Angola Customs

Getting all African paperwork done, arranging permits, obtaining free pratique, getting all the passports stamped with the proper visa's, and preparing tons of signed and stamped papers is a time consuming operation. It is a delicate game you'll have to learn to play. There are some simple but absolute necessary rules. First of all, ask the cook to prepare a lot of awful sweet cookies and other pastry. Take a big tray, put a lot of aluminum foil on it and make a nice display of all your sweets. Top the rest of the table of with cans of Coca Cola, so much that there is hardly room enough for too much paper. It is very important to find a balance between being a captain on your own ship and their impression of being the boss in Angola. It worked and finally, everything was OK and the complete party of seven people was satisfied and left the ship. Now we are waiting for (fresh) provisions and the outward clearance. Provisions is a problem in Angola. Tomatoes, Cucumber and other fresh vegetables are very expensive here, if available at all. Fresh For tomatoes they will charge you 20 dollar per kilogram. Water melon and cucumber the same price. Everything has to be imported from South Africa. Hopefully we can leave for high seas in the afternoon.