new cruising strategy

[chuckr]

we, an american couple, sailed over to the azores this past may and what a real treat they were - so much in fact that we spent way to long there - then of course on to portugal and a bit of inland travel and suddenly we realize that our schengen visa was going to run out before we got to see all we wanted to see
so we decided to skip france and most of spain and see the balerics before heading to tunisia for the winter --

we have been cruising for 6 years in the usa and the entire carib and when we find someplace we really like we stop and visit and if we find someplace that is not to our liking, even if recommended by other cruisers, we move on - for example when we went to cartagena colombia we where told it was dirty, crime ridden and waste of our time. we went and found just the opposite and stayed 3 months and had a lot of boat upgrades made.

with the schengen hanging over our heads it appears those days are over and we just have to keep moving --

by the way when we were in panama we got a special maritime visa that cost us $100us that included stamps in our passport that allowed us an extended stay - 6 or 9 months - i forget - and was checked at each port we entered -- through we entered only a couple as the san blas was just to beautiful to leave -

i would have more to say on the schengen and unemployment along the coast with empty harbors and non eu countries actively seeking boaters to winter over in their country and support their economy but that would be a waste of everyones time

cheers and hope to meet a few of you in the anchorages in the med

chuck patty and svsoulmates
in lagos portugal - headed eastbound shortly

 

[temptress]

we, an american couple, sailed over to the azores this past may and what a real treat they were - so much in fact that we spent way to long there - then of course on to portugal and a bit of inland travel and suddenly we realize that our schengen visa was going to run out before we got to see all we wanted to see
so we decided to skip france and most of spain and see the balerics before heading to tunisia for the winter --

we have been cruising for 6 years in the usa and the entire carib and when we find someplace we really like we stop and visit and if we find someplace that is not to our liking, even if recommended by other cruisers, we move on - for example when we went to cartagena colombia we where told it was dirty, crime ridden and waste of our time. we went and found just the opposite and stayed 3 months and had a lot of boat upgrades made.

with the schengen hanging over our heads it appears those days are over and we just have to keep moving --

by the way when we were in panama we got a special maritime visa that cost us $100us that included stamps in our passport that allowed us an extended stay - 6 or 9 months - i forget - and was checked at each port we entered -- through we entered only a couple as the san blas was just to beautiful to leave -

i would have more to say on the schengen and unemployment along the coast with empty harbors and non eu countries actively seeking boaters to winter over in their country and support their economy but that would be a waste of everyones time

cheers and hope to meet a few of you in the anchorages in the med

chuck patty and svsoulmates
in lagos portugal - headed eastbound shortly

Chuck - interesting post and interesting point of view. It is the same the world over as Europeans we face the same issues when we go to the USA. we can only stay a short length of time then have to leave, Austrailia and South Africa are the same as well. Having been in Tunisia you may now come back into the EU i believe.

 

[Tony Cross]

I sympathise but I also wonder what sort of constraints would be placed on EU citizens wanting to do extended cruising in the USA? The visa rules were never made with cruising sailors in mind I think and they even cause us Europeans problems at the edges of the EU, Turkey being a particular example.

Enjoy your time in the Med.

 

[macd]

I sympathise but I also wonder what sort of constraints would be placed on EU citizens wanting to do extended cruising in the USA? The visa rules were never made with cruising sailors in mind I think and they even cause us Europeans problems at the edges of the EU, Turkey being a particular example.

Enjoy your time in the Med.

But gaining residence in Turkey is pretty straightforward (as is almost anything compared to dealing with the US State Department).
and +1 on the 'enjoy' bit.

 

[Squeaky]

Good afternoon:

Definitely a Plus One for Turkey as I can't imagine a visa or residence permit being any easier than it is now in Turkey.

Yes, there are examples of "stupidity" recently as in the Mugla area with the "Blue Card" and Customs officials deciding that yachts had to report to and tie up at the customs quay with their agents in tow in order to clear in or out but I suspect these decisions are the results of individual officials demonstrating their power - their power to cause inconvenience, that is. I don't know about the accounting for the payments they extract for the pleasure of tying up to the customs quay however there is a small chance that the funds are used to provide coffee, cay and sweets for the staff.

Cheers

Squeaky

 

[chuckr]

as an update we went to the Spanish National Police and asked how we could extend our visa to winter over in Barcelona - they were helpful and said we should contact our consulate in southern Spain. We contacted them and they told us they can not help us and by the tone of the email it was kinda go away we don't want to have to help you. this is not unusual for us for anytime we contact the US Embassy for anything all we get is a run around and we are Americans.
we will continue to try as we are headed to Madrid in a few days to sight see and hope to get some answers there but glad we made alternate arrangements.
thanks for thoughts from everyone
chuck patty and svsoulmates
on the dock la lina spain

 

[chuckr]

after contacting the consulate again and dealing with other usa embassys in the carib - i have finally figured out what the embassys are - a place where the current administration can reward those who support them with vacations in a foreign country at the expense of the usa taxpayers. what a worthless bunch of people --

as for the spanish authorities, we did a road trip and ended up in madrid and went to 2 different national police stations -- the first was very helpful but said they could not help us and made a lot of phone calls and then told us where we had to go and marked it on a transit map for us. the second one was also helpful but spoke not a lot of english but told us they could not extend our visa as we did not have a real visa only the schengren agreement. they told us to go to portugal and go to the spanish embassey there and get a visa then return and they could extend it -- very helpful but we decided to go to tunisia --

chuck patty and svsoulmates
in lalina

 

[PlanB]

Some Canadian friends in Spain had the same problem with an expired visa and spent hours on the phone to officials of both natons, totally without success. It seems you can only apply for a visa renewal or extension if you are out of the country concerned.