From Miami, United States to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - December, 2004

Wit a few detours already under my belt, decided to get to Trinidad via Miami instead of overland.

Showed up with my bike at the Ocean Air warehouse not far from the ariport the day before my own travel and all went pretty smoothly.

But then the bike spent four weeks clearing US customs as Canadian bikes, at least bikes from British Columbia, don't have registration docs that are familiar to the Yanks. If you're from BC, you need a letter from ICBC certifying that you're the registered owner of the bike. Don't wait for anyone to ask you for it, just get it and include it in your paperwork.

Ocean Air were pretty slack on their end on getting the bike cleared and costs started adding up.

Shipping took six days, and then clearing Trini customs took three weeks.

There is no mechanism for importing a bike to Trinidad on a temporary, toutist basis. In fact, at first, people will tell you it can't be done. Persist a little.

You need to post a bond against the full, dutyable value of the bike (38%). This means opening a local bank account and filling it with cash off your Visa card. You will need a local's phone or utility bill to do this. My bond is for $20,000TT, or about $3000US.

The good news is that you get most of that back - you are assessed duty at 10% of the dutyable value every three months until you leave. If you stay 2.5 years, the full value of the duty is assessed.

My bond is, for some reason noone can explain to me, for more than the duty, as well. My full duty will be about $1500US, and I will end up paying 30 or 40% of that.

You will need a customs broker on the Trini end, call Milton Felix at 868 624 8350 and ask for the number of Ian Reid. Don't use Felix. He will have you back and forth running errands, he'll call you at the crack of dawn and tell you he needs to see you immediately, a nightmare. Ian is a paradigm of efficiency and you will avoid a lot of screw-around. Customs brokerage will cost you another $200US.

As for getting out of Trinidad to Venezuela - stay tuned.

Bonne chance,
Jeff