# U.S. Customs procedures on Cape Cod?



## wnor (Aug 22, 2007)

After spending many happy hours on the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) website, sailnet.com, and other forums, I remained not 100% clear on Customs' procedures, so I eventually called CBP. Turns out, it appears, that some of the CBP website content is wrong. My wife and I, both U.S. citizens, are planning on returning to the U.S. from Nova Scotia, making landfall at the Cape Cod Canal, then moving on to Connecticut. The CBP website states that Provincetown, MA, is a port of entry, but the P-town Harbormaster says that is not true. Please verify if the following is correct: The port of inspection (apparently that is different from a port of entry) I should use is New Bedford. It is ok to transit the Cape Cod Canal before clearing officialdom (perhaps you get style points for hoisting a Q-flag). I should proceed without stopping through the Canal toward New Bedford. When about one hour out from New Bedford I should call 207-532-2131 ext 255. Of course, I should have all documentation handy for this call such as passport numbers of all aboard, Customs decal number, etc. I will probably get cleared via this call, and I should note the clearance number issued by the officer and the badge number of the officer. If a personal inspection is required, that will take place at the State Pier in front of the Custom's Office in New Bedford. Contrary to the CBP website, call-ins are accepted 24/7 not 0800-1700 Mon - Fri. Easy as that. Have I missed anything?


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

I'd just go straight home...is that a bad? I cannot believe that anyone could or would pick your boat of of the horde transiting the Canal on a summer day. On most of my trips Boston-Cape and back I never see a USCG boat, let alone a Customs boat, only the Canal police watching for no-wake violators.


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## jimmalkin (Jun 1, 2004)

Pre 9/11 and Homeland Security and etc I used to bring boats in from the Caribbean to their homeport and call the closest customs office on arrival and they'd clear me in over the phone or come to the boat. And I'd not worry about clearing until you actually came into a port (Ct?)


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

wnor-

A 207 area code would indicate a MAINE phone number, not a Massachusetts one.



> When about one hour out from New Bedford I should call 207-532-2131 ext 255.


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## wnor (Aug 22, 2007)

Sailingdog, yes, that's right, the number reaches Houlton (?) Maine, not Massachusetts. Apparently this is a centralized office that handles call-ins for all of New England. So, although it seems that you are to proceed toward New Bedford, you do not call New Bedford, you call Maine. One of many sources of my vague suspicion that my understanding of this system may not be correct. See:
New England - CBP.gov


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## funsailthekeys (May 15, 2008)

*sad to say*

while I'm an avid fan of proper procedure when it comes to checking in. I'm sad to say that I don't do it any more. US customs is the most difficult to work with this side of Panama. The answers are never the same when you talk to two different offices. Some say you can call in to clear some say you can't. The user fee decal I thought was supposed to help you clear in but they ask you the same questions any way as if you did not have one. Except for airports I haven't cleared in in 7 years.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Are you a participant in the Nexus program? If not, merely calling isn't going to work for you.



> *Participants in these programs may report their arrival to CBP by calling the number below.* Unless directed by a CBP Officer, participants in these programs do not have to report for an in-person inspection.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Scary stuff. I wonder how many unchecked boats enter the country every day. Funsail - I am not trying to pick on you - I understand where you are coming from and you just want to go home and not have the hassle. But what scares me is that I am sure it is not lost on others who might have a darker purpose that this is something that people can usually get away with.


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## funsailthekeys (May 15, 2008)

*you are quite correct*

I started to post what you just said but thought it would rapidly get off topic. I have lived in the keys for 15 years and read about human cargo smuggling almost everyday. There are hundreds and I do mean hundreds of people successfully brought to south Florida every year. That is a scary thought.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> Are you a participant in the Nexus program? If not, merely calling isn't going to work for you.
> 
> 
> 
> > Participants in these programs may report their arrival to CBP by calling the number below. Unless directed by a CBP Officer, participants in these programs do not have to report for an in-person inspection.


Sailingdog, the evidence you provided does not support your claim. The fact that members of "alternative inspection programs" may report by calling in does not imply that anybody who is not a member may not report by calling in (even if it does informally hint at the fact).

I make this point, not [solely] out of a desire to be pedantic, but also because it speaks to a situation I was in this morning/last night.

I arrived late at Point Roberts, WA, having sailed from Vancouver, BC. I called the number for after-hours reporting listed on a sign at the marina, and was redirected to another office, which took my information and told me to wait for an inspection at 8am the following morning, because I was not a NEXUS/I-68 member. I called the following morning and was told that they had no record of my entry, so I went through the twenty-questions again, and inspectors arrived at the customs dock at 9pm and issued me a warning.

Apparently, they said, I was not permitted to call in to report. The warning they issued did not say this, however, and upon request they could not show me in the warning where it said what I had done that I was not supposed to do, or what I omitted that was required. They also could not tell me what the correct procedure for non NEXUS/I-68 members arriving after-hours was. They did say that "Point Roberts is not the right kind of port for that," (paraphrased), though PR is listed as a port of inspection on the CBP website.

The CBP officers were very courteous in a "I don't understand what I'm doing I'm just doing my job" sort of way, and tried to convince me that there was no problem and I wasn't in trouble; I was just being issued a warning. I tried to explain that if you only get one warning for doing something that is not disallowed, then the first warning is half a punishment... but I don't think I got the point across.

Anyway, as much as I don't like sticking myself into one more government database, I will probably sign up for NEXUS, if only to make it easier for customs folks to do their jobs. If anybody happens to know what *IS* the correct procedure for after-hours reporting for non-Nexus members in Washington state, I'd love to hear it. Also, I'll be writing to the CBP to get some clarification, and will post what I find out.


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## wnor (Aug 22, 2007)

Despite my best efforts described in Post #1 to understand U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) procedures on Cape Cod before my trip to Nova Scotia this summer, things did not go at all as I expected. My experience with CBP was like being a child again - desperately trying to keep the grown-ups happy while having no understanding of what is happening to you. It appears that customs procedures are entirely different in each major geographic area, and the real story is not written down anywhere. Of course, I can't give anyone advice on how to deal with CBP, but I can tell you how I would approach this task if I were to attempt it today:

Some preliminary facts of life: It appears that attempting to just skip clearing customs would probably be detected at some point (like the next trip to Canada via the airlines) and punished. It also appears that a face-to-face meeting with a CBP officer is always required to clear customs on Cape Cod - no telephone clearances are issued, ever. However, at least at the moment, these meetings don't have to take place at one specified location such as New Bedford - an officer will meet you at a mutually agreeable time and place. It spares the officer the time and trouble of negotiating the highway bridges over the Cape Cod Canal (CCC) if the meeting takes place on the west side of Buzzards Bay. The Town Pier in Marion seems to be relatively convenient for all concerned. Finally, the CBP officer schedules meetings on a first-come-first-served basis (astonishingly, commercial vessels do not have priority over the likes of us), so calling to arrange a meeting as early as possible is good. With these facts in mind, I would proceed as follows: 

About the time one rounds Provincetown, the schedule of events for transiting the CCC, dictated by the timing of currents in the Canal, is pretty obvious, and a firm estimated time of arrival in Marion can be determined. Call 207-532-2131 ext 255 as soon as this ETA is known. The person who answers the phone is in Maine, not New Bedford. The officer takes a bunch of information, more-or-less hangs up on you, then contacts the officer in New Bedford who will do the inspection. That officer then calls you directly. On my trip, the time from completion of the first call to receipt of the return call was one hour. When the inspecting officer calls, a place and time for an inspection is negotiated. If you are unfamiliar with the area, have charts and guidebooks handy. Little of the information that was given in the original phone call seems to get transmitted to the inspecting officer, so be prepared to give it all over again. Proceed to the agreed place of inspection. Get there on time.

Sundry observations: The inspecting officer was extremely courteous and cooperative - simply a very nice guy trying to do his job. The Town Pier in Marion has been moved from the location in my charts and guide book; it is now about a half-mile south, on the same side of the water, as the previous site. The old pier, immediately south of Burr Marine, is, perhaps, a better place to meet. Knowing no better, that's where I docked, and a call to the officer sorted out the confusion (be CERTAIN to keep a cell phone and the cell phone number of the inspecting officer handy at all times during this process). This pier was deserted, whereas the new Town Pier was busy as hell, so my mistake was fortuitous. Attached to the main, tall portion of the old pier on the north side is a small floating dock that is easily approached and had about 6.5 feet of water at a lowish low tide.

Remember that the captain of your boat is you, not the inspecting officer. If the officer tells you to do something unsafe, it is your responsibility to speak up. In my case, when I first spoke to the inspecting officer and realized that a face-to-face meeting was required, a line of severe thunderstorms was approaching, night was falling, I was totally unfamiliar with the area, and my wife and I were fatigued from a somewhat complicated passage from Canada. I told the officer that I did not think meeting him that night was safe, and I requested permission to anchor over night in Wings Cove and deal with the inspection in the morning. This request was granted without question. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had slavishly tried to meet the inspector that night.

In contrast to the above CBP theater, clearing customs in Canada was easy-peasy. The first time we dropped anchor in Canadian waters was in front of the Shelburne Yacht Club. I went ashore at the dinghy dock at the base of the stairs leading to the Yacht Club's floating docks. Attached to the side of the Yacht Club's clubhouse is a pay phone, next to which is a large sign describing Customs' procedures. I called the number on that sign using the payphone (I get the impression that Customs wants you to use this payphone rather than a cell phone). The answering officer took the usual information: passport numbers, hull number, dates of birth, etc. I was immediately cleared over the phone and was given a clearance number that was to be written large on a piece of paper taped to the inside of a shore-facing port. That was it. The whole call took two minutes at most. And no user fee.


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