so today i was up at dawn again to move palapa over to the fuel dock before the wind came up. i had checked the fuel the day before and we where right on empty. this is due to running the genset and aircon everyday. i am thinking .6 gal per hour x 10 hours = 6 gal per day = $30 yikes! we got the boat over to the fuel dock and aimee worked on yoga until the office opened. i took 80 gal and i think we hold 82 so we where empty!
after this we had to run aimee over to her frequent boater appointment at customs. we are supposed to be able to check into the us online as part of this program (for personal trip). the meeting was uneventful but back on palapa i was unable to figure out how to file a “float plan” with the online system checking us out so not sure if we will be able to use it to check in.
i also spent the am working to figure out if we needed to send aimee back to canada for a visa for our usvi charters and pick ups. we got conflicting info from everyone we spoke too. finally we got a number from seth for someone at chbc. they where from bermuda (last name haywood) and claimed aimee did not need a visa but pushed me over to the customs officers in st john to discuss working in the us. after 30 minutes on the phone going in circles i got pushed up to the head of customs in the usvi. he seemed to have a handle on things and said as a us captain on a us boat i could not have non us crew if i was based in the us. if not based in the us i could bring foreign crew in under an i-95 form which gave them 29 days in the us to work but then they had to leave. i think the next step will be to get aimee a green card!
with this sorted out i was pretty much done for the day. aimee did some more water intensive projects and then i paid our $1200 marina bill fortunately it included fuel but i am pretty sure we are going to loose money this season! on our final trip to the pool we ran into a captain and cook on on of the mini mega yachts who insisted on bringing us over a massive amount of ice. after a token rum and coke i had to kick them off so we could make our ancorage before sunset.
as it was it was dusk by the time we pulled into the anchorage and i could not see aimee or the mooring on final approach but she was able to call my turns and stop and we where done. it was great to be back on anchor and we took a quick swim in the now perfect temp water! mananna bvi ho!
