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Around 9/5/2005 10:52 PM, wrote:
Paperwork back into US: Surprisingly easy......but only because we
traveled with our passports.
I've been carrying my birth certificate for the past two years, but I'm
thinking of getting a passport...
First thing the customs officer did was to
scan the computerized info on the passports, consult a computer, and
after about 15 seconds of typing something she asked, "How long were
you in Canada? How much money did you spend on things you're bringing
back? Any beef, chicken, pork or fruits and vegetables on this list?
Any Cuban cigars? How much booze and tobacco are you bringing in? Did
anybody give you anything to carry across the border? OK, I guess we'll
let you back in- but you have to buy a $25 customs decal because your
boat is over 30-feet."
Have I told the story of coming through Roche Harbor last summer?
Customs officers (both of them!) were boarding every boat. Including the
14' runabouts that aren't even as high off the water as the dock. The
officer that boarded Blue-Boat glanced inside the gear box and peeked
under the dash, just because you never know: there could be a terrorist
hidden in that 6 cubic feet of space.
The $25 bucks is a hose job. Ticks me off every year. If my boat were
6-feet shorter, I'd get back in for free.
That's why Commando always has been 29'8" (as documented in the original
build sheet) when crossing the border and 30' at all other times. 
--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
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