S. Pacific Islands - Fees?

[getlostonpurpose]

well, it seems this post has gone a little off topic but I can at least jump in a say that I checked into Vava'u, Tonga last friday and the charges were $23 tongan for quarantine and $100 tongan for health. That's about $60US total. I still haven't paid the health fee yet but I bought him a beer in the bar the other night! Some people have paid it, some haven't and I found this to be the case all over the south pac. It seems a lot of boats end up paying different things in the end.

[osirissail]

Hellosailor and all others contemplating entering the USA or have friends coming to visit you using the Visa Waiver Program - Guess what - another requirement has been added. Basically you cannot jump on the airliner and arrive in the USA - unless you -
>>To strengthen the security of travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, requirements to travel visa-free have been enhanced. Nationals of Visa Waiver Program countries will still be eligible to travel without a visa but will have to obtain an approved travel authorization prior to their travel to the United States.<<
See: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.h...C-36031DE336B6
- - Another reason to sail off into the sunset . . .

[hellosailor]

As the song goes [REFRAIN] "Send lawyers, guns and money! Get me out of here!"

I wonder if we could get an airline to merge with a bank, so they could offer a "return ticket air passage CD". You deposit your money into a competitive interest CD, and they issue you an open return ticket valid for up to the CD price. So when someone demands proof that you have paid passage home--you've got it. Meanwhile, it earns some money for your cruising kitty, and you don't have to cashier the ticket to get your money back. Just roll it over when it matures.

Maybe UBS would go for a scheme like that, in conjunction with SwissAir. Or did someone buy out SwissAir recently?

[osirissail]

Sounds like a great new IPO possibility to get the economy going again. But, on the serious side you can avoid a lot of the bond issues by traveling with a group like the Pacific Puddle Jumpers who get waivers from the bond requirements. Other groups do the same thing. Most of the places with bond requirements just want to be sure you ARE going to leave one way or the other (sea or air). Even in mild countries with "open" entry without visas, getting a one-way ticket in to rejoin your boat is very complicated and exact documentation is needed. And even then local officials get very upset sometimes when they do not have experience with cruisers who go to their home country during a storm season and then return to their boats.

[barnakiel]

True, and thanks for the info. I would not be allowed anyway (in the US) ... Swedish flag (my boat) ... but Polish passport (me). We never had any problem, except the Australian visa had to be obtained before entering Australia (which was easy vie their on-line service). Elsewhere, if visa required we could always buy it on arrival.

Generally, very little charges / fees in the Pacific but yes some places it takes ages, but then again we are not on tight schedule, are we.

b

[hellosailor]

Swedish flag but Polish passport? Are aliens allowed to flag a private yacht in Sweden?

The presumption in the US is that if your papers don't match, there must be multiple papers (often illegal) or some other irregularity involved. Not that these things can't be legal--just that they often indicate an irregularity. So I wouldn't be surprised if someone said "Ah, Swedish boat. And where's the Swedish Master of the Swedish Boat?" Then not finding one, sent it back to sea.

Oz and NZ keep making the news every few years with their creative regulations that seem to snare casual cruisers en route.

[barnakiel]

Yes. I am aware that the US goverment is very suspicious. There are only two embassies in Warsaw that look like a bunker - one of them is the US one.

Surprisingly, they never ask such silly questions when a Panama flagged ship full of Chinese imports enters their borders under a Russian captain This is probably because it is so easy for me to have a nuclear warhead hidden in my 26 ft long clunker, while it is completely impossible in case of that cargo ship ;-))))

b.

[osirissail]

barnakiel - don't start confusing logic with government policy - in most instances they are diametrically opposed. Government policy normally has only to do with the appearance that the government is doing something. They can then shout - see, we are doing something! Whether the "something" is relevant to the actual problem rarely enters their thought processes. And that applies equally to all governments all over the world.

[barnakiel]

Agreed. Applies all over the world, to different extent. But we are way off topic by now. Apologies to all.

b.