Good news...

A quick note...

 The film "180 South" just won best film at the Cine de Surf Festival... Great stuff!

How to make cruisers disappear...

Lately, even some of my friends who think my nervousness regarding the folks running the political show is somewhat extreme are beginning to catch the paranoia...

Truth be told, it's hard not to be a little concerned when all around you are examples of folks in office doing stupid things that seem... kinda stupid. That real oompa loopa tan dude who was all about "Where are the jobs" until just recently when he changed his tune and now is "So be it" about his policies losing the odd million or so jobs... To be fair, the "Can do" guy in the other party thinks the way to pay off the debt from wars started by rich folk and paying huge bailouts to rich folk is best done by taking away benefits from the poor...

Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense...

Sadly, political stuff is a real hassle for us as cruisers as well. Right now we are having to rethink our cruising plans because the hassles of cruising Europe has become somewhat more than we can deal with because of the Schengen treaty...

St Kitts and Nevis due to their idiocy regarding pets and new rules involving mooring and suchlike has made our need to drop in and spend money there a thing of the past.

Michael, maker of the most excellent LED lights (BEBI) writes to mention that fees in Fiji are going up...

In the 2011 Budget, the Government of Fiji has required a number of Ministries to become self-funding, so in response, there have been a number of new user fees, as well as increases in existing fees implemented.

The Department of Health Fees have been increased from $F33.00 to F$150.00 (as of this instant, the exchange rate is roughly F$1.80 = US$ 1.00).  Although not specifically stated, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that overtime fees have also to reflect the increase in VAT from 12.5% to 15.0% (VAT is charged on almost everything in Fiji, including govt services).

What was formerly the Department of Quarantine is now the Department of Biosecurity has also increased their fees, but are yet to 'officially' announce them.  In December 2010, they stated that they were going to implement the following fees:

Clearance F$102.  If you have a dog or cat on board, there will also be a fee of F$52.00 per animal, as well as a bond of F$1000/animal.  The bond is a direct result of boats who have persisted in leaving a 'dirty wake' by not observing the regulation to quarantine their animal on board, but taking them to shore instead.  The bond will be refundable, unless the animal is caught on land.

Now it's not that we make our cruising choices simply about money and fees, but places with high fees tend to get rather silly quickly. Once they realize they can gouge (some might use the word "extort") large sums of money from folks on sailboats, they tend to keep at it untill the goose that lays those eggs is no longer with them... Greed, my friends, is a truly heinous thing!

On a related note, Fatty Goodlander just came out with a new book "The Red Sea Run" all about his adventures getting to the Med via Suez and suchlike and his ramblings on such things are enlightening and well worth a read...

The travel element...

I've always loved to travel and some of my best memories are of airports and planes. Being a cameraman I have been lucky to be able to travel to exotic places as part of my job but then the future happened...

Travel quit being fun.

Air travel has become such an unhappy exercise these days that if I can't go someplace by boat or bike, of course, I'm not sure that I want to go at all. That said, as the world is 70.8% water, you can (with a little shuck and jive) pretty much get anywhere worth going by sailboat in a civilized manner (albeit not real quickly).  We have noticed it in our charter clients as well. These days too many of our clients simply balk at the hassle of flying and are choosing vacations closer to home that do not involve air travel.

Though having a charter business makes us part of the overall travel industry, we are lucky that as yet most charter boats have resisted the very strong and somewhat relentless forces to treat their clients like so much cattle and cash cows as the airlines/hotels/resorts seem to be doing with the spiral of higher prices and less service norm. We are fortunate that we can pick and choose only the best boats and crews and that the charter industry is still very much old school (spelled excellent service and fair pricing) and has not become the homogenized MacDonald's sort of profit-is-everything-lowest-common-denominator franchise some companies are trying to make it.

Sadly, there is some scary writing on the wall and "big changes come soon" as they say here in the islands... Hopefully the charter industry (or at least parts of it) will continue to survive, evolve and remain a viable alternative for those who want a better experience than what the tourism industry is trying to sell these days...

A lot of Boat Bits readers write (enough that we have actually considered doing a charter workshop) and ask about the possibility of charter as a means of keeping the cruising kitty topped up. While possible, it is a lot more work than most people think and nowhere near as lucrative... Then again, for those willing to do it right and with a positive attitude it can be a VERY rewarding experience in a way that cannot be measured solely in dollars and cents. For those considering this option there is a real need and  shortage of good boats and crews in the charter fleet who have what it takes and are able to look outside the box at the big picture in these "interesting times".

Like I said... Not for everyone!