John Cairns wrote:
Cuba. We got boarded early Sunday am SW of Key West heading NE, same script,
names, dob's, though we were scrutinized a little more when the officer
figured out that the place we had sailed from, Providencia, was part of
Columbia. The CG doesn't stop boats going to the Bahamas or north, only
boats going to/coming from the general vicinity of Cuba, which renders
excuses like immigration, drugs and terrorism moot. The boat got boarded in
the same vicinity about a month ago, headed in the opposite direction.

John Cairns

First question asked of me was "How many aboard?", and second was
"What was your last port of call?", which lead me to believe it was
about Cuba. They have a lot to deal with down that way.

On our return to Key West, we were on the hook W. side of Marquessas
Island. A 35-ft open-hulled boat, powered by four 250-HP outboards
with "Homeland Security" emblazened on the topsides in 18" high
letters came from miles away directly to us and scrutinized us from
30 yards for nearly 5 minutes, but didn't bother us. The three crew,
who were dressed in dark blue or black, appeared to be wearing
bullet-proof vests and looked like Navy Seal types. I don't think they
were concerned about fishing regulations or whether we had enough
life jackets aboard. I expect they were able to confirm from a data
base that our vessel had been given the 'once-over' five days earlier,
and that we checked out o.k.

This is good. Fifteen years ago, the USCG was boarding recreational
boats in SF Bay because they had nothing better to do with themselves,
and thought it was a 'public service' and good training. If they
didn't like the cut of your jib, or how you parted your hair, the
power tripping began, and they just had to find something that
wasn't in order.