Arriving in the Caribbean by Yacht

[Laurin]

I'm giving up work in 3 weeks to go sailing. Working for Sunsail for the summer and am looking for a boat to crew on for the ARC. I'd then like to find another boat to carry on my travels.

I've heard that you can't get signed off one crewlist in the Caribbean unless you either get signed onto another boat, or have a plane ticket. Also that there are some islands that as an EU citizen I can stay on for a while without these restrictions. Does anybody have any information about this or could point me in the direction of a useful website?

Ta

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[tony_brighton]

Try the World Cruising website/chat channels (worldcruising.com) - they run the ARC and look for crew so should be able to advise

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[snowleopard]

getting a berth on the ARC isn't easy, there are so many people competing for the few available. You can improve your chances by being available to crew on the way down from northern europe to las palmas. also don't smoke, not even tobacco and preferably be young & female!

a lot of hopefuls partol the pontoons at las palmas and a few get lucky but i wouldn't advise it.

re signing off at the other end, every skipper knows that they could be liable for your air fare home if you don't transfer to another boat so will be very wary. the customs in st lucia will want to see a plane ticket dated not more than a couple of days ahead or another skipper who will add you to their crew list.

the one bright patch in this is that martinique and the other french islands are outside the eastern caribbean economic group so a ticket to one of them is sufficient. though martinique is part of france, i'm not sure if EC citizenship entitles you to come and go as you please. anyone know about this?

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[AndrewB]

I'm fairly certain you are right. This seemed to be the case 5 years ago when I last sailed to the Caribbean, when on islands like Antigua it was essential that crew leaving a yacht had to be signed off with immigration, who would ask for proof that the crew-member was leaving the island within the period of the stay granted to them. That proof was normally an air-line ticket or a signed letter from another yacht skipper that the person would be joining them. The island authorities were well accustomed to crews coming and going and these procedures worked smoothly.

The places you don't need this but as an EU citizen are free to come and go are the French islands: principally St Martins (northern half), Guadaloupe and Martinique. However these formalities still apply on the British Virgin Islands, and I think on the southern half of St Martins which is a Dutch possession.

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