So, when you're sailing from country to country (or even port to port in some countries like Mexico) you have to go through immigration and customs just like you would if you were arriving or leaving by plane. In cruiser terms, this is known as "checking in" and "checking out". It can be as simple as, in Dominica's case, showing up at the customs office, filling out some paperwork and checking in and out in one easy transaction. Or it can be quite complicated, as in Mexico, where you have to go to three separate places (a bank, the customs office, and the immigration office) which, for cruelty sake, are typically located nowhere near each other. And you have to go to these each of these 3 places the day you arrive (to check in) and the day before you leave (to check out). They all hold slightly different hours, too, some closing between 12 and 2; other closing from 11:30 to 1:30, except on Wednesdays when they also close between 12 and 2, but don't open until 10:00 and close at 4:00. Got that? And don't forget about the holidays...most countries we've been to appreciate vacation time more than the USA so you'll find a lot of the typical holidays we have plus bonus days like "Easter Monday" and such. (All of these are, to the cruiser, days when you can't get anything done in whatever country you're visiting). But, I digress. What does all of this have to do with "The Roach Motel", the title of this entry?

Well, we're in Los Roques, islands belonging to Venezuela. If you want to visit these islands, you can sail here and "check in" and stay for up to 2 weeks. But, when you want to leave, you HAVE to go to the mainland of Venezuela or to another larger island like Isla Margarita where they have customs and immigration offices to clear out of their country. You can't do it from here. So, in other words, you can check in, but you can't check out...just like the roach motel. Now, going to the mainland or to Isla Margarita is no easy feat. At best, it's about 100 miles in the wrong direction and reports of crime in these parts range from regular dinghy thefts & boat boardings to pirate activity (aka armed robbery at sea) to, less often, some pretty violent crimes. All of this has some cruisers locking themselves in their boats at night and, as in many places, it's commonplace to raise your dinghy up out of the water at night and lock it to the boat. Needless to say, Louis and I weren't thrilled with the idea of sailing 200 miles round trip to lock ourselves into our boat while our paperwork was processed so we could enjoy a few weeks in Los Roques!

So, we decided to do what a lot of people do and just cruise through the islands without checking in anywhere and hope we don't get caught. We'll have to stay clear of populated places like Grand Roque, and hopefully we can stay "off the radar" for a few weeks while enjoying these beautiful islands. But, it's funny that so often governments spend a bunch of money to promote tourism in their country and then have procedures that discourage tourism or, in our case, keep us from being "legal" and from paying the tourism fees they'd otherwise collect from us.

Los Roques, Venezuela...you can check in, but you can't check out.