On May 24, 6:57*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 15:13:57 -0700 (PDT), "Capt.Bill"

wrote:
In the Domican Republic the big marinas also offer assistance with on
site customs and immigration which is particularly helpful when you
are dealing with a language barrier plus a complex and somewhat
corrupt system.

True. But between the official fees and the unofficial fees, it was
still less than the official $300 fee to clear in to the Bahamas. Even
for us at 90'. *:-)

Yes but I greatly prefer the system in the Bahamas. *Once you pay your
$300 you can come and go as you want from island to island with no
additional bureaucracy to deal with. *In the Dominican Republic you
can only go legally to another port of entry, no where else, and of
course everyone has their hand out. *We are technically in violation
tonight because we want to leave Luperon tomorrow at 6:00 AM but since
there is no provision for that in the rules our zarpa says that we
leaving at 5:00PM today.

Very true. It's a stupid system that does nothing to encourage
cruisers to visit.