We were advised that the easiest way to clear custom in Puerto Rico was to anchor in the fishing village of Boqueron and taxi to Mayaguez, a 30 minute drive away.
Feeling weary but excited at new ventures ahead, we dropped the anchor at 12 noon and hoisted the yellow flag.
The taxi booked for 15.00 did not turn up. ‘This is Puerto Rico, he will come’ said the Irish sailor who welcomed us. In fact Raoul, the taxi driver, had contacted the main Customs office on our behalf and told us that we should ring the office in San Juan. To take such consideration to save us a wasted trip and expense is definitely not your usual taxi man the world over. The local haunt for expatriates was only few yards away. We were amazed by the help given and after numerous phone calls courtesy of Ita, (our UK mobile did not work) to various offices we were told that a customs and an immigration officer would drive to the local Marina to clear our papers. After a long wait, whilst being introduced to the local life, we met them at the Yacht Club. They looked as bemused as we were at the thought that they had to drive a 3 hour round trip to do this. They told us that it never had happened before! They were so professional, correct and helpful. They refused our offer of a drink. We felt rather important for a moment.... The efforts obtaining an electronic French (for me: 2 trips to the London French Embassy including fingers printed) and a UK passport (for Chris: filling up a form, paid his fee at our home post office in S. Wales. His new passport was posted back within 2 weeks). We obtained our American Visa during our stay in Gozo, Malta (a much easier exercise than queuing in London on the pavement of Grosvenor Square for hours) all seem to have paid off!
By the time we returned to the boat carrying our $19 cruising permit valid anywhere in the United States for a year and our 6 months entry permit into Puerto Rico we were exhausted but pleased at the way things had turned out. What about the difficult officialdom we had been told about? We doubt whether this exercise will ever be repeated again but we felt rather glad to have been the recipients!
In the 7 hours since we had landed in Puerto Rico we had already experienced so much of the extraordinary local welcome.
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