Wednesday, February 03, 1999 – Fort Lauderdale

Here we are back in the US, what a change indeed. Pulling into Pier 66 where we are for the next 24 hours was a bit of a culture shock. As predicted, checking into the country proved a little more difficult. The customs clearance was a doddle but immigration proved to be a little more laborious. First, they didn’t come to us, we had to go to them (shame) and second we had to jump into a cab, get stuck in traffic and then find out that most of us needed a visa!

Normally, persons with EC (European Community) passports need no visa to enter the country. Unknown to us, this rule only applies if you arrive with large carriers such as planes or cruise ships. Arrival by private charter requires a visa, which needs to be obtained before arrival in the US! Luckily, the officials found a way to let us in and a few dollars later, we were all allowed to enter the country albeit for a limited period. Rules are rules I guess. For a brief moment we entertained the thought that we may have had to go back to Havana, how tragic that would have been….

I would like to thank all of you for making the effort of suggesting what we should get up to during our stay here in Florida. Obviously we do not have all that much free time but the weekends provide us with some respite and time to sample some of Florida’s "fruits", of which there seem to be ample. Tomorrow however is all go, with a number of contractors coming over to have a look around and make arrangements before work starts in earnest next Monday. We will probably be leaving Pier 66 tomorrow afternoon and then be tied up alongside the yard from then on.

As the yard time may not provide riveting missive I would also appreciate any suggestions as to what you may want to read about. Remember I have written quite a bit on some of the equipment on board while we were in Sand Diego and Anacortes. Michael has been considering setting up the web cam again as we had it in Anacortes though that depends if we can find a local line to hook up to. I’ll keep you informed.

Best regards,