T&T: Important - Attention All Foreign Flagged Cruising

[Candy Chapman and Gary Bell]

John Tones asked:  

<snip a bunch>

 I mean when was the last "illegal" 
immigrant charged with terrorism in the US?

REPLY:  I think it must have been 2002, right there in Port Angeles WA, when a suspicious acting driver departing the Black Ball ferry, caught the attention of a customs officer, turned out the driver was on his way to bomb the LA airport with a car full of bomb materials.  So, the customs folks in the Puget Sound area are particularly sensitized to the issues.  The customs folks I dealt with -- at Port Townsend mostly -- were invariably polite and considerate.  

The following two sentences contain, among other things, a statement of my political opinion, please skip over them if your political leanings are well to the right.  I think the enormously increased difficulties we all face, not just in crossing the US - Canadian border with our boats, but throughout the US -- stems from the current US administration's propensity to promote public acceptance of its strong reactions to 9/11 by stirring up a feelings of fear and a sense of panic in the public.  Many would agree with me that we are now saddled with some pretty profound overreactions.  Now, I don't want to incite a discussion on this list of my, or anybody else's political views -- please simply accept that this my opinion of why we have these difficulties and move on back to the discussion at hand:  How to deal with the increased border crossing hassles.     

I have found, so far, that when approached with a good measure of respect and understanding for their situation the customs, and other border officials, on both sides, are nearly always reasonable and fair.  Clearly they are trained to take and retain command of any situation where they might encounter resistance or hostility.  I try not to go there.

Regards,
Gary Bell