In my last narrative I explained that due to last minute changes by the Fijian government Rotuma is no longer an official clearance port, and therefore we left without all the proper paperwork from Fijian customs. So, now upon our arrival in Tuvalu, it was time to find out if that would matter or not.
Navire had arrived the day before us, so I asked them how it went for them. They were lucky, because they hadn’t even realized they didn’t have all the right paperwork. They went to immigration first and gave them the form they had gotten from the officials in Rotuma, and then when they went to customs, and were asked by them for a form, Janet, in all honesty, told them she had left all the paperwork with immigration. Apparently, customs didn’t seem too concerned about it, and they cleared in without issue.
I decided to just follow the same tactic. We went to immigration and left them the immigration clearance form from Rotuma. Then we dinghied down to the customs office at the wharf, and the customs guy was very nice. The office was air conditioned, and he invited us to sit down, and he even gave Tim the password to the Wi-Fi. All the while island hip-hop music was playing in the background. When we got to the part where he asked for our customs clearance from the last port, I told him I had given my form from Rotuma to the immigration office. He insisted that I should have a customs form, but I insisted that I didn’t, so he asked if he could look through all of my paperwork from Fiji. He found my coastal clearance form from when we departed Savusavu way back in May, and he said, “This will work.” I didn’t question anything, just smiled and thanked him, and we were on our way. That is, after chatting a bit more about Funafuti and enjoying the air conditioning.
Gresham Family Exodus 