Made it to Fort Lauderdale!

Shelena
Phil Scourfield
Tue 24 May 2016 15:13


26th May, 2016

I chose Fort Lauderdale as our entry point to mainland USA because the World Cruising Association rally from the Caribbean to the US went there. I also chose their marina because it seemed easiest to piggy-back off their research. When arriving on US soil on a yacht the first thing to do is phone Homeland Security to advise them of our arrival and location. This must be done before setting foot on the pontoon. The friendly officer takes details on numbers of persons on board together with passport details then instructs us to show in person at the Homeland Security office with passports within 24 hours. Of course, we duly did so and all was very straight forward. Pitty about the US$60 dollar taxi fare to get to their office; but I guess a small price to pay for the pleasure of our final arrival so many months after we initiated the long process to get our visa and Cruising Licence. We are able to stay in the US for 6 full months which brings us to November when, at the end of the hurricane season we will depart from Bermuda then onto the Caribbean. Probably back to Antigua. There is special reason for that, but I will remain tight-lipped until nearer the time!

All is well aboard Shelena