south down the coast until we found the dock Wilson suggested. As we walked up to the locked gate barring us from further access to land a man walked up to us speaking on a cell phone… he said Wilson… and handed me the phone as he unlocked the gate for us. Wilson was on the phone.. said he called his friend who works there and he will open the gate for us and watch our dinghy as we go to the store. Is that like super nice and wow holy cow I was just incredulous at the display of kindness the locals were showing us.
We were just agog at the American grocery store. It was so big.. and so full of every food. For these deprived sailor girls who just spent the last 4 months in Luperon we were just uncontainably excited like kids in a toy store. We had very limited money and had to only buy what we could carry.
On our short walk back to the dinghy two CBP officers pull up in truck and wave us over to talk… the agent said weren’t you two instructed to go to the airport!
Uh ohhh… oh CRAP… we are in trouble now.
American law enforcement officers are very well armed and equipped and for these girls who have never been in trouble before, they intimidated us almost to tears.
The officers took control of us and moved us over to sit down on the curb in the shade. We explained that we are trying to check in, we tried to check in with the ROAM app… I had taken a screen shot of the processing screen and showed them proof. We explained that the guy on the phone said go to the airport or check in with the app. Given that we had no way to get to the airport we used the app instead.
They asked us for our documents. When they saw Elena’s German passport things got bad. Where is her VISA? Right here… here is her ESTA VISA waiver. No they say… that is no good… she needs a full proper VISA or she will be refused entry.
Uh ohh… SUPER CRAP..! This is bad news bears.
We had no idea. None of the American rules we could find said this was true. Everything we could find said that she could stay up to 90 days on her ESTA.
The officers… who I must say were very kind to us, they were very very nice despite being so intimidating, explained to us the rules.
It seems that when Elena drove in a car a year ago from Canada to Alaska and crossed the border she only needed her passport, it was good enough for US entry by itself (No VISA no ESTA)
It seems that when Elena flew into Florida 8 months ago to come join WildChild she only needed her ESTA to enter the US. YES it is a VISA waiver valid for Europeans to enter the US.
It seems that the rules for boats are different. The ESTA is only good for commercial travel, like arrival by a commercial airplane, it is not valid for travel by private yacht or private plane. To arrive by boat the rules are different and all NOT American and NOT Canadian citizens MUST have a full proper VISA, which VISA we were not told.
Because Elena (A European) arrived by boat without a valid VISA there was going to be a $595 fine but they were going to allow her a temporary entry on an I-193 30 day form. We really do not have any monthly income and this $600 fine was going to burn up 2 months of our budget.. we just do not have the money for this.
I asked… Well… as an international cruising boat… Can Elena just stay onboard quarantined to the boat until a weather window opens and we will just jump out to the British Virgin Islands by around Sunday? We need safe harbour until then. We will happily just stay on the boat and not step foot on land again.
NOPE… the officer said just Relax… you are not in handcuffs… if you were in trouble you would already be in handcuffs in the back of the truck.
The officers, which I must say were doing their jobs but were also very kind and very gentle with us, asked us to walk with them back to their office a few blocks away. They even loaded our groceries into their truck and the one guy who held our passports walked with us back to the office while the other guy drove our groceries back. That was very kind of them.
We arrived at their CBP office building and they sat us down at a table. They searched thru my purse and took away my 2 little pocket knives, for their safety? They explained to us that we were going to be ok. They were going to waive the $600 fine (YAY) and they were going to issue Elena like a temporary pardon for her mistake. They would issue an I-193 form which would allow her 30 days to pass thru the state and get back out into international waters.
They explained that to come back into Puerto Rico or any US waters she will NEED to go get a VISA from an American Embassy. There is an Embassy in Barbados and Dominican Republic where we can apply for a VISA for her.
IF she returns into US waters without this VISA they will not waive the $600 fine and there will be “Adverse Action” taken against her. Like being arrested detained and fined $5000.
It seems America really does not want travelers to visit their country. They really do make it very hard to figure out their insane screwed up rules. They do not let anybody in, even from their VISA waiver friend countries, without strict VISA’s. They are the only island in the Caribbean to be so unfriendly to non citizens.
It should be noted though… that America still likes Canada. My Canadian passport and Canadian registered vessel was welcomed into the country with no problems.
America still has a lot of stupid rules for my Canadian boat to follow. Like when we were landing the dinghy to go to the grocery store… a water police boat came roaring up to us and pulled us over in our dinghy. They were giving us grief about not having dinghy registration numbers on our dinghy. In Canada you cannot register a dinghy… if you tried the government would laugh at you. BUT America doesn’t care that it cannot be registered in your country they still need want to see the registration numbers on it when in their country. Stupid and impossible but very American thinking.
WildChild did have an American Coastal cruising number which had apparently expired, but no problem the very nice CBP officers issued us a new one for $19. They are issued free on the mainland USA but apparently cost money in PR. Meh.. again very American… different application of federal rules state to state.
WildChild is registered as an Aircraft in the American Aircraft registry and has a customs decal. That thing cost me $86 and took three months to get mailed to my home in Canada before we left. It seems they expect me to pay their government EVERY year for a new sticker every year. My own government does not even make this much money off me for my boat. If you do not have a vaild and current customs decal on your yacht they can seize it…! YES basically they can steal your boat for not having this stupid sticker.
The good news is the CBP officers did not give me a hard time about my (Apparently) expired customs decal. They told me I have to go online and pay for a new one and just print out the receipt as that will have a new number on it. BUT… the thing is they are only good for the calendar year. So if I buy one now… it will expire in 2 months and I will have to pay again for another one in two months again.
Soo STUPID…!
Personally I would recommend for all non US citizens to just skip Puerto Rico. The people seem to be completely wonderful kind and amazingly friendly… but the US government bullshit is just not worth the hassle. They are the most screwed up country to try and enter. Very frustrating.
On a wonderful and positive note… the 2 lovely CBP officers that intercepted us… after a few hours sitting comfortably in their office… they filled out all the forms for us and said welcome to Puerto Rico enjoy your visit. They had even stored our groceries in their fridge so our milk would not spoil.
When I got up to leave, by now it was around 5pm, and I had not eaten all day, my blood pressure had fallen while waiting and when I went to stand I started to pass out. Elena got me drinking chocolate milk and eating some food we had. The officers saw that I was having trouble and waited patiently with us… walked with us all the way back to our dinghy… carried our groceries for us… and made sure we made it safely back to our dinghy. They definitely did not have to go so above and beyond the call of duty on that one but they did… happily… and without complaint.
This is the weird thing about America. The people are so nice… every officer I have ever dealt with was so professional and very kind… but their government is just so screwed up.
Americans…. are not the same thing as America…!
Hopefully the rest of our adventure here in Puerto Rico goes wonderfully.
We MUST be out by December 5th 2019.
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PUERTO REAL
On a happier note.
The next day we motored 10 miles south to the beautifully protected harbour of Puerto Real. This place is just awesome. So wonderful. It is a big open peaceful bay with lots of room to anchor. When coming into the shallow bay opening our big girl did not see less than 10 feet of water (adjusted for mean low tide).
This is my biggest piece of advice for all future sailors thinking of coming to Puerto Rico. The people are so lovely and very friendly. There is some great sailing cruising diving snorkeling to be had here. If you do have the stomach to face their silly entry rules…
DO NOT GO TO MAYAGUEZ TO CHECK-IN.
GO TO PUERTO REAL… YOU CAN CHECK IN HERE.
This is a much lovelier place for you to anchor, nicer to visit, and most importantly the marina here is run by just a wonderful and lovely man named Jose.
He has a great marina with showers wifi and all the facilities you might need. They even like sailors who are anchored out in the bay. You just have to pay $10 and you can get access to unlimited high speed internet, lovely clean shower facilities, and if you are coming from Luperon the big treat is unlimited high pressure running hot and cold water. YES we are about to have our first real shower in months… (YAAAY)
In the upstairs of the marina there is a lovely air conditioned lounge room sailors can use to access the internet and get any online research done. We are using it now to write you these blogs. They have an I-pad up here with the CBP ROAM app already installed on it that you can use to report into the country and they can help summon the CBP field agents here to you, thus saving the long expensive solution of going to the airport they un-helpfully offer to you if you are foolish enough to land at Mayaguez like we did 2 days ago (Yep that was a big mistake)
Elena is currently trying to research how to get a US VISA. It seems the only place in the Caribbean we can go to find a US embassy is Barbados to apply for a VISA for her. Barbados is a place I was trying to avoid, so I am not terribly pleased that now we are going to be forced to go there.
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Side note about safety
This little sub-paragraph is going to seem a little off topic.. but…
…. LGTB rights are kind of a thing for me. I think we are still human beings and being treated as sub-human for either my gender or my sexuality is primitive barbaric behaviour that I have no need to subject myself to… ever.
So when I found a page on wikipedia showing the legal rights of LGTB people in the Caribbean … I sort of found myself a list of savage islands best avoided.
It seems so weirdly primitive to me that there are still 4 islands out here where the men make the rules and say hey… its kinda hot when 2 chics have sex so we will allow it to be legal … but… when 2 men have sex together that is gross so we will put them in prison for 10 YEARS..! Why should I visit such a savage island.
Barbados is the worst offender. They are the most savage and vicious of all the Caribbean islands… if they find any gay people there they lock them up in prison for the rest of their lives… ! How crazy… and how savage is that..?
So the way I figured things… fuck em… I’m not going there.
BUT… that is the only place in the whole Caribbean with a US embassy. It seems America is okay with the savage island.
Now we are forced to go there. Grrrr..
Captain Lexi…
…. the safe and secure adventurer ….