It Takes A Village and a Bit of Patience 😀!

Pirate and I both arrived safely in BVI!  Our trek started in Miami at the Amerijet Cargo warehouse.  Thankfully, Craig and Cathie were so gracious and offered to drive us from Marco Island .  They helped me drop Pirate off and then took me to the airport the next morning!  We arrived at the Amerijet Cargo building at 8:30 pm, and Pirate was finally 'processed' after 10 pm for her 1 am flight.  Have you ever been inside a cargo warehouse?  What a s**t show.  At one point an employee came up and said "Welcome to the Jungle"!!  I felt so much better after that 😂




Roger and I were quite anxious about Pirate since she would be in the crate for 15 hours before she arrived in BVI.  She had to fly first to San Juan, and with the help of an Apple AirTag, we were able to track Pirate on her journey!



It was a full body wag for 10 minutes when Pirate saw Roger at the airport.  The local vet, who is also the Minister of Agriculture, came to check her out to make sure she was healthy and that we had all the proper documentation.  (for those that are interested, read more below about documentation) 

The airport is right beside Trellis Bay, and Roger had moored Adventure I the night before so he could come pick us up by dinghy and avoid the taxi ride!  After all the paperwork was done, the vet helped Roger put Pirate and her crate in his car and then drove them over to the dinghy dock at Trellis Bay!  

By the time Pirate was settled on the boat, Roger came back to pick me up.  It was a very happy family reunion!



Documentation - This is where the patience comes in!

Pirate needed vaccination certificates and a FAVN test which documents the level of rabies antibodies.  The sample for this was taken by our Vet in Canada and then sent to Kansas for certification.  This process take about 4 weeks!  Pirate also needed a health certificate which had to be done by our Vet in the US and endorsed by the USDA within 7 to 10 days of flying.  Kathleen from Life Unleashed helped us with all the paperwork, but it is still unbelievably complex.  We spent 2 hours in immigration yesterday in order to pay $5 for an additional form that was required because she arrived as cargo, and not by boat.  The result was a stack of documents which they had to print and staple together 4 times.  It's all worth it though to have Pirate here to share in our adventure!!

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