Bunny in the Bahamas

[DavenKaren]

My wife, daughter and I are planning our first big cruise. We hope to leave Maine in Sept and head south coastally and ICWly to arrive Miami-ish in Dec. Then cross to the Bahamas with appropriate weather. This sounds like a common senario until we add the Bunny. Our 11 yo daughters cherished pet rabbit will be coming along (she was fighting our plans until the aggreement bunny companionship).
So, does anyone have any experience bringing pets into foriegn contries?
Will we be boarded when in the Bahamas?

David Wilkins
HR Rasmus
"Dancer"

[Tom Young]

It's been along time since we have been there though. People had cats onboard that never left and did not require anything(it may have still been illegal). I would check with the Bahamian government.

We were never boarded in two trips we took to the Bahamas. Except for around Nassau and Grand Bahama, we never saw any kind of government vessels.

It occurs to me posters from this board, Stacey and Neil Collins are in Grenada and took a cat with them through the Bahamas. They are from Portland Maine. Someone here must have there website and e-mail address. They have a great site that is recording their trip. I bet they have the info.

Where in Maine are you and how long do you plan to be down there?

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

http://www.sailzora.com/

[Doug]

Spare me!!!!

[mwinni--S/V Prelude]

Go to www.coconuttelegraph.net and log into their message board. It is a board for people visiting The Abacos in the Bahamas. There is a great deal of info on that board. Although many are not boaters, quite a few take their pets with them. Ask on that board and they will give all the info you need. For a dog it is a form to fill out and having your vet give you 30 days prior to entrance a statement that shots are up to date. The side bars have a tremendous amount of info also. Getting the bunny into the Bahamas should not be a problem. People on that board will e-mail or fax you a form if you want.

Mark Winninger

[staceyneil]

We just did this with a cat. Go to the bahamas tourism web site (http://www.bahamas.com/bahamas/about/general.aspx?sectionid=23062&level=2) and start the process in plenty of time. We waited until a few weeks beforehand and had to use FedEx and faxes, which significantly upped the cost. You need all the right shots and a letter from the cet saying the animal is healthy and over 6 mos old... You might want to write or call them for specifics on a rabbit.

Some customs officers fdon't really care, but one guy told us thet the have confiscated animals brought in w/o permission. Don't know what happened to the animals.

on the other hand, nobody ever checked our boat...

Stacey
sv ZORA
www.sailzora.com

[dick foster]

You're not going to get boarded when you check in; they just want your $300. And if anyone asks later, tell them with a straight face your rabbit is the last of your fresh provisions.

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

where in the world are you guys? Your last log entries from June put you in Grenada... since we've had a couple of hurricanes though there, wondering where you are and how things are going.....

:-)

[Saorsa]

You're not going to get boarded when you check in; they just want your $300. And if anyone asks later, tell them with a straight face your rabbit is the last of your fresh provisions.

It helps to name it Emergency Rations.

[staceyneil]

Emily passed north of us so just got torrential rains and high seas (maybe 35-40 knots max winds). Lots of flooding, power out, etc, but as far as I know no cruising boats lost here. A fishing boat at a dock turned upside down due to the high seas in the harbor, though. We had very fortuitously arranged a haul-out to paint the bottom: our haul was scheduled (a week before Emily) for the morning before she arrived, so we were on the hard. Lucky.

Grenada, as you know was not so lucky. We had just come from there: my heart goes out to the locals as well as the cruisers who lost boats (at least one that I know of: sunk in Prickly Bay..)

Stacey
PS WEbsite will be updated soon with pix of Emily...

www.sailzora.com