Here’s the visa workaround: You enter US Territory with an ESTA on an official carrier (like a plane or in my case, a ferry). Then you get a stamp in your passport that says you can stay on US soil for 90 days. You go back with the ferry, fetch your boat and reenter with your own boat since you now have a stamp. That’s what people say on the internet but all these informations were a bit old and I couldn’t find anybody who could confirm this.
I wanted to get going and arrive in the BVI (British Virgin Islands) and see for myself before the weather was supposed to turn bad.
I cleared out of Antigua, took another hike and left with the dusk so I would hopefully arrive in Tortola two days later sometime during the day and still be able to clear in. The trip was just short of 200 nautical miles.
We had a rolly start but then a very quiet and easy sail for the first 24 hours or so. I could get many of my 20min sleeps in the first night and during the day we passed by St Kitts and Nevis and Saba. With the onset of the next evening the wind increased and so did the waves. We were racing along with 5 to 6 knots with and increasingly uncomfortable wave on the beam. We had many squalls during the night and I was busy with constant reefing and unreefing. By dawn it was blowing 25 knots and more and tired as I was I left the 2nd reef in the main. We were fast enough to make it to Road Town anyway.
We found a good and sheltered anchorage in the huge bay before the town and I got the dinghy ready and off we went to present ourselves to customs and immigration. It took me a bit to find the place and when I got there the officers were very friendly but also very much in a hurry because they were expecting a ferry to come in. I filled out everything as fast as I could and was done within 15 minutes and instead of the expected 120$ US I had paid 13. They must have had forgotten something in the hurry.
The next day I stayed on board because of the expected high winds. The bay is sheltered enough and so there were no problems but a pretty bad swell works itself into the bay so sleeping, cooking and general well-being on board were made next to impossible. I researched everything I could for the trip to the USVI and started to get nervous.
On Sunday I took the dinghy to the dock in the dark shortly before 6 and took the first ferry to St. Thomas via St. John where everybody would have to get off and go through US Immigration and Customs. I had decided to tell them the truth about my wanting the stamp only for the purpose of coming back with the boat. That way I could maybe get an answer tom the question if this were a known and legal procedure. I guess I was very nervous and must have looked it and I had the misfortune of being questioned by a young officer who obviously needed to show his superiors ad me that he could be very tough. I will spare too many of the details but here are some… I was sweating (like always because it’s hot, but now even more). This threw the fingerprint reader off. And my last name was spelled with ü in one with u in another and with ue on a third document. I couldn’t hear the guy very well behind the glass and he must have said “step aside, sir” but I didn’t hear it the first time. Now things got loud and went downhill fast. Next I found myself locked up in a room, waiting. I was called after 20 minutes or so presuming my ferry had now long gone without me. More questions that led nowhere and finally the superior was called. Now things eased considerably and this gentlemen was very polite. He cleared everything within a few minutes and now I had my stamp for 90 days but was too afraid to ask questions about reentering with Amy. I only realised much later how shaken up I really was.
The ferry was still there with everybody waiting for me. Luckily they had realised that this wasn’t really my fault and people were really friendly and understanding.
On arriving in St. Thomas I caught a bus to Charlotte-Amalie where the sail boats arrive and found another office of US Customs and Border Protection. This was a totally different atmosphere. The lady was very friendly and I was able to ask all my questions and I even got a clearance form that I could fill out before I would come back with Amy. So now I had my answers and yes, the workaround was apparently legal and it looked very much like Amy and I would be able to visit the USVI, Puerto Rico and later Miami, Florida.
I went back to Red Hook with the bus. Some people here speak English with an American accent. Some speak Caribbean English (that sounds a little bit like Harry Belafonte) some speak Spanish and some French or Creole and all on the same bus and no tourists.
Another thing I noticed… although it’s the US they drive on the left side of the road. But all have cars with the steering wheel on the left side.
It was getting dark as I got back to Road Town but I had left the anchor light on. I was very hungry and craved a slice of pizza. I knew the supermarket by the dinghy dock sold warm pizza by the slice. I got two slices and got in line at the cashier. Before me was a gentleman with his son who was apparently in a very good mood and we where soon talking and making a few jokes. Before I knew what had happened he had paid for my pizza, said “enjoy your pizza” and left. The day was getting better and better. The dinghy ride back was wet and a bit rough. The wind had picked up again. By the time I arrived, the pizza was cold. But I didn’t mind at all. I still had warm beer to go with it.
The swell was getting worse and worse and I couldn’t sleep but the weather outside was still too rough to leave. After staying one more day during which I had given an online guitar lesson, cut my hair, sewed the national flag which was falling apart and found my favourite deodorant in a supermarket, I finally cleared out of the BVI and used the 24 hours that were given to leave the country to visit Peter Island. A small Island south of Tortola. There was no swell here and lots of space. A very quiet spot which I enjoyed a lot. I cleaned the underwater hull and wrote in the blog. The next day I would leave for St. Thomas again. My first time in US territorial waters with my own boat.
