USE OF THIS SYSTEM IS RESTRICTED AND MONITORED !!!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The document was encrypted behind a login that took me nearly half \u00a0an hour to figure out. \u00a0So much for my careful record keeping on login procedures. \u00a0 \u00a0Well, I finally was able to open it. \u00a0My login and password were the same. \u00a0Go figure.<\/p>\n So, I opened the document and learned that I had gotten approval. \u00a0 I was excited. \u00a0Very good news but approval came with a “however”… \u00a0Sort of like when I was a new driver and my parents said, yes, you can take the car but you can’t have any friends in the car with you. \u00a0Ugh…<\/p>\n Anyway, I opened the document and I have to say that my heart rate was a bit elevated. \u00a0I was excited to learn.. \u00a0Are we going to Cuba?<\/p>\n Yes, we got approval! \u00a0I was excited. \u00a0 Well, only for a moment until I read the first of eight “conditions” that my approval included.<\/p>\n #1 The vessel must sail directly to Cuba.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Oops! \u00a0I didn’t mention that we would need to explore Cuba from east to west given the strong Christmas Winds and easterly trades that keep wind blowing “briskly” from the east down the coast of Cuba and everywhere else in the Caribbean for that matter which means that we will have to head to Cuba from the Bahamas and round the eastern tip of Cuba. \u00a0I assumed that EVERYONE knows that “gentlemen never beat to weather”. \u00a0 I guess not…<\/p>\n After all of the discussion about Cuba I thought that I had considered every option and just expected to receive a simple yes\/no in answer to my application.<\/p>\n So, what’s a cruiser to do? \u00a0I tried my contact in the Commerce Department and learned that he is on vacation this week . \u00a0 Not to be deterred, \u00a0I called the help line on my approval document and asked if I could get that restriction removed. The answer…NOPE as there had been no reference to my desire to cruise from east to west in my application. \u00a0So that wasn’t possible under the terms of my approval and I’d have to start the process all over again and resubmit a new application. \u00a0NOOOOOOOOO!, not again.<\/p>\n It just didn’t occur to me that they’d include that restriction before I made the application. \u00a0Besides, the Q&A document on their website states that the requirement of “must depart and return to a US port” restriction is no longer in force. \u00a0 \u00a0Who knew?<\/p>\n Feel sorry for me? \u00a0I do. \u00a0No rest for the cruiser… \u00a0I guess I am beginning to agree with my cousin Sue who told me “Bob, your retirement is exhausting me”. \u00a0 \u00a0Well, I will get over it.<\/p>\n Perhaps I’ll have to drink regular coffee, well only one cup or Brenda will push me overboard. \u00a0 No, better stick with the decaf.<\/p>\n I am sure I’ll feel fine by next Monday when my buddy Mark in the Commerce Department returns from vacation. \u00a0I hope he’s feeling rested by then too.<\/p>\n Of course, no post is complete without a sunset. \u00a0 Now, it’s looking like I might see one like this from Cuba. \u00a0 Now, how to find a way to do so from the south shore.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Monday I received confirmation that my SNAP-R application to “export” Pandora to Cuba had been approved. \u00a0Oddly, when I opened it I sort of expected to hear trumpets blare or swelling strings. \u00a0Alas, no such luck. \u00a0 \u00a0What greeted me was this. WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING\u00a0 USE OF THIS SYSTEM IS RESTRICTED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5153,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5150\/revisions\/5153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"OLYMPUS](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/sunset-10-5-13-003.jpg\")
Like Brenda says, with a smirk. \u00a0 “You\u00a0and the dog. \u00a0Ever hopeful”<\/p>\n