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"stealth" wrote:


"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in message
news:lFgFb.9050$JD6.3215@lakeread04...


stealth wrote:


What exactly have our leaders changed regarding homeland security going
offshore and back? Given the dog and pony show they are selling in the name
of our safety, I can only imagine the lunacy that they have implemented
against law abiding U. S. citizens that are boaters. As an airline pilot and
avid aviator, I get to witness the idiocy you mention first hand! TSA is
nothing more than smoke and mirrors for the duped public who falsely
believe otherwise.

Here is the latest word on Bahamas/South Florida clearing. First the
bahamian Government has softened a little. You can now exit and return
once in the first 90 days of the year long cruising permit. They have
also made it clearer that you are not to be charged overtime fees or for
the dinghy either on deck or towed.

On the US side, you can still clear customs by phone if you have a
sticker but Immigration wants in person check in. Once you have tied up
you have to take a $40 taxi ride to the airport or to Dodge Island.
While the crew is spending the day checking into the US, Osama can
unload the neuclear device and check into the Holliday Inn.




If I understand you correctly, customs never once visits the actual boat?

Well that's not quite correct. You can clear customs or at least
start the procedure by phone (although they do insist on a land line -
you can't or aren't supposed to be able to do it by cell phone
although I have managed to do so) whether or not you have a sticker.
If you don't have a sticker, you have to get one and then phone and
tell them the number to finish the clearing in process. (This is only
for boats over a certain length BTW)

But customs can, at their discretion, require you to wait at the dock
for them to actually visit the boat and do an inspection in person.
I'm pretty sure this is still the same. I heard that some ports of
entry were more likely to do an in person inspection than others.

I think it's pretty much the same in the Bahamas depending on the
port. In Bimini, Chub, West End, Morgan's Bluff and other small
places, one person gets off the boat and checks in with customs and
then with immigration. Actually I think at Morgan's Bluff you anchor
and they come out to you. Sometimes customs and immigration are the
same person and sometimes not. In Nassau or Lucaya, you tie up to the
dock and wait for them to get around to visiting your boat.

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish as to who is dumber; those that
create these idiotic laws or the people who continually vote these idiots
into office and allow it to continue. TSA is a farce and nothing more than a
police state affair that gives the uninformed a false warm and cozy feeling
that they are safe from terrorist harm. It amazes me how many people I meet
in my travels actually believe that the government/TSA is doing an
outstanding job of protecting us. Point in case, they strip search airline
pilots in plain view of the passengers, take away their nail clippers, and
then allow them to board the flight deck which contains a crash axe, flares,
AND complete control of the aircraft. It would seem logical that rather than
worrying about every pair of nail clippers that may or may not get on a
flight, safety would be better served if we concerned ourselves more with
"who" is on the flight rather than "what". If someone of middle eastern
origin balks at removing their turban for inspection due to religious
reasons, they are allowed to pass through security without fail due to the
fact they we don't want to racial profile for fear of making anyone angry.
Make note that all successful terrorist hijackers have been from those of
the middle east. Yet, TSA will demand that an elderly and frail grandmother
in a wheel chair be searched with no exceptions if they so choose. In
addition, if a crew member refuses to remove their hat, they WILL be fired,
and the TSA (not the FAA) now has full authority to revoke the airmen
certificates (license) of anyone that they (again, not the FAA) deems a
national security threat. This interpretation of who and why is at the sole
discretion of the TSA. Currently, there is no check and balance of this
outrageous power, and as such, we are at the mercy of minimum wage high
school drop outs in determining who can board and who cannot. My point is
that we have the technology to determine with utmost certainty the identity
of any one individual, yet we choose to allow ourselves to be scrutinized by
a police state mentality in the name of safety. I realize I am getting off
topic for which this group is intended, but I lurk in this group from time
to time as it is my intention to buy a 35'-40' in the near future and dock
it in the Miami area. And as a law abiding citizen, I would like to be able
to retain the freedom to float my boat at will without constantly being
treated like a common criminal. As such, witnessing what the government has
done in the name of safety to the aviation sector, both commercial and
private, the topic of new TSA rules boating to and from the Bahamas peaked
my curiosity. Thanks for the reply.

s

grandma Rosalie