As you might imagine, after so many months of my writing about our visiting the Caribbean this winter, I have received many questions and notes of sympathy from friends about how our plans have changed.
Frankly, it’s been a bit tough for me to swallow the need to abandon my run to the BVI but, as they say, “it seemed like a good idea at the time”. Of all the queries about my reasoning, none were quite so “loaded” as our insurance company asking “just why are you not going to the BVI after all?”
Let me explain…
My insurance coverage for Pandora limited our sailing from Eastport Maine to the Bahamas and in order to include the Caribbean, less Haiti and Cuba, required me to go to a different carrier and the nearly doubling of my premium. Of course, I didn’t want to pay the extra premium for any more months than I was going to be there so I had the new policy go into effect when I left Hampton.
Well, in less than a week after heading toward the BVI, it was obvious that I wasn’t going to there this season. So, what’s a penurious boater to do? Amend the policy, of course. And let me tell you, this set off alarms with my carrier. “So, what happened and why are you not taking your yacht to the Caribbean?”, implying “Now you have us wondering. Should we be worried?”
So glad you asked… I wrote a letter explaining, in the most balanced and lovely way, why not. It will be interesting to see if any questions remain.
But wait, there’s more…
I now am exploring a visit to Cuba as I had read that the State Department has issued new guidelines for visiting Cuba by private yacht. From what I gather, the same 12? rules apply but now you don’t have to have written approval from the State Department. However, you have to keep records as to why you visited for a full five years, just in case they want to review what you were up to.
I suppose that it is a way for congress to deny Obama what he is looking for and let us visit in the mean time. A sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to getting permission to visit an “enemy state”.
So that’s all I know and I have a call into our congressional office. It will be interesting to see what they say. As a point of interest, the administrator that I spoke to did not know and would have to do some research.
Of course, if we decide to go, it will surely thrill my insurance company and I don’t even want to think about what the additional premium will be. However, it probably won’t be any worse than what I paid when I had two teenage boys driving our cars many years ago, something that insurance companies view with as much concern as visiting a hostile country. Hmm…
One way or the other, folks who are “in the know” feel that time is of the essence as Cuba will look a lot like DisneyLand once it’s open and easy to visit.
For now, if we go, I would expect that our first stop would be Marina Hemingway.
So, where is Pandora going? Hmm… I guess all of us will be wondering together. 
For now, it’s Florida and the Bahamas and who know where and that’s a good start.