Schengen Visa

[zippy]

Originally Posted by nwdiver

Canadians get 180 days in the US and UK, like we are thier little brothers eh!

Little brothers that have to call dad every night in the US.

[RobMinton]

Originally Posted by karabil

They counted our time as starting when we arrived at the azores, and did not discount the transit time between azores and mainland portugal. Tneir reasoning was that we were in portuguese waters.

Thats good to know. Interesting they counted transit days at sea considering you checked out of Azores. Don't want to skip Portugal but wondering if heading straight for Gibraltar (after clearing out of Azores) is a better call in order to stretch our "90 days in". Just trying to maximize our 90 out of 180 days in order to avoid Hurricane season on the return to the Caribbean this fall.

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by RobMinton

Thats good to know. Interesting they counted transit days at sea considering you checked out of Azores. Don't want to skip Portugal but wondering if heading straight for Gibraltar (after clearing out of Azores) ies a better call in order to stretch our "90 days in". Just trying to maximize our 90 out of 180 days in order to avoid Hurricane season on the return to the Caribbean this fall.

Skip the Azores and head straight for Gibraltar, and you have 0 days in the EU then you can start 90 days in Spain, unless you want to sit in Gibraltar for 90 days........your 90 days in, starts when you enter the Azores and keeps going until you leave the EU....like entering Gibraltar......hit Portugal when you leave the Med....

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by RobMinton

We're prepping for our transAt to the Med in May. Still trying to figure out this Schengen deal with the 90 days in Schengen nations and 90 days out. It seems its going to take some strategic planning of when and where to check in/check out.
Does anyone have any experience with overstaying the allotted 90 days?
Could you claim mechanical/boat troubles?
Looks like we'll be spending more time in Croatia than originally anticipated...which isn't a bad thing.

Rob - we sailed across in "13 - so this spring starting out 6th year here. 90 is 90 -- have we over stayed? -- yes -- a couple of times we checked in and out so many places it was hard to tell when we were in and out. But they got these new fancy things called computers and better data bases perhaps s0 -- it also depends on where you check out.

As for problems - depends - we broke our prop in Crete and had to send it to the UK to get it fixed. By the time we made Rhodes we were 2 weeks over they were going to fine us. I claimed act of God - they said no pay -- it was an interesting hour discussion in which the woman with me thought I might end up in jail. But in the end we did not have to pay but I would bet there is a little tick next to my name in the computer data base.

We have sailed almost the entire Med as well as all the Black Sea. We wintered over 2x in Tunisia - 3x in Turkey and this winter in Israel - Israel is the best by far of any - we wish we had spent more winters here.

OH - do a bit of research on St Johns fest in the Azores and make sure you get there for it. It is one of the great times you will ever see anywhere in the world. Also when you leave the Azores check out and save the sailing days to Portugal.

any more pm me.