Captn Caveman - Thanks for your reply.
I believe the couple I'm referring to would be considered cruising civilians, as opposed to professional crew. They were a middle-aged couple who had just purchased a new sailboat in
France and hired a vessel clearing agent in
Italy who apparently drove them back to
France to personally (not the vessel) clear out of the country (because they had arrived in France and cleared in at an international airport). They then returned to Italy where they rejoined their
boat and were instructed to report the vessels arrival to the port
captain (harbormaster), which they did. From that point on, they were just considered crew of a vessel in transit and did not need to report to immigration. As I understand it from their subsequent YT videos they then spent much longer than 90 days cruising throughout the Schengen countries in the
Med only having to report the vessels arrival in different
ports and the
ports of newly visited countries, but never to immigration. They did not appear to be scofflaws and went into specific details as to what and how they were advised to conduct themselves. This was so different than my understanding of the
regulations, which is why I'm
posting here for insight, or corroboration of their experience.
Perhaps their vessel was owned by a corporate entity such as an LLC and this made the difference, but I doubt this would be unique amongst cruisers.
If anyone has had a similar experience I would like to know as I am planning to sail to the
Med next year.
Thank you