Remember… plans in sand at low tide… We seem to have made and changed about 6 major plans so far in August alone – and it’s only the 11th!
We hit a bump in the road with Laurie’s citizenship – turns out she has to apply at the Portuguese consulate closest to her home town – happens to be in New Bedford, MA. She also has to do the language test in Boston and needs to get an FBI background check – involving fingerprints and a two month process…
That leaves us with a problem of her tourist visa running out – even if we were to extend it another 90 days… So… we need to go to a non-Schengen country and as it happens, the UK will allow her to stay for 6 months…
Initially we looked at reverting to an earlier plan and head to the Outer Hebrides – that was until I realized I don’t have electronic charts for the UK, nor do I have the pilot book for the Outer Hebrides – and since last time in Scotland we came somewhat unstuck because of a lack of pilot, we’d like to get one before we arrive there! We decided (on advice from an OCC friend) to stop in at Dingle in Ireland where friendly OCC Port Officer, Harvey Kenny has arranged for us to be able to check in and he’ll accept a couple of deliveries for us – guides and charts! (Without us having to pay VAT or duty – see below…)
Then I got talking with Daria Blackwell, Rear Commodore of the OCC and Port Officer for Crew Bay on the Irish west coast, who’s convinced me that we should spend more time in Ireland…
OK – so what’s the plan?
Well, we’re delaying Patagonia for a year… This year we’ll finish off the season with a trip up to Ireland and around the North West Coast. It’s supposed to be pretty full on sailing, being subject to some high winds from the Southwest – making the shoreline one big lee shore (that means that if things go tits up, we get blown onto the rocks – not off them ☹) However, the scenery looks great, castles, ruins, and all rather remote… We’ll end the year by overwintering in Whitehaven – where we were in 2013/14. Laurie will head back to the US – probably for about 3 months – in order to complete the Portuguese thing, while I stay aboard – and no doubt visit sister Kate in Yorkshire at times… Maybe I’ll sneak a visit to the US too.
When do we leave the Azores? Well, remember those three packages we had shipped here (22 days ago now)… The important one still has not arrived! It’s in Ponta Delgada somewhere, but they are now assessing the duty and taxes payable! Turns out we’re going to pay VAT on all new items… VAT = Value Added Tax… What Value did Portugal add to the items? In all other EC countries, as a US citizen, if you’re prepared to do the work for it, you can claim back all the VAT you paid on items bought in the country and being taken back. In other EC countries, if we have items shipped in for a “Yacht in Transit”, no duty gets charged… I think I’m beginning to see how Portugal managed to climb out of their economic hole of a few years ago! I wouldn’t mind but the value of the stuff is less than $100 – BUT has our boat documentation in it – we can’t leave without it!
Further plans… talking wet, wet sand and a very, very low tide… in 2019, we’ll do the Scottish thing in a more relaxed manner, then come south via the Scillies, France perhaps, Portugal, Morocco, Madeira, and overwinter in the Canaries and then in 2020 make our bid for Patagonia.
So, now we’re looking for cruising guides to Ireland!