We are going to be cruising from Fajardo to the BVIs and back this June. My intention is to sail from Jost straight to Culebra on the return so that we don't have to clear in at the USVI. I believe this is fine - however, I was hoping to anchor for the night at Flamenco (assuming conditions allow) or possibly Culebrita. Is there any reasonable way of accomplishing this? More specifically, is it possible to clear in without bringing the boat into Ensenada Honda? I'm assuming we can't simply sail straight to Flamenco and call from there. I also heard that cell phone signals aren't available until you get past the east tip of Culebra so even if we are able to check in via a phone call we will have to sail past Culebrita and be well on our way to Ensenada Honda before we know whether we are able to or not. By that time it will probably be too late to make it worth turning around for one of the other anchorages.

On another note, as for a suggestion to make clearing into Puerto Rico over the phone easier, make sure you have your phonetic alphabet down or have a cheat sheet handy. When we were clearing in on our last visit we did so over the phone and it was difficult to hear. I had to use the phonetic alphabet to read letters to the officer from our passports. Only thing is I don't really know much of the alphabet so I kept saying random words for certain letters. I don't think the CBP officer was impressed as he corrected me every time I said the wrong word. After five passports you would think I have it down but I still plan on bringing a cheat sheet with me on our next trip.

Matt