Now I would like to start off with the statement that I deeply respect those guys and gals in customs departments all around the world. They work to keep their respective country safe from the outside world.

I did have an interesting experience with a time I went from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas (on my way to Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry Islands). It was back in 1991, and south Florida and the Bahamas was still recovering the "Miami Vice" and that era (not to mention the white suits, lime green shirts and no socks).

I was working for a cruise line as a "diver" (I took the passengers snorkeling in the ports of call, and sometimes lived on the cruise lines private island in the Bahamas). Part of the job was having to become an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician).

So the company I worked for would send out to the private island in the Bahamas an EMT instructor from a local community college to teach a 6 month course in 4 weeks to the dive instructors living on the private island.

Normally we went out on a 3/4 day cruise ship that stopped by the private island, but the seas were rough, and the ship could not stop at the island.

An executive decision was made to fly me and the EMT instructor out to the island. Now fly means, a flight from Miami to Nassau, then a flight from Nassau to Great Harbour Cay, then the guys from the private island would come and pick us up by boat to take us to the island.

Since we did not have room to pack any personal stuff (we would get our personal items when the ship was able to make it to the island), so we put our stuff wherever we could in the medical training cases.

We pack up a full size resusi-ani (CPR doll) and other items needed to teach the course and head out to the airport. Once we reached Miami and headed to customs, that is where the fun began.

So it was our turn at customs, and the nice Bahamian lady asked us what we were doing in the Bahamas (that answer will have to wait for another story, as it is a story in itself).

She opened the resui-ani case, and as she opened it, the look on her face made us immediately worry. After opening it all the way, we could see that there was a "white powder" all over the doll. Now it was hard enough to explain why we were traveling with a full size "female doll", but trying to explain to her about the powder, well........

It seems the instructor with me, had packed his protein shake powder in with the resusi-ani doll, and during our flight, it seemed to have exploded. So we tried to explain what the powder was and sound convincing (we were telling the truth about the powder, but sometimes even when you tell the truth, it sounds like something else).

There were a few tense moments as the agent looked at us, the doll, the powder, then around to other agents. We did not know if she was going to call for help, lock us up or what. The idea of spending time in a Bahamian jail is not a pleasant thought.

Sometimes luck is with you and the agent who looked quite confused, finally closed the case and said "GO". We started to say something, but she said, just "GO".

We took that cue to shut our mouths, grab our stuff, and head out of the customs area.

Finally we made it to our island destination and I spent the next 4 weeks learning to be an Emergency Medical Technicians. During this time, one of our divers had a near life ending experience, but I will tell that in another story.

Story by: Sean B. Halliday