Question regarding the laws for fishing off the coast of Bimini

[Chronic Obsession]

So let's say you run over and fish 3-6 miles off the coast of Bimini for the day without touching shore...and then run back that evening...
What documents are required ? Passport ? SSCard ? Driver Lic.
Do you need to check in ??
Any advice greatly appreciatted..

[Disco Lady]

You need to clear Custom and Emigration. Anything inside that 12 mile range your in Bahamian waters. You need your Passports don't think they take drivers lic, anymore. You pay to clear and get a fishing license if you plan to fish. And if your smart get a custom sticker for your boat here it is $25 bucks a year make life easy when you come back in the state and clear. Hope this helps.

DL,

[Captain Juan]

Dude:

Check in with the Bahamas everytime bro. Avoid Fox Hill. 3 miles, 12 miles, don't f*ck around.

Yes, there are tons of Cowboys (bozos) on this Forum who fish the corner, Isaac or Cay Sal and don't check in with the Bahamas. Don't do it. It's illegal and you will get in trouble there and here. There are even idiots in certain unnamed magazines that encourage fishing the corner without checking in. Don't do it.

It takes only minutes. It's only $150 for boats up to 35' and you get a return trip within 90 days for free.

Plus, go to the Port to the Border Patrol Office here with your passport and get a Local Boater Option number or Local Master number if you are the vessel owner. It's free and takes minutes. Call first and make an appt. Then, when you return to US soil, you just make a quick phone call and read off the Local Boater numbers without having to go to the Port.

Doing all this, you can have a blast and not worry about looking over your shoulder.

Tight legal lines!

Juan

[Harry Klauber]

Disco is right. You need the boat's registration and passports for all aboard. Driver's licences and birth certificates are no longer accepted. U.S. Customs stickers are only required for vessels over 35 feet in length and are used on call in upon return. Bahamain fees are $150 for a 2 trip 3 month license for vessels under 35 feet and $300 for vessels over 35 feet. To simplify your return all aboard should have an LBO number (Local Boaters Option) which allows both boat and people aboard to be cleared over the phone. The LBO numbers can be obtained by making an appointment at the customs house in either Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or WPB and each person bringing his/her passport. It becomes your number for life and can be used on any boat you are on. It takes about 10 minutes to obtain one and is well worth it as it is free.

Crossing over and fishing BEFORE clearing is also illegal and not clearing at all is not wise as if you are caught the potential for loss of your boat and equipment is very real not making the risk worth it. I hope this was helpful information for you. Harry

[Brand H]

Exactly what Juan and Disco said!

[Harry Klauber]

Juan,
You beat me to it! Good advice - always check in and be safe. The food at Fox Hill is supposed to be really bad. Harry

[Disco Lady]

be safe and don't even think about Fox Hill clear all the time and have fun.

DL,

[Chronic Obsession]

Glad I started this thread...I was told by a buddy of mine all u need was your SS card/DL's & Birth Certificate....and if that wasn't good enough toss the officer that comes out to checks you $100 bucks and all is good.
Thanks for the feedback guys....Don't need any trouble.....
Keepn it legal.... Hate to get locked up abroad....

[Disco Lady]

Originally Posted by Chronic Obsession

Glad I started this thread...I was told by a buddy of mine all u need was your SS card/DL's & Birth Certificate....and if that wasn't good enough toss the officer that comes out to checks you $100 bucks and all is good.
Thanks for the feedback guys....Don't need any trouble.....
Keepn it legal.... Hate to get locked up abroad....

COÑO!!!!!!!That ain't no buddy........buddy.

[weekley rehab]

you can clear at bimimini sands hotel. real fast and easy

[TTesterman]

Just for you guys who think this is a small thing ... let me inform you on what else can happen here.. yep in ft lauderdale! For those who know me I go back n forth a bunch with my boat and I run a bunch of boats for people.. we get back, we clear customs here via phone at the dock... clean up the boat.. it takes me longer because I am the paid help and you stay and make sure everything is done and no bait boxes or nasty stuff left for flies the next day. well on my way home i stop by the immigration office in port everglades.. NOT OPEN!! I go home and take a shower and it's back to the immigration office... no one there! they are at the port clearing other boats.. so I go home and figure I have 24 hrs right..??!!! get up and go sailfishing for 6 hrs and get in head straight for immigration office.. I get chewed out by an officer and told I MUST get in in the 24hr window.. I inform him I was there the afternoon and night before check his camera by the damn door! he scolds me like a school kid and clears me in.. I also told him to look it up I ALWAYS clear! well long story short here they send the owner of the boat a warning that the next infraction will cost 25 thousand dollars levied against the boat.. .. this is what can happen to YOU if someone does not clear on your boat! follow the rules... be nice... and suck it up no matter what the rules are they don't hold a candle on 'what' can happen to you if you don't! PS: after going back down and dealing with them the penalty has been lifted but what a hassle! clear customs! another way of looking at it is if they ran over here how would you feel to look out your window and see everyone scott free harvesting all your wahoos and yelloweyes and running home ...???? the boaters option for captains is now pushed through so I can go on multiple boats but it was hard to make every deadline in this world in the time allowed sometimes. PS: I was not even 2 hrs late in the end....

[DonK]

To chime in on TTEsterman...The Customs office is pretty f-d up. I feel, like most things, once it was absorbed into the department of Homeland Security, it became inefficient and shoddy....I won't even begin commenting on effectiveness.

This spring I signed up for the LBO. I took time out of a work day to drive down to PE with the guys going to Bimini with me, and we all signed up; I registered as the master...filled out all the forms and had a nice freinedly chat with the officer.

When we come back from Bimini in June, I call in and everyone clears except myself. They person I was speaking to said I was entered "in the system" as a passenger, not the master. He then instructed me to report to the PE office to clear.

OK, so I was fairly pissed that I went thru the trouble of registering LBO, and still had to drive down there...but stuff happens. So I go down there, and like TTesterman, the place is locked up tighter than a triggerfish's arse, not to mention the ambiguous signage that makes you run around the building twice just to find the right door!

After several calls they finally pick up and come open the door. I explain to the guy my situation, and he said: "so why are you here? You did not need to come here to stratighten this out...just call during the week and we can change your status"

I was rip-shit pissed..but had to just bottle it up. I still am getting a runaround trying to call down there to straighten this out! every time I call, they say the "guy I need to speak to isn't in" or "the system is down" or "they have to run out to a boat, can I call back".

This has been since June!

Homeland Security/Customs and Border Patrol is a quagmire...I don't think they could find their own ass with both hands and a flashlight...but they hold the authority to mess up one's day.

[TTesterman]

but when people found out that it would be run from Dubia and foreign run company some American citizens got pissed.. who are 'they' also...they come up with some weird deals ...?!?

it is embarrassing though to get a call from a boat owner because your in trouble with the immigration but that computer has a time clock on it when you clear...

[Chronic Obsession]

Homeland Security/Customs and Border Patrol is a quagmire...I don't think they could find their own ass with both hands and a flashlight...but they hold the authority to mess up one's day.[/QUOTE]


Thanks again for all the feed back...doesn't look like a good idea to run over without checkn in....
On another note regarding customs and border patrtol....we headed out last nite to do a little snook fishn...got to 14th st around 9:30pm back the boat up and start loading our stuff into the boat...a minivan older model with a dent in passengers side pulls up...now we are the only boat in the parkn lot and just a couple of people fishn the sea wall.so this van pulls up and out rolls a man and woman in plain clothes with a badge on their side and a gun So they walk up to us and intro themselves as Customs and Border patrol....Can we search your boat.... So i say sure but what would you be looking for....He comes back with Drugs....or illegals....Bro we just pulled up and are putting the boat in the water...how could we have anything...he comes back with the boat is wet looks like you just came in....I say sure the boats wet it just finished raining.. so they ask for our ID.s and go back to Van ...looks like they are checkn em out....then a thunderbird pulls up and out pops 2 more with guns and badges.. then another truck pulls up(ford expidetion )at this point I'm startin to get a litlle upset ...told my buddy loud enough where they can here me that we may need to call the broward sherrifs dept to get this checked out...somethin doesn't seem right...no uniforms....totally unmarked vehicles that look like somethin your mom might drive...well a few minutes later they come back with the ID.s and say everything checks out you can go...about a half hour ...not sure what was up.....figured they must need to justify there jobs........by the way ...no snook missed the tide tryin to catch bait...

[wet hooker]

thats f*cked up. you didnt even tell me. they were drug lords looking for there bails....lol

[TOPPDAWG]

Or they wanted to know your exact address to where that pretty ass contender is charlie. I'm the asshole that will never give id. You want my id ? I want yours. I want marked cars, lights, and suirens , then by all means you can see my id. If your some moolie askin for my id at a boat ramp in the wee hours of the mornin you got somethin else comin

[TOPPDAWG]

Bu to answer your question yes 13 miles. The last few times we've come back we've been slowed ( not stopped or borded ) down by coast guard cutters. They want basic info and home port. We don't mind as long as we don't have to sit through a boarding. They haven't boarded us yet which i assume they eventually will. Coming back the last time from a week in bimini with the dusky owners weekend, we were actually happy to see a us flag flying high off their stern.

[Chronic Obsession]

Originally Posted by TOPPDAWG

Or they wanted to know your exact address to where that pretty ass contender is charlie. I'm the asshole that will never give id. You want my id ? I want yours. I want marked cars, lights, and suirens , then by all means you can see my id. If your some moolie askin for my id at a boat ramp in the wee hours of the mornin you got somethin else comin

If they had actually wanted to search the boat I had pretty much decided we were going to get BSO involved...Next time....I'll ask for proper I.D. Just caught me off gaurd with the guns..They were packin a few more than we were..

[TOPPDAWG]

Never be out gunned!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DAHOGKILLA]

and has anyone had any problems with boarding a handgun in Bimini??? I ask this because I just bought one, and the main reason to do so was for that, to swordfish at night and for when we cross alone????

[Brand H]

Not a problem at all. You have to declare it on one of the forms and list how much ammo that you have. I have cleared with one onboard about 5 times (in West End) in the last two years.

[JustinR]

Originally Posted by Harry Klauber

Driver's licences and birth certificates are no longer accepted.

Do you know when they stopped accepting BC's?

This is frustrating for me because I just called the Bahamian customs office at the West End about 2 weeks ago and the officer said a BC and ID were all that we needed to clear.

[sammythebu11]

They stopped accepting Birth Certificates on July 1st, 2009.
U.S. Citizen - Vacation Planning | The Bahamas

[weekley rehab]

they have stopped, passport is needed

[Harry Klauber]

With all that said about "passport only" my buddy cleared in Bimini last weekend with a birth certificate and a D.L. so go figure. I know what the LAW says but it's whichever way the wind happens to be blowing, and who is on duty, and to be sure what is going to happen is impossible. The officer in Bimini last weekend was known to the boat operator as he is a frequent visitor so they let the no passport guy slide but the next guy might not be that lucky. Getting a passport is so easy that I don't understand anyone thinking they might leave the country not having one. Harry

[DonK]

I remember a few years ago, one of my friends/crewmembers was digging thru his bag when we got to the dock at Bimini;

He says: "awwwwsht! I grabbed the wrong doc back home! Think they'll clear me with my marriage certificate?"

They did....but that was in the good 'ol days....it a whole different beast now!

[gtrfred]

not to get ultra technical or start a great debate, but I thought the deal with the passports was something the US created and not the Bahamians. More along the lines of you need a US passport to get back into the US, so you need to have one when you leave as opposed to the bahamians worrying about what you are carrying.

i think this really comes into play with flights to the islands. I have a passport and always bring it with me now and use it to check in and out, but this might be the reason that people are getting conflicting reports when speaking to bahamian officials.