Today we are back in Bequia after a couple of crazy weeks. On the 10th we found out that my sister in law was in the hospital and she wasn't doing too well. She had been fighting COPD for the past 3-4 years and her lungs were finally giving out. She passed away on Sunday and Wes said that I needed to go home. There was no way that we could both go home with the dogs. So Wes said that he would stay on the boat and I should fly home We got my airline ticket leaving out of Grenada on Wednesday. So the plan was for us to sail over to Carriacou (which is part of Grenada) then I would take the ferry over to Grenada spend the night in a luxurious hotel (haha) and catch my flight in the morning. But customs/immigration had a different idea. So we forgot to check out at Union Island before we headed over to Carriacou, just a little oversight. We thought if he was just dropping me off that we didn't need to check in and out. But the officer proceeded to explain to me that there is a $10,000 fine for not checking out of the country when we leave. I asked him if we could just sail on back to Union Island, which was only about 5 miles across the bay and he adamantly said no because we had already set foot in Grenada. He just started yelling at me and said I should know better and I just lost it. I started crying and said that I was just trying to get back for my sister in laws funeral. I think he actually felt sorry for me. He never said sorry but he let me go and I was able to catch a cab to the hotel and relax.
I made it home, and the service was very nice. It was good to see everyone but I am really tired of going home for funerals. It would be nice to go home for a wedding or a baby or something happy-No more funerals.
Wes rented a car so he could pick me up at the airport, which was really nice since my flight didn't get in until 10:30pm. We had the car for the next day so we decided to tour the island. We were going to hike the volcano on St. Vincent and we headed on up. But when we were about 1/3 of the way up we ran into a group of locals with machete's. We got little nervous so we decided to head back down and ran into a big group of locals with several machete's. We made it down to the base and asked the guide what the machete's were all about and he said that they grow marijuana on the North side of the volcano and they were just going up to cut some. OK we felt pretty silly but he said they were harmless and we were completely safe.
Now we are waiting to hear from the vet in St. Lucia that it is ok to bring the dogs into their country, We have been trying to get an export certificate from St Vincent but that is not an easy task.
Some pictures of our tour of St. Vincent:
Oh Karen, I'm so sorry for all you went thru to go home for the funeral! Very stressful! You are very brave! I'm glad you got home, but too bad Wes couldn't go too. Then, YIKES, the locals carrying machetes! Holy crap! I swear you guys never have a dull time ;-) hope things go better soon and the dogs can be with you soon! How sad...hang in there. Good to hear from you in this post.
ReplyDeleteBe very careful with the dogs there. There has been a lot of cruisers dogs poisoned. Check the Grenada cruisers on fb.
ReplyDeleteKaren - Sandra and I are very sorry for the loss of your sister-in-law. Thankfully you made it through the issues with customs, And you are right that next time a visit in good times is in order.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking recently that it has already been almost a year since Sandra and I visited. With a Winter Storm Watch out here in Colorado tonight the Caribbean sounds really good at the moment. I hope that you, Wes, and of course the dogs are doing well - thanks to you and Wes for all of your posts as some of us, expically those of us at Ricoh, are living vicariously though you and Wes' adventure - I am sure that all will go well with the vet - give the dogs a pat for us and continue to enjoy
Steve and Sandra