Welcome Back to the US

         We left Bimini as planned, about 0500, with Knot Quitters buddy-boating right behind us.  it was a rougher passage than anticipated, and about two hours into the constant rolling we debated turning back, but decided to press on.  Dan changed the angle of our heading and that helped some, but we still took some big rolls.  Good thing by now we were much more accomplished at stowing everything!  It was another long day, but we took heart when we were in sight of Florida just after noon, and knew we’d be entering Lake Worth well before sunset.  We arrived to the busy-ness of a nice Saturday afternoon.  Everyone with a boat was out on the water.  There were lots of boats in the Bahamas, but it's nothing compared to lots of boats in Florida.  

Our entry issues began with our first three times trying to alert the CBP of our arrival through their Roam app.  We’ve used this app a few times before and, while glitchy, it always eventually worked.  This time I kept getting bounced back to the login page after completing the arrival information.  Huh.  I tried calling the 800 number to verbally report our entry but no one answered the phone.  A little internet sleuthing suggest rebooting the phone, or uninstalling and reinstalling the app, which required re-entering all the background information about ourselves and Willie Dawes.  I did both.  This time I received a ‘status pending’ notification and then a status denied email notification and an invitation to call or report to the nearest port of entry for clarification.  Huh.

We arrived on Saturday, the denial email came Sunday, when we were already underway.  A call to Knot Quitters revealed that they received an ok to enter email.  Huh.  So I submitted our arrival again, and then did the reboot/uninstall-reinstall maneuver and submitted our arrival again.  Two more status denied emails arrived in my inbox.  I called the 800 number and this time spoke to a very friendly CBP officer who kindly looked over our arrival application and assured me we were good to go, and that he personally would authorize our entry if I would just submit it again?  A glitch in the system, not to worry, I just needed to make sure we had one traveler and one boatmaster, for a total of two people.  Apparently I had been submitting the boatmaster (Dan) as a traveler as well as the boatmaster.  Ok then!  I submitted again, this time perplexed to find that I could not delete the boatmaster from the traveller list,  Status denied.  I called back, got the same very nice officer who once again reassured me that this was a known glitch in the system and that again he personally authorized our entry.  However, he was not allowed to authorize this in writing.  No texts, no mails, sorry.  He suggested we just keep trying the Roam app until it authorized our entry.  So Dan loaded the app on his phone and entered all the necessary background information on the boat and us, complete with scans of documents, and he submitted it.  Status pending - status denied.  Dan followed up with a phone call, got a different officer, also very nice, but same answer: verbal authorization; written authorization says we are not allowed in the country.  We left the Q flag up and dropped the hook in Faber Cove, Fort Pierce, for the night.  

Monday morning we were en route to Palm Bay when we got a phone call from a CBP officer based out of Miami.  Stop submitting our arrival, he said, he was personally authorizing our legal entry and right to be in the US, but no, sorry, he could not send us anything in writing as “the system” didn’t allow that.  He advised us to refer anyone (presumably other CBP personnel or maybe even the USCG) to him directly.  Ok then.  Apparently a phone app is solely in charge of whether or not US citizens can legally enter this country.   

So we decided to proceed as normal.  We anchored in Palm Harbor and took the dinghy up Turkey Creek to visit our friend Dianne and her husband Dave and then went out to dinner with Dianne and Dave’s son Scott.  I may have mentioned that Dave is in assisted living for advanced Parkinson’s disease, and that Dianne is in the process of downsizing her home.  Dan took a veritable library of books about boats off her hands.  (Dan has been wanting to set up a lending marine library in Camden.)  It’s always good to visit with Dave and Dianne; the passing along of books was a benefit of our longterm friendship. 

The beginning of the marine library.

Today, we are anchored in Titusville.  We made a quick run to the grocery store and had an early dinner at Pier 220 restaurant, where we’d eaten several nights while painting the hull in the Titusville boatyard Westland Marine, last December.  We’re counting these three days moving north as the beginning of our Great Loop.