I spent all morning in Port of Spain trying to get my Fedex package out of customs
We arrive at the office around 8:15AM .. It started really well -only another couple ahead of me - checking in at the desk with my Fedex documents produced within 2min a printed receipt - indicating no charge for storage or anything else ...
What I missed was the troubling sign, in that the guy in the other party seemed to be sleeping in his chair = he seemed kind of out of place - older Rasta guy with dirty work cloth ...

Anyway - I sat down in of the chairs and started waiting .. about 10 min later the other party was called to the back room -- Wow this is going to be quick I thought to myself ... :-)

After approx 10 min the Rasta guy came out and started walking towards the main Airport. I did kind of expected that ,as the Officer at door told me I would have to go to the Main Airport to pay any custom fees..

Other people started arriving - by 9Am there must have been 6 parties in the waiting area ..
The suddenly an older lady in customs uniform appears She heads straight towards the exit door and mumbles something like " my shift is over somebody else will be here shorty " ??????
Now I started to get worried - as we know how this can end in the Caribbean = most likely nobody is aware that the customs office is without the only person really needed - the Customs officer

I guessed 10AM until somebody might show up - it ended up being past 11AM until another Officer arrive ...
9It took them 1-1/2 hour to realize that no replacement was scheduled..) I got to watch some sitcoms (2-1/2 man -The Big Bang Theory - and some Disney channel comics) that helped

Pretty soon after the officers arrival it was my turn (20Min or so ) - and as expected she could not clear the package - this can ONLY be done at Chaguaramas for yachts in transit ...
Basically the same happens as when I arrive by air - They write something in a book make copies and then fold it nicely- seal it - staple it - and write the time of departure on the outside - you're supposed to go straight to Chaguaramas with this - NO STOPPING ANYWHERE - and off you go with you package and the "secrete" paperwork to Chaguaramas where they just have a quick look at you're paperwork and the items and it's all yours ... easy peasy..

The reason this is being down like this, is because to many local companies have taken advantage of us boaters in the past, bringing in parts illegally for "yachts in transit" - having to go up to Port of Spain is pretty much just inconvenience enough so that no Yachty (Us) will help them with stuff like that anymore ...

With the rails in my hands I was able to start working on prepping the boat to install the two new sections on Monday.
Unfortunately both forward cleats look pretty bad - there is substantial part of the underside eaten away by corrosion .. I need to decide if I can have a local machine show cut them back on Monday or not ... but that's not that easy done as one would think, as the stainless steel bolts that a screwed into the aluminum cleats won't come out anymore... Otherwise I would have it done for sure...