Arriving in Canada

Notifying Customs we are ready to cross the border

Notifying Customs we are ready to cross the border

We checked the current revision of Waggoner’s cruising guide for updates to customs procedures.  Our first task on Thursday morning the 6th of June was to call Canadian Customs.  We used the Nexus procedures which were to call in and announce our estimated arrival time (ETA).  It had to be at least 30 minutes in the future up to 4 hours ahead.  We also had to tell them where we wanted to clear customs which we chose Bedwell Harbour on South Pender Island.  Over the phone they asked Don a bunch of questions and gave us a clearance number.  We still have to go in and tie up on the customs dock.  Don allowed us plenty of time to get there but it was a good weather day. 

The instructions say to tie up and wait until your ETA and if there are no customs agents we can leave. 

We left Prevost  Harbor on Thursday, June 6th at 9:00 am.  On our way we were close to the harbour when a customs boat passed us.  They were also headed for Bedwell Harbour so we knew there would be agents there.  Once docked Don walked up to the office and talked to a customs agent who asked the same questions and more than the customs agent on the phone in Ottawa.  He asked a lot of questions about having pistols which we did not have and made sure Don understood if they did ever find any, we would lose our Nexus privileges.