To enter most countries by boat, you need a document called a “zarpe” issued by the country you last departed. Even though we’re US citizens, leaving the U.S. (Puerto Rico), we still needed a U.S. zarpe (CBP Form 1300) to enter St. Maarten (Kingdom of the Netherlands). So, we decided to stop in the U.S. Virgin Islands and pick one up while we were there.
We dropped anchor next to a boat that looked like a pirate ship in Long Bay, St. Thomas and headed to shore.
Simply put, it was a dump. There was trash everywhere. The people were rude. The prices were high, and it was difficult to get any assistance whatsoever from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office.
We’re generally pretty positive about the places we visit, but we have nothing good to say about the few days we spent in St. Thomas. Maybe it’s because we stopped in a harbor with a cruise ship dock. Perhaps we would have liked the other islands. We’ll never know, because as soon as we got our zarpe, we hastily set sail for St. Maarten.
You guys are very positive about everywhere you’ve been so to get a comment like that from you it had to be bad!! Luckily that hasn’t been the norm for every place you’ve been so far! Miss and love you all 💙