Ok, I'm in St Lucia! So, I did meet Martin! He was preparing a boat to sail to the UK, and left a day or two later - He was very nice though, and it was great to meet another forumite. I doubt he could have wavered the customs charge... But, you never know!

I didn't realise that about the clear out and going into Martinique... Funnily enough, they asked for it here in St Lucia, but I couldn't find it - I left it on the boat! He said 'doesn't matter' ... Ha!! And in fact, I have two passports, and could have easily claimed I just arrived from the Canaries... But I don't know how the system works enough to start flashing around multiple passports and claiming other stories.

As for the US visa - If you think you can land in St Lucia without a passport, you can have your Visa and passport forwarded via DHL so you don't have to wait the 5-7 working days for them to process it. Probably not a good idea... I have two, so it was no problem - My visa should arrive at the DHL office in Castries early next week. Otherwise, you have two options: Get it posted to the DHL office in Barbados (they don't allow you to physically pick it up) OR, from Antigua or somewhere, send your passport and a special ticket back with your passport to Barbados with a return courier bill, and it will be sent back... in 5 to 7 days. All very annoying, but there you have it. Hope that helps!

Info forwarded to Noonsite!

nick.