We are anchored in the south west region of Tortola … here at Soper’s Hole once again!
Today we dropped anchor in Road Harbour where we spent the day in Road Town (Tortola) sorting out issues such as customs and immigration as we have decided finally that this is now the place where we will stay during the hurricane season.
Having visited the Customs head office in town, we were referred to customs at the government dock in Road Harbour … the office is located upstairs.
A very friendly customs officer asked for an explanation as to why we wanted to keep the boat in Tortola, gave us two forms to complete and $200 later we had a temporary import permit granting our boat a years stay.
From here we went to immigration and when asked by the immigration officer why I wanted a 6 month extension, I replied ‘We have an import permit for our boat and now I wish to import Ana and myself into the BVI’. There was much giggling in the office at my answer and I was relieved to see that they ‘got our sense of humour’. $10 each and we had been granted an extension to our visas allowing us to remain in the BVI until mid December.
For Ana and me, this is a huge relief as all the formalities are complete and we can plan accordingly!
Ana and I are absolutely amazed at the friendliness, the professionalism and kind assistance we have received from customs and immigrations officials here in the BVI. The people are humble, well educated and eager to serve the public … the perception I get is that the authorities here will always seek a path that endeavours to find resolve … the attitude is never one which displays the powers they have that ‘could make things difficult for one’ as we have seen on one or two of the islands and certainly what our experience has been in South Africa … the immigration official at Cape Town was arrogant, aggressive, rude and bombastic … we apparently got him on a ‘good day’.
Having returned to Impi with our customs and immigration paperwork, we hoisted the sails and had a pleasant sail down to Soper’s Hole where we are anchored yet again just north of the western most tip of Frenchman’s Cay in about 20 meters of water.
The reason for our visit back at Sopers Hole is for a few reasons:
1. It is a beautiful place to visit for a few days
2. The food and diesel supplies are most definitely cheaper than at Road Town
3. We will meet with the marina company to find a place for Impi to be safely berthed and secured when we go and fetch Jenna (my daughter)on her arrival in St Thomas US Virgin islands
Interestingly enough, we had a very nice chat with one of the local ladies here who serves with the department of tourism. She was explaining how they take a ferry from Soper’s Hole to St Thomas in order to do shopping there as the food is far cheaper. They pay $50 return for a ferry, rent a car to load all supplies, and return to be taxed on certain food products and it still saves them enough money to make it worth their while … I find that interesting!
We could sail to St Thomas to fetch Jenna and load up on food supplies at the same time, however, the US is very strict in the sense that NO FOOD PRODUCTS may be onboard a vessel entering their waters and we are not sure if this applies to the US Virgin islands too!
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ReplyDeletethings to do