Hi Peggy:

Try Bahama Department of Tourism to complain.  We had no problem going
through Rock Sound or Ft. Lauderdale yesterday.

Friday a small group of us went through US customs in Nassau. A friend was
shepherding my luggage through for me while I was pushed in a wheelchair
(not an injury, just bad knees) and one of the pieces was a bucket. When
asked what was in the bucket, she replied, "Shells".

The customs officer interpreted that as "snails", and since she hadn't
declared them as such (she didn't have anything but dead shells), went
through all of her luggage and mine and discarded ALL of the shells. In
fact, he discarded ALL of the plastic containers, including my see-through
mask box with my prescription mask in it and another with a sea urchin -
definitely NOT a snail!

My question: is there any way we can retrieve at least the mask (value about
$300) or any of the shells and other sealife items we were bringing home
that are not illegal? Does anyone know any authority in the customs service
to whom we can at least complain?

We have NEVER had a problem bringing shells back from the Bahamas before,
but I will NEVER go through Nassau again!

Peggy


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