Quote:
Originally Posted by dMAC
We all know that it is "illegal" for us free Americans to exercise our freedoms to sail to Cuba, but from a real time perspective has anyone sailed direct to Havana from Florida for a quick stop before heading to the Bahamas? Does the USCG or Feds bother or track sailors? Thanks for any recent reports.
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Be under no illusion that someone in an official capacity in a US governmental agency will not know if you've sailed an American
boat to Cuba... They may very well know what you happened to be reading in the
cockpit, enroute... :-)
What they might bother to do with such knowledge, however, is a different matter entirely...
Here's a recent report from SPINSHEET:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasWeiss
As far as I know the coast guard stopped the patrols just outside of Cuban waters (although that can change at any time) and Cuba still doesn't stamp American passports. That being said, I probably wouldn't want to risk the fines, possible jail time, & having my boat get confiscated. I'd love to go to Cuba, but I would make damn sure that I did it legally.
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Americans have been taking
boats to Cuba for years. I made 3 separate trips one
winter about a dozen years ago... In Marina Hemingway I watched a few NFL playoff games aboard a large expedition yacht registered in Wilmington, Delaware, whose owner brought his SUV over on the aft
deck, and maintained an apartment in Havana... Fashion
designer Tommy Hilfiger's 170' Benetti
motoryacht TOMMY spent most of the
winter in Havana, as well...
If anyone can cite a
single case of an American yachtsman serving jail time, or having their boat confiscated as a result of traveling to Cuba, I'd sure like to hear about it... Certainly, the Treasury Department has threatened people with, and no doubt collected some fines over the years. I knew one owner who received such a threat, all he did was produce a Crew List indicating one of his guests was a Dutch citizen, and claimed to have documented that all expenses had been paid by that individual... With that reply, he never heard anything further from OFAC...
Marvelous place, but I'm glad I had the
privilege of going when I did... :-)