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We also were boarded by the Florida Fish & Wildlife police; they were on board for 25 minutes. They checked a number of things but did not do the dye business; they did look to see that we had ties that had to be removed to turn the valves. That seemed to satisfy them. We are a brand new boat and have filed for the USCG documentation but don't have it back yet. We offered to show them the copy of the check to the USCG, cancelled that cleared our bank about a month ago. It says on the face for boat documentation and the USCG also wrote on the face of the check our hull id number. We got a warning ticket anyway; the officer said that you only have 30 days to get the proper papers. The USCG right on their website says it will take 6 to 8 weeks. Oh well. Henry ----- Original Message ---- From: Jim Healy <gilwellbear@gmail.com> To: great-loop@lists.samurai.com Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 8:14:04 AM Subject: Re: GL: Holding Tanks Ralph Yost said: "I think the approach to law and its enforcement in Florida makes more sense.....If the marine police board your boat, they test the waste system with die markers and determine if your waste system is in position to pump overboard. If so, you get a noticeable fine. There is no mechanical disassembly of the waste system required !" Not so, Ralph. We got boarded by Florida Fish and Wildlife Police at the Ponce de Leon Inlet. In a blatant attempt to ticket us - we're an "older boat" and he told us they "were sure we pumped overboard" - those morons pumped so much water into our holding tank that they created an emergency need for us to pump out, which was far from a convenient or easy thing to do in that particular location. I even suggested they pay for it, and the goon was not happy with me. I told him to ticket me or get off my boat, right now! He went, and they followed us for five miles down through New Smyrna Beach looking for their precious dye. I was left with precious little respect for that agency and it's enforcement processes. I also wondered about "probable cause" after that was all over. Does that stupid kid's opinion of the age of my boat constitute "probable cause?" Hmmm.... Just my opinion. Jim Healy, aboard Sanctuary, currently at Punta Gorda, FL _______________________________________________ http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/great-loop ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs