Ray S ECenFL
Silver Member
Just came back from a seven day cruise. Last stop was Nassau, Bahamas. Had my Whites XLT in its black carry case, the one that looks like a brief case. Did not have an opportunity to use it at any of the other ports so I decided that Nassau would be the perfect place since we had booked a beach get away excursion to Black Beards Island Beach Tour.
I had enquired where this great adventure was departing from and was told "at the end of the pier". Since we had noticed that the other ports of call had rows of signs designating the various excursion get aways ( at the the end of the piers) it made sense. My wife, daughter and I are walking to the end of the pier, which is quite a ways off. As we start approaching the end we see lots of people and what appears to be many tourist oriented shops. Just then a man in uniform come over to me and identifies himself as a customs official and wants to know what I have in the black bag. I explain to him that I have a metal detector and that we are off the cruise ship and are heading to a beach trip, where I hope to use the detector on the beach. He then calls another customs official over, she drive up in a golf cart and they begging to discuss the situation. I am asked what the value of the detector is. The woman then says we need to discuss this matter in the office, please come with me.
My daughter is now freaking out over this situation, my wife is concerned that we will miss the beach outing and expressed this to the customs official. He assures her that we will not be that long. Off we go in the golf cart to the office.
We go to a small office where we are introduced to another customs official. The situation is explained to her. She was not looking very happy to begin with and asks me to show her what is in black case. I open it up and show her. She then says that they are concerned that I will sell it to someone before I leave. Tried to explain that I had no intention of selling my detector, but she did not believe me and stated that if I wanted to bring the detector on to Nassau, I had to leave a deposit. I asked how much and was told $300 and that it would be refunded when I returned and showed that I still had the detector with me. I told them that i did not carry that kind of cash with me and that if bringing my detector on to Nassau was going to cause such a problem, I would just bring it back to the ship and put it on board. They agreed to this and sent the male customs official with me and he was told to be sure I put it back on board.
Welcome to the Bahamas!
I wondered why they did not make all the tourists who bring digital cameras and video recorders to Nassau leave a deposit. Guess they have not figured that one out yet.
It all worked out for the best because out Black Beard Beach Tour turned into the Black Beard Beach and Torrential Tropical Rain Storm Tour, but that is another story.
Happy Hunting.
8)
I had enquired where this great adventure was departing from and was told "at the end of the pier". Since we had noticed that the other ports of call had rows of signs designating the various excursion get aways ( at the the end of the piers) it made sense. My wife, daughter and I are walking to the end of the pier, which is quite a ways off. As we start approaching the end we see lots of people and what appears to be many tourist oriented shops. Just then a man in uniform come over to me and identifies himself as a customs official and wants to know what I have in the black bag. I explain to him that I have a metal detector and that we are off the cruise ship and are heading to a beach trip, where I hope to use the detector on the beach. He then calls another customs official over, she drive up in a golf cart and they begging to discuss the situation. I am asked what the value of the detector is. The woman then says we need to discuss this matter in the office, please come with me.
My daughter is now freaking out over this situation, my wife is concerned that we will miss the beach outing and expressed this to the customs official. He assures her that we will not be that long. Off we go in the golf cart to the office.
We go to a small office where we are introduced to another customs official. The situation is explained to her. She was not looking very happy to begin with and asks me to show her what is in black case. I open it up and show her. She then says that they are concerned that I will sell it to someone before I leave. Tried to explain that I had no intention of selling my detector, but she did not believe me and stated that if I wanted to bring the detector on to Nassau, I had to leave a deposit. I asked how much and was told $300 and that it would be refunded when I returned and showed that I still had the detector with me. I told them that i did not carry that kind of cash with me and that if bringing my detector on to Nassau was going to cause such a problem, I would just bring it back to the ship and put it on board. They agreed to this and sent the male customs official with me and he was told to be sure I put it back on board.
Welcome to the Bahamas!
I wondered why they did not make all the tourists who bring digital cameras and video recorders to Nassau leave a deposit. Guess they have not figured that one out yet.
It all worked out for the best because out Black Beard Beach Tour turned into the Black Beard Beach and Torrential Tropical Rain Storm Tour, but that is another story.
Happy Hunting.
8)
