In August 2015 we were visiting my daughter in Arlington Virginia. We called boating friends Kathy and Vic who live near philidelphia to arrange a gettogether. Of course our conversation quickly turned to plans for the winter. Kathy said they were hoping to go to Cuba since regulations for travel had been eased by President Obama. Boating to Cuba is something Tom has wanted to do for about three years. I told him I would not go until it was legal for Americans to go. Now it is sort of, and we jumped at the chance to buddy boat with them.
Saying yes was the easy part. At the time you had to apply for a permit to import your boat. Once approved you had to apply for permission to go under one of 12 approved headings. Tourism was not one of them. They included educational(attending or teaching in a Cuban institution, journalism, religious work and a few more. We chose support of the Cuban people. I began the process by applying online for a special number. Once I was assigned a number I began filling out the actual permit request. It was a very difficult and confusing form as it appeared to apply to commercial more than private vessels. I had to write a rational/itinerary of what we had planned to accomplish and were told we had to keep a log of what we did. Not more than five percent of your time in Cuba was not to be spent touring. We also had to limit our visit to 14 days, giving the exact day we were leaving and the day we would return. The information from the import permit had to be put on a USCG form titled homeland security.
We had some difficulty finding out information about a visa so I called the Cuban Embassy. They could give me no information except to say that paperwork was online. I then emailed the American Embassy in Cuba. He at least answered me but referred me back to the American Embassy. Eventually we found out that your visa is issued by the Cuban authorities when you arrive!
We were also told that it was important to have a contact in Cuba as that would give you a much better chance at being approved. I tried going through our Congressman explaining that I was looking for someone who could take us to local schools. He sent several letters and emails to a representative in the Cuban Embassy on my behalf. His office forwarded copies of each letter sent and they even called when we returned to see if we were able to go but he was unable to get a response. Then a friend of mine posted a photo of churches in Cuba that their church does missionary work with. I called the central office of the church group. in a few days I received a phone call back and had a contact! Woo Hoo!
Our friends Kathy and Vic had their paperwork done and submitted before us. We had a month long trip in Australia in October that interfered. In November Kathy called and said she received a phone call indicating that the permit to bring your boat in was no longer necessary and that we now only needed to complete ONE form, A USCG homeland security form and attach our rational.
I felt bad for Kathy but was excited that I no longer needed to submit mine.
In December I completed form 3300 and faxed it with my rational to the USCG office.
By Christmas we were approved to go to Cuba for 14 days. We are really really going!
No comments:
Post a Comment