Sweet hitch hiker
08 December 2012 | Peck Lake
Howard warm/unsettled
Finally, after working on the boat for four weeks we are finally in the water and on our way South to wait at Lake Worth for a good weather window before crossing over to the Bahamas. It took some time to get the boat ready this year but it's probably only slightly longer than average, most boat owners take around three weeks, some a little longer and some not so long, it all depends on the number of projects needing to be done and this year we had lots of them. Working with the custom and immigration people this year has been a real hassle, last spring when we came back from the Bahamas they took our cruising permit away and also our boat ownership papers saying that this was a new rule when storing the boat at a marina for the summer. Now we go to get a new cruising permit and they won't give us one, the rules have changed again; the old permit has expired and before issuing us a new one the boat must leave the country for 15 days and when we return they will then issue us a new one, it wasn't like that for us before. I can hardly wait for next year to see what other crazy rules they can come up with, they don't make it easy for boaters, it's almost like they are trying to discourage us. On a lighter note, if you look closely at the above photo you will see a small gecko that is hitching a ride with us, maybe to the Bahamas, I hope his passport and papers are in order or there will be hell to pay for him and for us