As I told you, we arrived on the thirteenth very early in the morning. We waited in the anchorage until Rally Control told us to come in to clear through Customs and Immigration. We weighed
anchor and started around to the inner harbor. There is a high guard tower on a stone jetty that you round to enter the harbor. Charlie was on the wheel and Sandra and I were preparing lines to
raft up when the guards started frantically waving at us. Charlie's first thought was that there was an underwater obstruction about
which they were warning us. He threw both engines into reverse and slowed down as quickly as possible. We were all looking at the guards who were still yelling and motioning
us to come closer to the jetty. Then the fun began. In very broken English they told us we had to go out and anchor and
then ask for permission. We told them we had already done all that and we had permission but they said no, and you always listen to the guys in uniform, especially in a tower,
especially with weapons. We called Rally Control and they said things seemed to have changed, and we would indeed have to go back out and anchor again.
By that time the tower guards had called someone else, and they then told us that we could go on in. May I say, by this time Captain Charlie was not a happy camper. We had been
going in circles with conflicting instructions and were relieved to finally head in to clear customs and get fuel.
We had been told to "raft up" to Nori but ended up going to our buddies on
Stampede. We were in the "que" to get fuel and Charlie took the ships papers and headed over to the outdoor table they had set up to clear in the yachts. We did get fuel, we did get rid of our
garbage and a nice man in a truck took our laundry. Will we ever see it again? I don't know. Jamaica Tom tells me I must go watch them do the laundry. He says an old man puts it in a
tub and then stomps it with his feet. He then removes it and scrubs it with a brush and if that doesn't do the job he beats it against the side of the tub. This is one reason it is wise to
not have expensive clothes, and not to get too attached to any that you do have. After all the hassle of getting checked in, taking on diesel and arranging to have some one come and
fix our water pump for the refrigeration we took off and went back out to the anchorage. We had an additional assortment of officials board the boat, we filled in more forms, and finally were finished.
Most folks went in for dinner. Sandra went with the young crowd and Charlie and I opted to stay on board, cook a hamburger and watch a VCD. After the seven and a half days of
sailing we were ready just to kick back and relax. I'm glad we did for the next night proved to be quite a trial.
I hadn't planned on adding another log but after the experience
of clearing into Sri Lanka and the storm we experienced last
night I felt I really had to put it down while still fresh.