Has anyone cleared US customs in St. Croix? What's the procedure? I can see where the customs office is located but not sure on who should report and where the boat should be docked/moored.
St. Croix Customs
- Thread starter Ken Prichard
- Start date
Unless you are sailing to St. Croix from St. John or St. Thomas you have to clear in with customs. If you get there after hours call the airport number then in the morning clear in at Christiansted. Only the captain has to go with everyone's paperwork and boat docs unless they tell you different. We anchored by the green channel marker #15 in front of St. Croix Marine.I took the dink around to the back side of the commercial dock the customs office is in the corner in a trailer type building.
Could never figure out why a US citizen traveling from the USVI to Puerto Rico had to go through US customs? My best guess is that it was a tax thing as all they were checking for is that you did not exceed your allotted quota of duty free liquor more than once every 6 months. Years ago I was travelling there almost every week and computers and their record keeping were not too advanced so they could tell you had been in and out but not what you had brought in. I never used to bring in a full quota but never really bothered to keep track if in a 6 month period I was exceeding or not the regulations. That is if you arrived by air an were herded in to the custom counter but I know of no one that bothered to check in when arriving by boat. Now if you had been to the BVI or were coming from a foreign stop you had to go through immigration.
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Clearing into the USVI on a US boat with US crew is a phone call, if you have nothing to declare and you do the SVRS online. No biggie. Check out SVRS online if you sail with the same crew consistently.
As for clearing into PR from the USVI, it is because the USVI are duty free ports and PR is not.
You can fly (or sail) from PR to the US nonstop without any formalities in the US when you arrive, because you've already cleared into the US in PR, so it is basically a 'coastwise' voyage, just like between states.
As for clearing into PR from the USVI, it is because the USVI are duty free ports and PR is not.
You can fly (or sail) from PR to the US nonstop without any formalities in the US when you arrive, because you've already cleared into the US in PR, so it is basically a 'coastwise' voyage, just like between states.