After the thunder storms of the night the wind shifted to the north. The forecast was for winds of 10 to 15 from the south. They lied. We left in a north wind and it continued all day as we moved on to Drummond in the US. Since we were traveling west we had to continually adjust our travel so that we would not take the waves across our side but rather on the front of the boat. It was slow going.
Eventually we made to to Drummond and who was waiting for us on the docks as we arrived - the US Customs and Immigration people who were really very nice. I had all my papers - nexus permits for Brenda and myself, a boat decal that I had ordered from Customs about a month ago and all the boat paperwork. It was going smoothly until they asked how long I was going to be in the US. Oh about a year give or take with trips back to Canada every 90 days or so for a couple of weeks. They then asked if I had a cruising permit. No, I thought the decal was a cruising permit. Not so. We have now applied for a cruising permit which we may or may not get for a year. In the meantime we cannot leave Drummond until we get the permit. In all my reading, I never heard of a cruising permit being required for Canadian vessels and I had read the US Border information pretty closely. In any case the Customs and Immigaration people were as I mentioned pretty helpful. They gave me an application which I filled out and they had arranged to (hopefully) get it approved by their supervisor in Sault Saint Marie the next day. I hope so because tomorrow is Friday which means if we don't get it tomorrow, we may be here all weekend.
After that little distraction we rented a car from the Marina for $12 and went into town for some food shopping. We then went to dinner at a lovely little resort about 5 miles from the Marina which was on the water. The food was great!
It should be noted that the Wifi at this US Marina is far far superior to that in the ports in Canada. It is fast and there is no time involved in getting a link with the internet. I wonder if the Bell system in Canada has something to do with the poor Canadian system? Just wondering.
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delays! do other loopers have these cruising permits? I hope you received my lengthy email. Looking forward to hearing from you. I hate to use your Canadian phone number in case it is expensive--roaming fees and all that.
ReplyDeleteRemember to ask for a receipt from the CBP Officer. We don't want them pocketing your permit fees :)
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