Living in Grand Cayman

After almost exactly 3 months since we purchased it via an online auction in Japan, our CRV is finally here.  I must admit though, it was worth the wait.  The car is in fantastic shape and works beautifully.  The windows are heavily tinted ; great to keep out the sun. Also, the outside has no dings/dents, only a few very small scratches, quite normal for a 2002 I would think.  Inside, all is perfect.  As an added bonus, the car is equipped with the very bright Xenon headlamps (for those not familiar, these are the very bright white/blue-ish headlights most luxury cars have) which are usually a 1000$ option, so I am quite pleased since the purchase sheet did not mention that this CRV had them. 🙂

On tuesday, it took Julie & I pretty much all day to get the car thru Cayman’s “administrative process”.  Here goes :

1.  9:35am.  Get insurance coverage for the car. Prices are quite similar to Canada.
2. 10:30am. Go to the bank to get cash.  Most government agencies only accept cash or cheque. I had to wait in line; I am not used to going to the bank anymore.
3. 11:00. Go to customs to pay the 27.5% duty and 250$ environmental charge
4. Around 11:30. Pickup Julie in Savannah  (still with the Mazda) and then go to KPMG to park the Mazda.  We then got a lift from a Co-worker for step 5.
5. Around 12:30. Get dropped off at the Port Authority and pay a small port fee (20$)  Customs then drove our car to us and inspected it to make sure we are not smuggling in anything we are not supposed to.  The battery was dead (we expected this).  We had it boosted and all was fine after driving around and letting the car idle.
6. Around 2pm. Over to the licencing department.   With the car, we lined up for about 15 minutes.  An inspector then just checked if all the turn lights & headlights worked and a few other things are in good working order; all was fine.  Then we had to go inside, show the inspection report and pay 250$ for the exam and the annual licence fee.  We were also given the licence plates and a sticker to put in the windshield.  
7. Aound 3pm. Go home.  We are dead tired!  We had supper and of course I had to wash the car and give it two coats of wax. After 3 months at a japanese port & on a boat, it was quite filthy.

Here are some pictures of the day and of our new car. 

This is the Port Authority location in the industrial park in Georgetown.  Our car was stored here.

Before it was cleared from customs, it was behind these barbed fences.  Its the 3rd one from the left.

After going from Kobe, Japan – Kingston, Jamaica – Cayman, these are all the markings on the windshield.  We needed rasor blades to get all of this off.

First picture at home after wash & wax.

Notice the small rearview mirror on the hood. We are not 100% sure, but think its to see the sidewalk for parking in order not to scrape the wheels.

From Honda de Brossard to Honda Nagasaki.  I would have never though we would get a car from that dealership! 🙂

Notice the small Quebec flag we put on the rear.