"Western Immigration, western Immigration, this is sailing yacht K'Gari, K'Gari,, Kilo Golf Alpha Romeo India."
"K'Gari this is Western Immigration, are you clearing in or out?"
"Clearing in please, just arrived in Quarantine anchorage"
"Entering, ok . What is your number?"
What number, my sail number , my non existent telephone number, my boat registration number? On board we just look at each other - wondering what number he wants.
"What number do you need?"
The number at the top of the ICA form , starts AA2016.....
"I don't have that form"
Who is your agent?
What agent? We don't need an agent we are a sailing boat.Why would we have an agent? We are all a bit puzzled on board now.
"I don't have an agent , we have just arrived, we are a sailing yacht."
"You must have an agent- standby K'Gari"
Thus began six and half hours of being, an almost stateless person( except we had passports), but we weren't allowed to move.
We had entered the Quarantine and Immigration area, but due to a change of rules implemented at the beginning of April, of which I was totally unaware, we couldn't enter the country, as we didn't have the magic number which should have been supplied to us, after our non-existent agent, had submitted our non-existent paper work, 72 hours before we arrived! Nor could we leave the Quarantine Anchorage, as we had entered it, so we were " arrived but not processed" I guess.
Ho hum, at the end of a very long day- all the previous day and night, this was not what was needed.
The problem was resolved by a very accommodating Immigration Officer , who found an agent, willing to act on our behalf, then came out to K'Gari and came on board, with a phone, which allowed me to speak to the newly appointed agent and give him the details required, so then correct paperwork could be submitted, which would allow us to enter Singapore.We had no phone, as the Malaysian sim cards were all we had, as we hadn't arrived ashore yet to get Singaporean sim cards. The Immigration Officer went above and beyond , in helping us. Thank you, to that nameless officer, for your assistance and patience.
Whilst he was on board, I asked how many other yachts had managed to do this, since the change of rules.
None!
So K'Gari was the first he had had to deal with, that had arrived so completely under prepared. Not a good record to have , but that's life. Or maybe, not many yachts had arrived!!!
Being in an immigration vortex, was a bit of nightmare, which unfolded very slowly. For me the experience has put a whole new aspect on just how desperate the people all around the world who are fleeing from their countries , sometimes using smugglers to gain access, must be. They truly are stateless people when they do that. We knew that there would be a resolution in our case, as we held valid passports and this was really no more than a technical glitch,caused by my own ineptitude, which just needed to be resolved. We had food, we had water, we were comfortable, not in an airless hold with no ability to see what was even going on, . The refugees do not have that luxury.
Once the required form had been submitted, the Immigration Officer appeared again, on his boat. A net on a six foot pole is offered from the bow of the Immigration boat, in to which our passports are dropped. "How many on board" is asked, and as we were all standing in the cockpit, we were all sighted. The boat backs off, the passports are stamped and the net reappears, with passports and a piece of paper, which the skipper is required to sign and keep on board. The whole process takes less than five minutes......as long as you have an agent and a magic number!
One of the many questions that had been asked when we arrived was which Marina we were heading for. There is no option to anchor in Singapore, its a marina, or nothing.
When we had departed Kota Kinabalu we had had a different arrival location in mind, a small Malaysian Island called Tioman. This destination had changed for a couple of reasons, to Singapore.
One reason being the extra time that the no wind had added to the trip and the second being a small difference of opinion about the quality of the water being produced by the watermaker. As there was an agent definitely in Singapore for the watermaker, and as water, not food, is in fact the "staff of life", we deviated straight to Singapore.
I mention this, only to show K'Gari is not sailing around aimlessly on a totally unplanned adventure.However the change of destination mid way across, is why we had arrived so totally unaware of the rule changes in Singapore.We hadn't set off to go there initially, and whilst in Tioman, I had been going to read up the information I needed to know about Singapore!
Having been asked the question of which marina we were going to, I named the only one I really had heard of with the rider, "if they have room".
We had no phone, so the only way to contact the marina was by VHF. Every marina in Singapore (4 of them) seem to use the same channel, as do hundreds of other people, it appears.
Communication was impossible. It was all half sentences being cut off by other calls. In the end I gave up- the marina was not the immediate issue, whilst we couldn't actually leave the Quarantine Anchorage.
I tried to sleep, whilst we waited.
Then the clearance was done , and the last words from the Immigration Officer were - "Ok now you go to marina ok".
Yep, that's the plan!
The nominateded Marina was in fact still 15 nm from the anchorage, so heave anchor and set off in the straightest line to a marina that doesn't really know we are arriving and we don't know if they have room.
Halfway there, we managed to make clear contact with the marina, to find that "there was no room in the inn"
Now that is a problem! Immigration and Customs think we are heading to a place, that is telling us, has no berth.
What we really need is some sleep.
We also need water, not desperately, we easily have a days supply left, but we also could do with some fuel. We still have the spare fuel we took on board in KK, but that means jiggle hosing it into fuel tanks and the waters of Singapore harbour are not flat and mirror like, by any stretch of the imagination.Nor do I think it would be favourably viewed if we managed to spill any fuel whilst transferring it!
Only thing left to do was ask if we could at least come in and get fuel and water.
"Yes we could but cannot stay the night , no room"
Due to the proximity of the neighbouring countries there are Singaporean border control/police boats, every couple of miles, just sitting ,floating, watching.
Minutes before we entered the marina, we were called on the VHF by the one who had been shadowing us for the last 15 minutes, requesting that once in Marina "no one go ashore till we check papers".
That was a bit of a p.i.a., as whilst two of us were taking the fuel and water, we had planned the other was going to shoot ashore to the nearest sim card shop and come back armed with some means of speaking to the world, other than the VHF, so that we could try to sort out somewhere to go.
Sure enough, we were taking the fuel, when the border patrol chaps turn up. They wanted to know who the Master was. It was clearly on the crew list that had been submitted!
He naturally had approached one of my fellow adventurers first and had shaken hands with him
"I am" - I offer my hand to the officer to shake. With a very startled look on his face, he withdrew his hand. His offsider,literally winced and looked very apologetic.
OK, cultural difference here then!
They want to see my licence.
" I'm a bit busy taking fuel now,as you can see, so I can't actually get it right now."
I'm also not used to being treated as 'second class'.
In my head I can hear the little voice saying "settle petal, settle"
My fellow adventurer , standing on the jetty by the fuel bowser, in his full 'meet and greet , hands across the water' mode explains "yes - she master, yes she has licence, big ships".
They still want to see something.
I'm still busy!
They left, apparently satisfied, after Peter produced from his wallet his Queensland drivers license with the acronym RMDL ( Recreational Marine Drivers License) on it.
I wonder if they know what it means?
I don't really care, to be honest.
After they left, and during conversation with the marina staff who were fueling us, it turns out (magically)that there is in fact a berth we can go to for the night. The contact number for the watermaker man is also produced.One of the guys we are talking to, is friends with the Seawind rep in Singapore- the very very long day, is starting to look a lot better.
Once we finish fueling, I take the papers up to the marina office to check in for the night.
"How long you staying?"
"How long can I stay , I need to get some repairs done?'
"No problem stay , do you need electricity?"
Now, we have arrived in Singapore. Its 1800/26 April 2016
Now we can have that safe arrival drink and then I can sleep!
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