Just got back from Bahamas

We'll I guess I made all the mistakes for a first time adventurer. First I checked in at Bimini and was asked If I wanted receipt , and I said no , so instead of being charged the $ 300.00 standard charge , the customs man tacked on another $ 100.00 for a dingy. always ask for a receipt. I figured I was helping him from doing extra work, Big mistake!!!! Next I was anchored in Nassau harbor and was boarded by the Bahama defense force , they asked me to see the weapon and bullets I had declared , I was happy to show them in my Jim bag , we'll you guessed it the bullet count was off because I estimated , They asked me to kindly go with them, 9 hours later they agreed to release me after I handed over $ 2,500.00 cash.

Greetings,
Mr. W2. Not to start the gun debate again but what prompted you to bring a firearm to the Bahamas?

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. W2. Not to start the gun debate again but what prompted you to bring a firearm to the Bahamas?

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for protection just incase?

They are pretty lax over there except what is required of you. When they increased the cost of the cruise permit to $300.00 there were supposed to be no charges for overtime or travel. I have heard of people that didn't know that pay extra fees. It is all cash.

If you haven't done everything right, you can expect to pay exorbitant fines, and possibly lose your boat. The Bahamas are a great cruising area, but take careful care of business. It is too bad that you had that experience.

By the way there has been a rash of boat thefts there. Mostly center consoles with big engines, but anything with a Yamaha outboard is fair game to them. This has increased with the large group of Haitians that have come in.

A weapon on board when anchored in remote areas? You bet.

I admit to my mistake in Bahamas

I have a friend in Scotland Cay who had a 32' contender with a pair of 225 yah amass , they cut the cables to drop the boat quickly .they flew over the islands and found it 2 days later in Naussa boat yd. just as engines were being taken off. They got boat back with elec. and valuable stuff gone.I heard they just raised cruising permit from$ 300.00 to $ 400.00 in July . I did make a rookie mistake, and I won't make that one again , I'm not sure if I will go next year , I sure like the Exumas. I'm not sure how I feel about the gun issue , My trawler is also my only home, As far as getting ripped off in customs that was my first day there so I had a good idea of things to come.

Just a few days ago a center console with twin Yamaha 300s was taken from Lubbers Landing. They got on it fast with neighbors boats and one private plane looking for it. A few hours later it was found adrift in a grove of mangroves missing the engines. They didn't cut the engines out, so other than that the boat was unharmed.

A year or so ago the stole a boat that belonged to the owner of the Green Turtle Club. Now that's brazen.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. W2. Not to start the gun debate again but what prompted you to bring a firearm to the Bahamas?

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What kind of question is that?

Wman2blame said:

We'll I guess I made all the mistakes for a first time adventurer. First I checked in at Bimini and was asked If I wanted receipt , and I said no , so instead of being charged the $ 300.00 standard charge , the customs man tacked on another $ 100.00 for a dingy. always ask for a receipt. I figured I was helping him from doing extra work, Big mistake!!!! Next I was anchored in Nassau harbor and was boarded by the Bahama defense force , they asked me to see the weapon and bullets I had declared , I was happy to show them in my Jim bag , we'll you guessed it the bullet count was off because I estimated , They asked me to kindly go with them, 9 hours later they agreed to release me after I handed over $ 2,500.00 cash.

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So how much did you miss the bullet count by? Guessing more than 1 or 2 bullets.

Just as a matter of interest, and showing my downunder ignorance, but who administers the Bahamas, or is it a country in its own right..?

Peter B said:

Just as a matter of interest, and showing my downunder ignorance, but who administers the Bahamas, or is it a country in its own right..?

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Country. Member of Commonwealth of Nations.

Greetings,
Mr. 291. "What kind of question is that?" An honest question I thought. I was unaware of the circumstances regarding criminal activity in the Bahamas or the OP's reasons. We plan to cruise the area at some point in the future and first hand knowledge/experience is much better than a website extolling the crime free, rosy, "all is well" character of the country. As I stated, I don't want to start any new debates.

Cruising the Bahamas is a bucket list item for many and loads of fun. They may be lax on the rules but you can bet your life if you are it will come back to bite you.
We cruised the Abacos 2 years ago and did not carry a gun. Being we were in some very remote areas with some out of VHF range and the fact the Bahamians are accepting of Americans having guns aboard (as long as you follow the rules) I would highly consider carrying a gun.

And don't even consider being lax on the US rules for reentry.

Whatever precautions one would take in South Florida, one would take in the Bahamas, though in my opinion fewer are actually required. Note that the examples of crime cited are all related to stealing high performance outboards. A lot of that going in FL now too.

caltexflanc said:

Note that the examples of crime cited are all related to stealing high performance outboards. A lot of that going in FL now too.

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And it's got little or nothing to do with the Haitians.

FWIW, I've been cruising and running charters in the Bahamas for decades and never carry a gun unless an owner insists on it.

Regret your loss of the cash. Next time I teach a boating class I will add this to my list: guy who showed up in Martinique with only a state registration (US boats are both state and federally registered), boat that had all four of its crew passengers at customs for check in at West End in the Bahamas, boat that didn't think it was necessary to have a courtesy flag when anchored in a foreign country and boat that failed to check into the country when anchored but went to shore for dinner.

Bay Pelican; said:

guy who showed up in Martinique with only a state registration (US boats are both state and federally registered), boat

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Not all of them. And they are not required to be federally documented. Boats with only FL state registration travel to and from the Bahamas all the time.

WMAN2BLAME, sorry to hear about the severe fleecing you took at the hands of the officials. I'm sure after such an experience it is difficult not to be disillusioned & bitter and it is a credit to you that you do not attempt to discourage others from making the trip, rather to be forewarned of the traps. I see the first incident as official corruption plain & simple, the second incident as an excessively heavy hand for an innocent mistake. The 9 hours behind bars would have sufficed to put the fear of god in anybody. Thanks for posting your experience's, it is this sort of first hand knowledge that will help others from falling into similar traps.

RT said it well: first hand knowledge/experience is much better than a website extolling the crime free, rosy, "all is well" character of the country.

As to the bullet count, although I view what they did to you as rather harsh, it is their country, and when we visit we have to follow their firearms laws to the letter.

If that means counting every bullet, thats exactly what it means. I'm just glad you were actually able to carry a firearm into their country. Thats not the case with many countries.

So, the lesson learned, as you put it in your original post is to be exact when declaring things at a border entry.

Another thing I would recommend is if you are going to carry a firearm, take some time to learn the rules of engagement of where you are cruising. I imagine they might come in handy if you ever actually used a firearm in a foreign country....especially against one of its citizens.

We need to remember that we are guests in a foreign country. They do not have to let us in. They do not have to treat us with the same "rights" as their citizens. Just like someone coming to your house, your guests have to follow your rules, and we have to follow foreign governments rules.

I don't think he spent 9 hours "behind bars".

But that would make for a more "entertaining" story.

ksanders said:

We need to remember that we are guests in a foreign country. They do not have to let us in. They do not have to treat us with the same "rights" as their citizens. Just like someone coming to your house, your guests have to follow your rules, and we have to follow foreign governments rules.

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Excellent issue, and while we are at it remember to observe their customs as well.

When visiting another country, you never mess around with documenting any of the things that they care about (no matter what or why). Guns, pets, liquor, cigarettes, radio licenses, whatever. I was once arrested in Canada because I checked in 1,000 sets of sunglasses we were giving away at a conference/training and didn't re-document that they were actually given away 4 days later. I never would have imagined that they cared...until 4 armed agents showed up at a presentation I was giving and hauled me off. That's learning the hard way...

Interesting, you wonder if the first customs agent noticed you gaving an off handed bullet count and tipped off BDF?

Jeffrey S said:

When visiting another country, you never mess around with documenting any of the things that they care about (no matter what or why). Guns, pets, liquor, cigarettes, radio licenses, whatever. I was once arrested in Canada because I checked in 1,000 sets of sunglasses we were giving away at a conference/training and didn't re-document that they were actually given away 4 days later. I never would have imagined that they cared...until 4 armed agents showed up at a presentation I was giving and hauled me off. That's learning the hard way...

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Now that's funny

Almost as funny as the time i was moving back to Fairbanks, AK and the Canadians on the border were convinced I had hidden guns in the truck (30' van) full of household goods I was driving.

After an hour of me unpacking the van, they gave up as the stuff near the roof of the van started to avalanche on to their heads.

The whole Canadian thing is bizarre. I have probably crossed over 30 borders with customs, etc and the worst is always Canada, both entering and then returning to the US, with US Border Protection is even worse then ever.

I just don't get it. DO these idiots (US and Canadian) not know that there are thousands of unwatched places any one with terror on their mind can cross?

It's all "Security Charade"

I've cruised the Bahamas on 4 separate occasions for 2-3 months at a time, never with a gun and never felt the need for one(and yes, I have several at home). They are nice enough to make it easy to bring a firearm in, but I've read several times that they are very particular about precisely declaring ammunition, which this story confirms. So clearly, if you feel the need to carry a firearm into a foreign country, you need to be VERY careful about complying with the letter of their law. For example, if you get caught bringing a gun into Mexico the consequences can be much worse than Wman2blame faced!

Perhaps I've been lucky, but I've had nothing but good experiences visiting the Bahamas, and I'll be back, hopefully soon!

I have had the good fortune to spend a good amount of time visiting other countries. Among things that stand out is the number of times I have witnessed tourists offending natives because the tourist was ignorant of local customs or purposely ignored them. The flip side of this is that the native's reaction may be harsh because he or she has been offended.

American's are fortunate in a small sense in that Hollywood has broadcast the American culture to the rest of the world. Every now and then when an American insults a non-American in another country the non-American, having watched television, realizes the insult was not intended.

Bay Pelican said:

American's are fortunate in a small sense in that Hollywood has broadcast the American culture to the rest of the world. Every now and then when an American insults a non-American in another country the non-American, having watched television, realizes the insult was not intended.

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And here I was hoping the people I meet in other countries were NOT judging me by what they may have seen in American movies and TV.

Most don't, but some, whose only source of info is the entertainment media because they don't do 'the news' in any format, may well…and probably do...

Wxx3 said:

Now that's funny

The whole Canadian thing is bizarre. I have probably crossed over 30 borders with customs, etc and the worst is always Canada, both entering and then returning to the US, with US Border Protection is even worse then ever.

I just don't get it. DO these idiots (US and Canadian) "

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Different strokes I guess. For five decades my quite frequent Canada crossings have been trouble free. If you are entered into the system as a problem though, expect big time hassles. Also be aware a guest on your vessel can trigger issues too if their passport is flagged, with long term repercussions then entered under vessel name and coming back to haunt your vessel's entries forever.

Apparently the boat theft problem is becoming worse in the Bahamas.We just returned from the Exumas and stayed at Palm Cay Marina on New Providence Island (Nassau). They put up a sea gate at night to prevent such an occurrence.
A very accommodating marina I might add and getting better by the day.

My crossings into Canada from the United States have been extremely easy and pleasant - with one very humorous entry into Canada on the day they combined customs, immigration and agriculture inspections into one team. No one on the team that boarded Bay Pelican had been with agriculture and they couldn't figure out what to do with an onion we had brought from the United States. They had seized the onion and put it in an evidence bag. After a number of phone calls the offending onion was returned to us. Both "agents" and the police they called for the evidence bag were at all times friendly and frankly nice guys about the whole thing.