In what seems like a blink of an eye, we have completed our first passage of 2014. All the stars aligned for us and in fact we had 80% moon, 2 to 4 feet following seas, SE winds of 15 to 20 knots and an arrival time where we arrived on slack tide in the early morning daylight hours before the winds increased. But where did we go? Ah, I thought you'd never ask. If you've been following our adventures, you'll know that we make it a priority to stay out of the hurricane zone (as defined by our insurance company) which is between 10 deg and 30 deg north. The decision we needed to make was whether to head south to Panama again, as we loved our season last year, or whether to retrace our steps from the 2012 season. Maynard's work commitments have increased considerably this year, so we decided it was best in the long run to stay in or close to the USA.
Traveling throughout the Caribbean, we have had virtually no interaction with authorities on the water. Because of the constant hassling by the officious US Government authorities in 2012, I was concerned about returning to the USA. In fact, there has been an outcry by residents and international vessels and a lot of discussion about boardings by the Coast Guard and local police which are pretty common place throughout the USA. Apparently, lately there has been an effort to try to improve public perception of these frequent boardings. They are also attempting to improve their database so that the same boat is not boarded multiple times in a short voyage. This has a long way to go because currently, the local police which have also started random boardings, do not co-ordinate with the Coast Guard. In the article we've read, it pointed out that one person's experience in the New York area was that he was boarded 5 times on a short voyage, 4 by 4 different police departments and once by the Coast Guard. In fact, just outside our marina berth, we have seen multiple boardings by the local Sherriff, the local police and very well armed Coast Guard. On the other side of the coin, there is a lot of boat traffic here and we've observed that they are the best behaved boaters we have ever seen.
So, where are we? Charleston, South Carolina. The last time we were here was 18 October 2012 and my blog from that date was less than favourable. We were glad to leave. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at 7 am, tied up at our berth and four Coast Guard and two Customs & Border Patrol arrived to clear us into the USA. We were tired from our voyage and had not had time to clean our vessel or even take a shower. BUT something had changed. All of the Officers smiled, they welcomed us to their country and were genuinely interested in us as people. Most surprising of all, they had done extensive research on Vanish on the internet well before we arrived. They knew of our blog, our experience with racing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht races and various articles written on us in US boating magazines. We were greatly impressed and the whole clearing in process was easy and efficiently done. While we filled out paperwork, four Officers meticulously opened every cabinet throughout the entire vessel which took a considerable amount of time. We have been to countries known for drug problems within the past 12 months eg. Dominican Republic, Colombia, Panama, Jamaica and the Bahamas so it was not unexpected that we would be checked but we are boring law-abiding vegetarians so we have no problem with their inspections. If the Charleston southern hospitality clearing in process is an example of what to expect this season, we'll be happy campers er.........boaters.