After anchoring, Stephanie called customs to start our clearance process. After a few phone calls to different people at different levels, we were told we could not clear customs. Not only that day, which turned out to be a Sunday, but at all. We were told we would have to return to Florida. We had everything we thought we needed; covid tests, immigration forms, customs forms, vessel paperwork, and health visas, but come to find out, we were supposed to clear with the defense force upon arrival. This had just recently developed, we were not aware of this form, could not find it on any website, and it was only effective for clearance through Nassau. Due to us not knowing this form ever existed, we continued to make calls to immigration and customs, hoping to reach a solution that would let us stay in the Bahamas and not return to Florida, however, as it was Sunday, many people, if they answered our call, told us to wait until Monday. Feeling a little discouraged and exhausted after the 36-hour crossing, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day; catching up on sleep and snorkeling around the boat.
Monday morning came around and Stephanie was back to making calls. We were finally able to receive the form required to enter Nassau. We filled it out and sent it back, only for it to be denied, even after contacting authorities and being approved. We were so confused as to what could have happened and immediately contacted them again. Another day went by and we found out they thought we were a charter vessel which is why they denied us. They had found a charter boat Sail La Vie in Greece and assumed we were the same boat. After sending the boat documentation over and Stephanie proving she was the owner and captain, we were given the approval to clear customs and immigration.
On Tuesday we went to the nearest marina to fuel and wait for customs and immigration to come. We were worried that our Covid test results would be expired since it had been over 5 days since we took them, but we were promised since they knew we had only been on the boat for the majority of it, they would be accepted. The process took over an hour, but eventually, after 48 hours we were officially legal to cruise the Bahamas waters and sailed back to our cove while celebrating and watching the most beautiful sunset.