Turks & Caicos stiffing it to yachters

[akprb]

CarinaPDX nails it......

GPS

We just left Georgetown heading back north. It’s become an RV Park.

Not complaining, just observing. I’m as guilty as anyone these days. Yesterday we sailed out and north like we were driving to the local Best Buy.

There was a time I remember taking bearings on the white house on the hill or Conch Cay. Gone.

I scanned the beach at the Chat and Chill yesterday and 2/3s of the heads were in a phone. Hell, my head is in one right now.

It’s just different. I miss the empty anchorages, I love the ease. Paradox.

As to the complaint about being charged by a government then taking a swipe at the current administration. I find it interesting that those who love the previous administration and all their “programs” and “regulations” are the ones most vocal when asked to pay anything by the government.

Ya get what you encourage. The 60s and 70s were the hay day ;-) What does Jimmy say? “Yes I am a pirate, 200 years too late”

Have a great day all!

[UFO]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yes, 911 seriously degraded many of the Freedoms that I liked to think the US had and stood for.
People seem to be willing to give up a lot for the promise of security.

ROFL "Promise" is the operative word there.......

[Rorzech]

I'd rather just keep quiet and avoid the place. If enough people do that , they'll soon get the hint. Maybe they could care less about sharing their paradise ! It's a big world with lots of places with a welcome mat.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by Rorzech

I'd rather just keep quiet and avoid the place. If enough people do that , they'll soon get the hint. Maybe they could care less about sharing their paradise ! It's a big world with lots of places with a welcome mat.

You know.. This is something I have learned since coming out here. There is no shortage of water, beaches and sun. If I don't like somewhere, I just move on.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by travellerw

You know.. This is something I have learned since coming out here. There is no shortage of water, beaches and sun. If I don't like somewhere, I just move on.

And when you do that, it is effectively voting your dollars. Give them where you feel good about it. ....and don't sweat the small stuff.

Ann

[boatman61]

Thats why I eat in Sandy Ground and the rib shacks at Grande Case..

[Lucky]

Hi all on the other side of the pond, come to Europe, no such thing as all these charges found on the Americas side. Downside could be the weather, but plenty of interesting sites.

Happy lead free sailing from Lucky

[SaltyMetals]

Greg, are you actually up to date w the 2018 Cruising Tax in croatia? Add to that local marine reserve fees in Lastovo, Mljet, Brijuni, Kornati etc and it is no longer a bargain and immensely more expensive than our frriends across the pond are complaining about. Only place more ecpensive in the Med is Baleares. I was asked gor €440 ( about $470) for one night in Formentera. My boat is 13 m (43 ft) A year before i was w a friend on a 16 m boat (53ft) in Ibiza and they charged us €560 ($600) for one night. Compared to these sort of charges our friends in the Caribbean have a bargain.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by SaltyMetals

Greg, are you actually up to date w the 2018 Cruising Tax in croatia? Add to that local marine reserve fees in Lastovo, Mljet, Brijuni, Kornati etc and it is no longer a bargain and immensely more expensive than our frriends across the pond are complaining about.

No, it has been ten years since I was there so I have not kept up. The two summers I spent there, and especially the last, I did encounter some high fees - high but not enough to stop me from enjoying the place. As I posted earlier, each of us has to decide whether a specific place is worth the cost - it may be that Croatia is now too high for me but I suspect not. It is a wonderful cruising ground, and there are many good (free) anchorages - I spent very few nights in marinas or in expensive places.


As for the Balearics, your costs seem way out of line with my experiences, but again I avoided marinas. And the times are changing. When I was in the Med the eastern nations were still safe to visit, and the western Med was essentially full as far as marinas. Croatia was suddenly becoming full and expensive - especially for annual moorage contracts. With the continued increase in numbers of yachts, and so many avoiding Turkey, the upward price pressures must be getting extreme. It doesn't help that some ports are catering now to superyachts, with a loss of slips for smaller vessels. And the loss of anchorages, whether through mooring fields or strings of swim area buoys, makes things worse. No doubt cruising in the Med has become a lot more expensive in the last decade, and I see no end in sight to the price increases. Which leads me to note that it is better to go now than later, which seems to always be the case.


Greg

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by dmw0214

Well it's great that Chuckr has piles of money and can whip out hundreds of $bucks in customs fees without flinching. Me, not so. Our cruising funds are limited, and it hurts when we have to make the tough decision to NOT visit someplace we really would like to go to because of the blasted customs fees.

But when yachters like Chuckr just roll over and pay those monster fees, it just makes it harder for the rest of us. What he SHOULD do is what I did: refuse to pay up, and make sure their tourist bureau knows WHY.

My piles of money - now that is funny. We do and have for the past 11 years on our social security only. This year was a lot more and we had to tap savings -
if you want to know what we spend here it is for the past 9 years



http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ta-197309.html

it does not include this year yet -
again - this is an incredible lifestyle but if you want the USA and not deal with the bureaucracy and cost stay home. Do you have any idea what we had to do to sail to Russia? Or pull into a harbor and get an agent to do your paperwork? or go into a port and clear in and the c&i guys hand you a form and say fill it out in quadruple and point to a pile carbon paper to use? or I could just keep going - complain all you want it will not help - but then again go get the 1970s book the ugly American and read it -
we stay humble and friendly most of the time (the customs folks in Rhodes would disagree and we are a bit persona non grata there) and it works. As I said after checking in and out of over 40 countries by boat and maybe another 10-15 inland we have seen a lot and just accept it.

But what an 11 year ride and more to come.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by chuckr

- but then again go get the 1970s book the ugly American and read it -

FWIW: In the interest of accuracy, “The Ugly American” was published in 1958, and the Marlon Brando movie came out in 1963.
Was a great book ➥ https://www.enotes.com/topics/ugly-american

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Mariano

If I go with my boat to cruise Us waters I have to pay US $500 for visas (family of 5) + cruising permit , stay máx 90 days, and call in every time I move the boat even a couple of yards, so ¿who is stiffing it to yachters?

As an American, taking into account our bizarre, and draconian laws for (legal) visitors, I don't see how we can complain about anyone else's visa and travel rules, or fees.

[zippy]

If American Homeland Security thinks that it’s acceptable to have Canadian boaters check in and out of every zone they pass through, I would be worried what they will come up with next in the “Land of the Free”. The bureaucracy seems to gotten a bit out of control, which was inevitable given the amount of money thrown at them to “improve security “.

[RTB]

Look like the Bum's like TCI - https://www.bumfuzzle.com/ Pat is pretty money savvy to boot. Must be some draw....

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Yes, 911 seriously degraded many of the Freedoms that I liked to think the US had and stood for.
People seem to be willing to give up a lot for the promise of security.

I quickly realized that 9-11 succeeded beyond Al Qaeda's wildest expectations. They won, and they won big.

Around thirty thousand Americans are killed by drunk and drugged drivers a year, and we do nothing. But, three thousand die one year from a terrorist attack, carried out by nineteen idiots who should have been caught ten times before they did it, but weren't due to gross bureaucratic incompetence, and our government decides that the problem was that American citizens had too much freedom and privacy.

The Islamic terrorists probably still can't believe it.