Customs check in denied entry to St Lucia

[Paul Reading]

In the UK we can renew and they email the registration document. Does Canada offer the option of having the document emailed. That would be the simplest solution.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Paul Reading

In the UK we can renew and they email the registration document. Does Canada offer the option of having the document emailed. That would be the simplest solution.

Transport Canada will do that but there is no guarantee the officer standing in front of you will accept it. Ours was refused by the West Palm Beach, FL office a few years back because it was not on the official pale yellow paper with watermark.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Paul Reading

In the UK we can renew and they email the registration document. Does Canada offer the option of having the document emailed. That would be the simplest solution.

That is the normal procedure here in Canada too. When I did a change of address they emailed me a copy, and later on a copy arrived in the mail, same with my renewal. You don't really have to make much effort to renew

[rjwdoc]

French islands will only casually glance at your passport (if that) during check in/out procedure. I would go back to Martinique and wait there until your registration is delivered.

[dougweibel]

Originally Posted by rjwdoc

French islands will only casually glance at your passport (if that) during check in/out procedure. I would go back to Martinique and wait there until your registration is delivered.

Yep. Go back to St. Anne in Martinique. Check in at the bistro with the clearance terminal. They rarely ask to look at anything especially if you order a sandwich first. Just enter your last port as St. Lucia. I know several cruisers who have fixed "mistakes" by just checking in at Martinique or Guadeloupe.

[twrdocktor]

First off, it is not clear that a boat has to be registered with any country in order to check in. St Lucia rarely checks the registration. Secondly, canadian boats are automatically re-newed and a new certificate is sent out to the last known address. I was asked this year for the registration which had expired, but as we spend 5 months a year on the boat, the new certificate would be in our mail pile in Vancouver. Now lately St Lucia customs has been annoyingly strict but not unreasonable. I put transport Canadas web page on my ipad and showed that in fact registrations are renewed automatically and i wrote an email asking for confirmation that we were in fact registered. That and a few words about our involvement with locals in St Lucia and the economy that we provide and all was good.

In most cases St Lucian authorities just want to assert their legitimate duties in a scenario where cruisers a lot of times take for granted the process. In Rodney Bay i have seen countless times where cruisers haven’t got their last departure clearance or where boat papers were not present. I know too that cruisers tend to be very casual with the employees because they check in and out quite a bit. From what i gathered this year, they want to tighten up the protocol and if it is just to get things back to a professional standard, so be it. They might not always be right or fair, but they are the system in place.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by twrdocktor

First off, it is not clear that a boat has to be registered with any country in order to check in. .....

This is SUCH bad advice... You try checking in to the Dutch side of Sint Maartin, or the BVIs, or Grenada or the USA on a boat that is not registered anywhere. Tell me how that goes.

You NEED documentation that you own the boat. Period. Now it is true that different places will have different standards of proof. SOme will take a photocopy of the paperwork, or a printed email of registration in progress, some will insist on the original. But you can NOT sail the world without a flag state and the paperwork to prove it.

[twrdocktor]

Thank you for telling me who worked for Transport Canada for 35 years what the rules are. In Canada anything over 15 tons must be registered. Sailing the seas, you are not under Canadian law but International law. In St Lucia there is no requirement to have a registration. Ownership can be proven otherways. I mentikn that fact only because i know most if the officers there and do not want them to be challenged over such an unimportant issue. If he wants to see your badge, show him the badge. However, the point i made was that all Canadian registration is automatically renewed. Boat owners should know that. When sailing for months on end, a lot of boat renewals will be sent to a home address. The point then is to talk to the officer and explain that yes, the boat is registered , the renewal probably sits at home and that it will be rectified shortly. Walking out with the prospect of sailing under less than ideal situations is not desireable. St Lucia asserts their authority once in a while, but there are ways to counter that. Reasonable explanations gets reasonable results.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by twrdocktor

Thank you for telling me who worked for Transport Canada for 35 years what the rules are. In Canada anything over 15 tons must be registered.

I think you'll find that requirement was published in T34-8-2000 in error 24 years ago. It still shows up in Canadian government online libraries but was removed from the Transport Canada Marine Safety (department of TC responsible for ships registry) web pages shortly thereafter and was never enforced.

The current requirements do not list any such requirement that I can find. If you know of one. please provide a link to that Transport Canada page.

[Roux]

Ssint Vincent and Grenada do not check expiry dates.