Hi All,
“Two countries separated by a common language” is what we’ve heard several times. But so far we can understand everything everyone has said. Even when they speed talk like the guys in the phone shop because phone shops always have waiting lines. But he was really helpful so we have phones and wifi dongles. Hurrah! We also gained an hour coming here from France.
The folks here at the marina are really nice and helpful. We were to call them on channel 80 as we were arriving to see if they had a berth for us. We’d emailed ahead but they said to check as we were arriving as this is Bank Holiday weekend so very busy. Our passage was 75 miles from Cherbourg with the tides against us too much of the way but not particularly rolly. We left Cherbourg 5:15 am and arrived in Portsmouth 8pm Cherbourg time but 7 pm Portsmouth time. As for calling the marina on channel 80; we could calEnglandl them but because we have an American radio our channel 80 won’t receive in England so we couldn’t hear them. We could hear other boats having conversations with the marina, though we couldn’t hear the marina’s responses. So we just got here and tied ourselves up. When I walked to the office to tell them we were here, they said they’d heard us calling the past 90 minutes! Actually they heard us maybe a total of 3 minutes but spread out over 90 minutes so that’s not so bad. We did have to move from where we’d tied up but that was fine. We got all settled in and had a great sleep. That was Friday.
Next morning, Saturday, Jennifer, one of the marina staff, kindly called British Customs for us and I had a fairly long but very friendly conversation with the guy on the phone. The fact that we’d not checked in our out of Spain or France was a bit odd for them, but England isn’t part of Schengen either so that really didn’t matter. Anyway at the end of the conversation I was told we could take down our yellow flag which you are required to fly until you have dealt with customs. Then Jennifer called Immigration for us. That is a funny story as it has a satisfactory ending. It has always been fairly easy to enter a country though some require a visa prior to entry and some, like Israel, require paperwork prior to entry and then a radio interview prior to entry and then an inspection when you enter. Going into Singapore we were met at sea to deal with paperwork before we could enter. And some countries required bottles of booze or $50 for the officials. As I said earlier, Spain and France really didn’t care to check us in at all though we were boarded by French Customs leaving Brest. But there weren’t any trick questions. Here there were trick questions and I didn’t give the correct answers during the phone conversation so we had to go visit Immigration at the International Ferry Terminal in Portsmouth across the harbour from Gosport. I was asked what was expected of us coming to England and I had no clue so said “to be a good citizen and try not to do anything wrong.” X He told me in a stern voice that I was to be taking this more seriously but never told me the correct answer. Then he asked how long we planned to stay which was another trick question. I answered that as Americans we knew we could stay 6 months. He asked a bunch of questions and it got confused because we’ll go home for at least a month so when we’re leaving England with DoraMac changes depending on how long we’re home because of the 6 month limit. Then he asked how long we’d like to stay and I said well maybe a year if we could. X ! He said we needed to come see him as this phone interview wasn’t going so great. I said whatever he needed us to do we would do. I then handed the phone to Jennifer to get the address and such and her tone indicated she wasn’t so pleased that he was giving us such a hard time. (Before saying we needed to visit Immigration he said something about a fax machine which sent the marina staff into a tizzy as they never used it but would be willing to try. Then the decision was made for us to visit Immigration so that ended the fax problem.) We were also asked if we had a place in England reserved and if we had enough money to afford to stay.
Randal and I and all of our boat papers and passports visited an ATM and then caught the Gosport ferry just around the corner at High Street and then took a taxi to Immigration at the International Ferry Terminal. We asked the folks at the Info desk to call Immigration for us and they did. The official came and was officious but pleasant and helpful and that was that. You get a paper rather than a passport stamp. Then we called a taxi to come to the terminal to get us. (We’d not gotten our mobile phones yet as you’re really not supposed to get off the boat until you are checked into a country and the marina staff had told us that was pretty well enforced though we were allowed to go over to Immigration.) British pay phones are much easier to use than the last time I was here mid-80s. Then you had to dial the number and quick put in enough money and it all seemed so complicated but the red phone boxes were fun. This pay phone, just on a wall, worked the normal way and the taxi was there in 5 minutes. Turns out our driver visits Marmaris, Turkey once each year with his partner who has been going there the past 20 years. I commented that she has seen lots of changes as the marinas weren’t there 20 years ago. It was a fun ride and we got back to the Gosport terminal just in time to catch the ferry just leaving.
It was after noon Cherbourg time and we were hungry! On High Street we had a fish/chips/mushy peas lunch but it wasn’t as good as the fish/chips/mushy peas at DEKS in North Cyprus. Then we walked along High Street to a phone shop and got our phones and wifi dongles, one for each and then wandered the outdoor Saturday booths. We are quite taken with Gosport but must move along so will leave Monday as early as we can for the 60 mile passage to East Bourne. This afternoon, Sunday, Steve and Valerie are coming to meet us. We met Steve in Terengannu, Malaysia and then both he and his wife Valerie in Kota Kinabalu later. Valerie and I went off exploring together and managed to cram several adventures into two days.
Yesterday we watched an American Naval Sub come up into Portsmouth with part of it submerged in the water. That was cool.
I’m still working on the photos from Cherbourg and now the ones from Falmouth. Until then, just this story.
Ru