An ARC Adventure with Benji

My husband, Mark, and I sail with our six year old Maltese dog, Benji on our 2010 Lagoon 400, SV Two Hoots. Benji loves dinghy rides and playing on sandy beaches and has absolutely no idea how many miles he has travelled. He quickly adapts to long passages at sea and is happy as long as he is with his family, but his best time is when our daughter, Emma and son, Jack come to visit.

We joined the World Cruising Club’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) and crossed the Atlantic in 2024. Two friends joined us for the crossing, Martin Brunt from the UK and Simon Russell from South Africa. We made landfall in St. Lucia and these are the details of clearing Benji in and out of countries along our travels.

UK to Las Palmas

Travelling from the United Kingdom to Las Palmas, Canary Islands you either need a valid EU Pet Passport or a UK issued Animal Health Certificate (AHC). Benji has an EU Pet Passport but we did get an AHC as we had his rabies booster administered in the UK, which could not be recorded in his EU Pet Passport (as they can only be completed by an EU vet). For an AHC, the dog must be micro-chipped and have had a rabies vaccination at least 3 weeks prior to the date on the AHC. The AHC can only be completed by an ‘Official Vet’ and must be completed no more than 10 days before travel from the UK. It is a one-time entry certificate and is valid for 4 months.

We had Benji tested (negative) for Lyme disease in the UK (as the ARC handbook stated this could not be done in Las Palmas and we had been unable to get a definitive response from any vet in Las Palmas regarding this). There is no requirement for vaccination against Lyme disease for St. Lucia.

Having checked Benji into the EU at the Eurotunnel, travelling within the EU (including Las Palmas) we were never asked for any documentation for him.

[Noonsite UK Pet Formalities and Noonsite Canary Islands Pet Formalities]

St. Lucia Pet Formalities

For St. Lucia Pet Formalities information, we contacted the St. Lucia authorities in March 2024 to confirm their requirements. They advised us to get a 3 year rabies vaccination booster done in the UK (the EU ones are only valid for 1 year) and then get the Titre (FAVN) rabies antibody test done not less than 30 days later. They said that this would give us cover for St. Lucia for 3 years.

The following is a list of our experience and what we learned:

• The titre test can only be conducted by an approved laboratory and there are only 2 in the UK. We paid an additional fee to get our vet to use one of these labs.
• The original copy of the lab results must be submitted with the import permit application.
• The blood sample for the titre test must be taken at least 3 months prior to arrival in St. Lucia.
• If a booster rabies vaccination is given, a new titre test must be done. This is unusual, as most countries accept the titre test as long as boosters have been given when due. (We queried it and they confirmed that this is how they interpret the requirements.)

Preparations for St. Lucia in Las Palmas

In Las Palmas, Canary Islands, we used the vet Clinica Veterinaria Mesa y Lopez. The vet, Luca Gradilone, was excellent although his English is limited. He has a file with the requirements for each country and is familiar with them. He was very responsive on WhatsApp too.

We accomplished the following in our visit to the Veterinarian Clinic:

• The vet confirmed the dates for the various tests, to comply with the St. Lucia requirements.
• Benji had his annual vaccinations just over 14 days before departure. They were due for renewal in November.
• He had his parasite treatments (fleas and worms) administered by the vet 13 days prior to departure.
• He had his tests for Heartworm and Leishmaniasis 13 days prior to departure. The results for these were immediate.
• He had blood drawn for the Lyme test 13 days prior to departure. This had to be sent to a lab for analysis but the results were back within 5 days.
• Once all the results were back, the vet completed the Veterinary Health Certificate and emailed this and all supporting documentation to the Officina de Sanidad Animal. These documents have to come directly from the vet.

Now that we had all of our documents in order, we needed to obtain an Exit Permit from the Canary Islands. We contacted the Officina de Sanidad Animal by email who responded promptly, but there was a delay in getting our export permit as the lady who deals with this had been on holiday. We ended up getting a taxi there and just waiting for her to complete it. She was helpful. We took Benji with us and she checked his microchip, but I know others went there without their pet.

St. Lucia Approval and Arrival

With our exit permit sorted, I applied for the St. Lucia Import Permit by email, attaching all the supporting documentation and received the permit 2 business days later. In preparation of our arrival to St. Lucia, I notified the Veterinary and Livestock Services Division by email of our anticipated arrival date and time and the lady who does the physical inspection emailed me to arrange to meet when we arrived. It cost EC$45 for the permit and I chose to pay an additional EC$175 for him to be checked in on the weekend. All payments were made in cash.

There is no requirement to carry the import permit with you but we took a scanned copy on a phone just in case. We were never asked for it except when I was asked for it on day 1 when I was waiting for the import lady to arrive. The gentleman accepted that I was genuinely waiting for the import lady. He did say that Benji shouldn’t be off the boat, but the lady had asked me to meet her with Benji at the dinghy dock and he was ok with that.

If you needed a health certificate for your next destination, I was told to use the same email address to arrange this, but we went to Martinique where nothing was required.

Some important notes about our experiences with Benji:

• To enter the EU from the UK, an EU pet passport or Animal Health Certificate is required. Both require a microchip and valid rabies vaccination, but no titre test is required. However, a titre test will be required for follow on travel to the Caribbean.
• The rabies vaccination needs to have been done at least 4 months prior to arrival and the titre test at least 3 months prior to arrival. This means that there will probably not be enough time to get the titre test done in Las Palmas.
• Other required tests (for Lyme and Leishmaniasis) can be completed in Las Palmas before departure along with heartworm and parasite treatments.

Penny Belcher
SV Two Hoots

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About the Author:

Penny and Mark Belcher are from the UK and have owned 4 monohulls, 3 in the UK and one in South Africa, where they lived for 10 years. When Mark retired they decided to buy a catamaran to go adventuring. They bought SV Two Hoots, a 2010 Lagoon 400, in Denmark in January 2020. They planned to explore the Baltic region before heading to the Mediterranean and then the Caribbean. However, due to Covid, they ended up bringing her back to the UK for a year, sailing the south coast and Isles of Scilly. They then moved her to Greece for 3 seasons before heading to the Canaries to cross the Atlantic with the ARC in 2024. They arrived in St Lucia, having had a great crossing, and have since cruised north to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Barts, St. Martin, the British Virgin Islands, and are currently heading for the Bahamas. They plan to cruise the east coast of the USA during the summer. Beyond that, who knows?

• Instagram: Twohootssailing

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Related Information:

Information on Traveling with Pets can be found in the Formalities section of each Noonsite Country page.

See the Noonsite UK Pet Formalities, Noonsite Canary Islands Pet Formalities and Noonsite St. Lucia Pet Formalities for further details.

Other important notes:

EU Pet Passports issued in Great Britain are not valid for travel to the EU (since 1 January 2021).

For more information about travelling to the EU with pets see Pets and Other Animals.

Pets entering the EU must arrive through a Travellers Point of Entry (TPE)..

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