Report: Caribbean 2010 with Our Dog

[Rastarea]

Bonjour,

Our dog is a 5 years old Vizsla. And we traveled from Canada and circled the Caribbean on our sailboat with our dog. Here is our short report on it.

First get your file up to date, we have a folder with all the shot stickers and signatures, vet visit etc...We also have a tether test report, that is a test that proves that the dog did developed the antibody against rabies. I also recommend that you have your dog microchiped. Our folder is very impressive and thick and that worked out.

Have a look at Noonsite: The global site for cruising sailors, you have the basics per country and then go on the site for that country.

General note: most country use dogs as guardian so locals you meet will be afraid, especially older people. So when in public places keep a short leach. And watch out for all the stray dogs around. Do not let your dog take food from the ground around dumpsters, in some places this is how they poison the stray dogs. Tick is the most probable problem you will have, bring the treatment with you and apply it every month. Our dog has a very short hair so it is easy to spot. We had report of dogs dying from it.

Ready, set, go...from north to south:
Bahamas: we got the permit by mail before we left, easy, took the dog everywhere.
Dominican Republic: easy, just have to pay the fees ($15).
PuertoRico: that is the USA!
BVI: now that was something else...I had an apointment with the vet as we came in, meet with the vet on shore, then take him to the boat to see the dog. Then it was ok.
St-Martin, St-Barth, Guadeloupe, Martinique: you got to love these French and Dutch Islands, the easiest to check-in, dog friendly and cheap excellent wine
St-Kitts, Nevis, Barbuda, Antigua, Dominique, St-Lucia, St-Vincent: We skipped them on report that they did not accept pets, with health certificate or not.
Grenadines: no no no, same as St-Vincent, but god you HAVE to go to Bequia and Tobaco Cays, so we did not report having a dog and were very discrete taking her to shore on remote beaches, for short periods, early in the morning and late evenings.
If they catch you it might be difficult to save your dogs life.
Cariacou and Grenada: no problems.
Venez, ABC, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala: no problemo senior


Sylvain, Lise & Vicky
VANILLA

[Hud3]

Hi, Sylvain.

Thanks for the firsthand information. Too bad you had to miss Nevis--would like to have met you.

Good to see you posting here other than on your birthday!

[SeaUs]

Such valuable information thank you so much for posting this! I was just going to start knick picking through all the islands online to get information for our dog. This is a great list to start from. Plus I have my local vet helping me with paperwork also to cover all bases. My husband and I are planning to leave begining of 2012!

[The Cooks]

Excellent post, very informative..

[sj01]

I would like to echo the many Thanks for posting this! We have 3 dogs So alwyas on the lookout for tips! Thank you !!!!

[KDH]

Have had our dogs in the BVI and received the permit by email. Vet came to the boat and signed papers. Did get asked to produce papers over on Jost Van Dyke by the Customs folks but no problem once we showed them the permit. In St. Martin (French side) when I asked about the dogs the customs officer said "why would I care about your dogs?" and no problems anywhere. Had the dogs in Antigua also and no problem getting the permit via email. The procedure is you call the vet when you get in but give them 48 hours notice. As we all know on a sailboat arrival times are variable. When we arrived late on a Sunday evening the vet did not answer and the Immigration supervisor left the vet a voicemail. Vet phoned back in the morning and said she couldn't make it but for them to let the dogs in as we had all the papers. We did have our vet certificates updated in both the BVI and St. Maarten (the vet is on the Dutch side). Don't need a new cert for St. Martin probably but I was worried Antigua would want a new certificate as the US one was almost 3 months old. I have applied by email to two different email addresses in Dominica and received no reply. Will try fax on Monday and will update this thread if I get a current reply. All in all they are worth it but we are shipping them home to our son as soon as we turn north and get back to St. Martin. Don't want to take them to Bermuda as it appears from their website they don't accept animals at all. On a cultural note, everyone has been very curious about our dogs and for the most part friendly. Lots of offers to buy the dogs and in the BVIs rumors of local dogs stolen for dogfights so we always keep them very close and on no more than a 5 foot lead. Dog also fell off the boat once, fortunately at the dock and she swam to the dock and waited for us to come get her. Same dog also took to jumping off the boat onto the dock and running down the dock so watch out for that type of behavior if you are in a marina.

[belizesailor]

A few comments and a few more countries to add to the list. All comments assume you of course have correct paperwork.

Bahamas: went through the same process as OP to get pet paperwork -- never had an official show any interest in seeing papers or pets.

Jamaica: Paperwork checked and officials told us transient pets not permitted ashore (not a big deal since we had cats).

Honduras (including Bay Islands) and Guatemala: Officials could care less.

Belize: A bit of a hassle of course, but that's normal + about BZ$100 per animal (we had 4 aboard -- ouch!).

Caymans: Skipped because of extreme pet regulations. Have friends who live in the Caymans and the country is very determined to keep it's no rabies status.

[mgstich]

I was wondering if anyone has traveled to St. Kitts with a dog recently. I am thinking about stopping there in June but might need to skip it.
Anyone have new informations?
Thank you,

[Wild Bird]

Antigua is no problem if you have rabies injection, titre test, and vaccinations up to date. Clear in at Jolly Harbour where the customs will phone the government vet for you. You stay on the customs dock with your boat until the vet shows up. We have two dogs and it cost €50 to clear them both in.
All french Islands are fine with dogs. Dominica was similar to Antigua. Meet government vet at dock but we had to phone him.
Saba was fine and Stacia.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[mgstich]

Wild Bird, Thank you for responding! I have taken St. Kitts off of the itinerary because of the 30 day quarantine.

Thank you for all of the info you shared above.

Mary Grace