Have Passport - Will Travel

When we travel between countries, or islands as in the case of the Caribbean, we are required to check into customs and immigration at each island.  Typically, they require the same information from island to island:  crew list, boat registration and passport.  As a side note, for any cruisers looking for advice, we have found it much easier for women to check in and out.  For some reason, we saved hundreds of dollars in the BVI between having Baxter check in and me checking in…whatever works.  Most cruisers we know have experienced the same. 

Since we are a family of three, when asked if we have anything to declare, we reluctantly let them know we have a dog.  I say reluctantly because some islands are not happy about it and make it as difficult as possible to admit her.  In fact, we really wanted to sail west through the Panama Canal and onto the South Pacific.  In previous years, we were prevented from doing so because of Australia and New Zealand’s strict pet import policies.  Recently, those have been amended and we were very excited that Pacific plans could be reconsidered, only to find out that French Polynesia is now our pitfall…so regardless, we have plenty to see throughout the Atlantic and Kala has plenty of beaches to peruse.

To make life even easier – we sought out a vet in Sint Maarten who could issue Kala an EU Passport.  That’s right, she has an EU Passport and we don’t.  This will make our transitions from country to country smoother and hopefully painless. 

Kala is truly a citizen of the world now.  She is looking forward to expanding on her current inventory of 36 US states and 5 countries.