Immigration

0800 Position 17-32S 149-34W. In a slip at Papeete Marina, Tahiti

If you have read this blog for a while, you will know how tedious and bureaucratic the immigration formalities are here in French Polynesia for sailors on cruising sailboats. The government wants to ensure that any foreigner arriving in French Polynesia has the means to get home, so they require that a return airline ticket be presented upon arrival or, if not departing by airplane, that a bond equivalent to the price of an airline ticket be deposited in a local bank until that individual leaves the country. A cruising sailor planning to depart by boat has to post the bond which is expensive due to fees and conversions, and the process is tedious. I've sailed to French Polynesia five times now, and have figured out the perfect work around for this problem. I buy a fully refundable one way ticket from Papeete to the US scheduled to depart two months after I am going to arrive in French Polynesia. This is done well before I ever leave the USA. I print out the itinerary which shows that the ticket is confirmed and paid for. Next I immediately cancel the ticket and within two days the full dollar amount of the ticket is credited back to my credit card account. I hang onto the hard copy of my itinerary to show to the immigration authorities when I arrive in French Polynesia. This satisfies them that I have a return ticket. Problem solved at zero cost.

Yesterday the whole crew was required to go to the immigration office at the airport to clear out of the country. The head cheese there had Rob sitting in his office while the rest of us waited in the hallway. He was examining the ship's papers and our passports and asking our skipper questions. After fifteen minutes of paperwork, comparing the passports to computer screens, and loud stamping sounds, the big man asks Rob with a frown, "And where is William Leary?"

Now, he hadn't asked about anybody else on the crew. Everything seemed to be going fine up until that point. I figured the jig is up. They must have caught on to my fake return airline ticket ruse. Piers had jokingly pointed out the holding cell in the hall way a few minutes earlier. Now it doesn't seem so funny. I step into the immigration manager's office expecting the worst. He smiles and holds out his hand, "Happy Birthday!" he says.

We all have a laugh and our business with Immigration is done. Our next stop is the Socredo Bank branch there in the airport to recover Mike and Rob's bond. That also goes without a hitch. They get their money back and we head back for town. Mike ducks into the Air Tahiti office to check on his ticket to California. Piers and I get thirsty and head into the brew pub for a cold one after buying limes for our evening drinks at the open market.

The rest of the Van Diemen crew said goodby to Mike at 8PM last night when he caught a cab to the airport. He was a great shipmate and will be missed.

At 10PM Rob realized that he hadn't told Doc where to meet the boat when he flew into Papeete. The only solution was to meet him at the airport when his flight arrived at 5AM today, so Rob and Piers made a party of it and took a taxi there before dawn's early light. When I woke up this morning the three of them were back aboard and ready to face the day.

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