Clearing into Antigua – Update 9th January 2021
We cleared into Antigua today, coming from St Barts. The procedures we were required to undergo seem vastly different to those published.
• URGENT. From Monday 11th January 2021 all yachts arriving from French territories (St Martin, St Barts, Guadeloupe, and Martinique) will have to undergo 14 days mandatory quarantine afloat in Antigua, without exception. This is because of a spike in COVID19 in the French territories. We learned this from the health officer who visited our yacht today and this was confirmed by the immigration staff, so it seems to be likely to be correct.
• In theory, call on VHF channel 16 – according to the Antigua Government – a minimum of 6 hours before arriving to find out where you should go. In practice we could not get a reply – and we have not yet found anyone that did get a response this way; 6 hours may be 40 to 50 miles away, so too far for VHF. Unless you get a reply, just go to English Harbour, and anchor. There was no room for us, and it was dark when we arrived, so we anchored in the much larger Falmouth Harbour – and they do not seem to mind that as long as you move to English Harbour as soon as its light, because the health inspector does his rounds in the mornings. Fly the Q flag. However, there might be some days when the health inspector does do his rounds in Falmouth Harbour too, possibly when there are Superyachts too large to get into English harbour, but this is not reliable information.
• The term “English Harbour” also includes Freeman Bay, which is actually just outside English Harbour. In fact there were no yachts in English Harbour awaiting quarantine when we were there – whereas there would 5 waiting in Freeman Bay. The inspector will come to Freeman Bay, and it seems that this is where he is expecting to find you, not in English Harbour itself.
• The starting point is clearing health, which has to be done afloat. Do not go ashore or try to clear in at Customs without first getting your health clearance document, which will be issued afloat, on board. If you set foot on shore without health clearance then you are breaking the law, with serious consequences. Obviously, wear a mask at all times on shore, sanitise hands when available etc, otherwise there are very heavy fines.
• Do not rely on the http://www.eseaclear.com website for any of the Health clearances, or, indeed, and advice whatsoever about Health – it is not applicable, and they are simply not mentioned. There is a link on http://www.eseaclear.com – a red button that takes you to https://eseacovid.com which should, in theory, give you more information about clearing Health – but, in practice, it does not provide any such information. Worse, the website says “This site aims to alert visitors to any discrepancy between published policy and actual reality at the port level” but in practice it is of no use whatsoever. Even worse, this will lull you into a false sense of security as, in practice, the “actual reality at the port level” is entirely different to the pre-COVID19 experience of clearing in at Antigua, or that suggested on either of these websites where Health is concerned.
• However, still complete the http://www.eseaclear.com process as normal, although it will not help you at all with Health.
• We tried calling and emailing all the numbers given out on the Government’s Ministry of Tourist & Investment’s “Yachting Entry and Clearance Protocol Guidelines” document (Google to find but make sure it is the latest version, which at the moment is apparently 1st November 2020) but none worked.
• The number (which we eventually managed to obtain) that reached the appropriate official is +1 268 4621493 (not, apparently, a published telephone number) – and they will, in theory, organise the inspection. In practice, we found that they did not organise an inspection that was specific to ourselves, merely, it seems, that the inspector would have been given the name of our yacht and its location. This is because they require an Antigua based phone number, as the inspector will not call an EU or US based phone. If you do not have a local phone number – and, lets face it, no visitors will – then you have to rely on the inspector seeing your yellow quarantine flag in the anchorage. However, he will be looking, and English Harbour is small. That said, it is still important that if you did not get through on the VHF to call +1 268 4621493 and register that you need an inspection, so that you have completed due process.
• There is a much better solution! The most direct way to receive confirmation of an inspection is to Whatsapp the inspector directly as we did. Mr Edwards +1 268 764 3446. He came aboard, and like most Antiguan officials, was very welcoming, efficient, and charming. He checked our RT-PCR negative test results from St Barts as a tick-box operation without question. There were more forms to fill in. One you can fill in before he arrives, which saves time, is the “Ministry Of Health, Wellness and the Environment Health Screening Questionnaire”, one for each person on board, which is really for airport arrivals, but they are also using it for those arriving by sea. It is called “ANU Health Declaration Form”. Luckily, you can download it from Virgin Atlantic https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/content/dam/documents/ANU%20Health%20Declaration%20Form.pdf.
• Given our circumstances – having been in BVI’s for most of 2020 then St Barts – we did not have to go straight into 14 days quarantine. Mr Edwards issued us with the Health Clearance – which is nattily entitled “Annex 8 Model of Maritime Declaration of Health” (which is really designed for ships), so we could then go into Nelsons Dockyard and clear in with Customs, Immigration and Port Authority, as usual. Then we were off for a beer!
Richard Freeborn and Alexandra Blakeman Early on Yacht Hawkeye (UK registered Lagoon 450)