Clearing into Isla Mujeres, Mexico from Belize without an agent (and with a dog)

5/20/2013

S/V Mother Jones

www.SoManyBeaches.com

Prepared for www.NoonSite.com by Damon Jones

This same report is listed on Noonsite here

In a nutshell:

• Clearing in on our own was not as hard as we thought.
• For sailing vessels, you will need:
  • your passports
  • 6 copies of:
    • Passport(s)
    • Zarpe from previous port
    • Crew List
    • Vessel Document papers
• For vessels with a dog:
  • proof of current rabies & parvo vaccination and internal/external parasite prevention (frontline/heartguard).
• For vessels staying more than 2 weeks:
  • You need to acquire a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) in Cancun (take the ferry):
    • All paperwork from completed clearing in process
    • Serial numbers on your engine(s)
    • 1 color copy of your visa (you get it from the immigration department)
    • $50 USD
• You’ll walk to several offices on the north end of the island (some possibly more than once) with your paperwork as you collect officials’ stamps and additional paperwork/receipts. This will take a few hours.
• We were never, at any point, asked about insurance for our boat. We don’t have any currently, and it wasn’t a problem for us.
• Total charges for everything, including our import permit and taxi/ferry fees, came to about $170USD

We had read that it was a potential massive headache to clear into Mexico without an agent (in Isla Mujeres) due to the many requirements and departments that needed to be met, but, as we like to do things ourselves (feeling of accomplishment, feeling of fuller wallet), we weren’t 100% sold on needing agent services. Luckily, upon our arrival into Isla Mujeres (on a Monday morning), we got some helpful information from the cruising community via the 8:30 (US Central) cruisers net held on VHF channel 13.

For proceeding sans agent, one fellow cruiser offered us use of a custom map with homemade step-by-step instructions on clearing in on our own. If we didn’t want to deal with all the running around, it was recommended that we check in with Chepo at Marina Paraiso for more info. He was rumored to be one of the most helpful fellows around, and his agent services were knows to be very reasonably priced.

After anchoring in the south end of the north lagoon (across from Marina Paraiso/ Marina El Milagro) we took the dinghy to Marina Paraiso and met with Chepo, who was indeed very friendly and helpful.  He gave us the rundown of the fees involved with checking in, and told us that we’d need to come into a marina slip for the day if we wanted to use his services* and he would arrange for all the officials to come to the boat (rather than going to multiple offices downtown). The added cost of the marina slip on top of the agent fee (which added nearly $80USD to what it would cost to clear in ourselves) was enough to convince us to give it a shot on our own. Chepo was very understanding and proceeded to give us some additional directions and advice on going through the process without an agent, and soon we were in a taxi and headed to town.

*Note: since we’ve been here, we’ve spoken with another captain in the anchorage who used Chepo as their agent without having to enter the marina. This was not our experience, but apparently it is possible.

Here are the stops you need to make (maps below):

• Port Captain (on the westernmost main street, Avenida Rueda Medina, just north of the Naval Base, right next door to the white, multi-story Bahia Chac Chi hotel; enter the door on the left). Here we confirmed which offices we needed to visit (and in which order) and where they were located. Nothing else to be done here at this point.
• Sanitation/Health Department (walk about 3 blocks north on Avenida Rueda Medina from the port captain’s office, take a right at the Senor Frog’s store (Morelos St), and walk east three blocks until the street ends. The clinic, which houses the sanitation department, will be across the street to your left).  Proceed through the main entrance, pass the reception desk and straight back to the last door on the right. The official that helped us was very professional, spoke English, and processed our paperwork very quickly. We were told that he can be particular with the formatting of some crew lists; ours are 8.5in x 11in, have all our vessel information, passport numbers, DOB, last port of call, and our signatures. We had no problems. After you fill out a form, he will request copies of the documents listed above (all but passports), keep a few and then return the rest with his stamp applied. He also gives you a health department clearance form. NOTE: the building his office is in is also a minor-emergency-type clinic. We had an abscess and the cost to see the doctor and get it opened and drained was $4 USD.
• Immigration office (head back down the street you came up, and at Senor Frog’s, take a right and head north another block or so on Avenida Reuda Medina. Immigration is in a clearly marked building on your right).  Here they will need your passports and all your stamped copies.  After filling out the standard-issue immigration forms (one per person), you will need to pay. It was about 350 pesos per person for us (exchange rate at time of writing is about 11pesos = 1 USD).  If the immigration officials aren’t busy, they’ll take your cash, walk to the bank, get a receipt, and bring it back to you while you wait in the immigration office. If they are busy, you have to go to the bank yourself, make your payment, get a receipt and return it to the Immigration office. When you return to the immigration office with the receipt from your payment to the bank, they will complete your paper work, stamp your copies (make sure they stamp all your copies!), issue your visa, and send you on your way.
• Port Captain’s office (you’ve already been here). This office houses the Customs, Agriculture, and Port Captain. This stop can feel a bit hectic as each office representative comes at you from the small window behind the tinted glass. We were asked several questions (in Spanish) and filled out a few forms and overall the process went smoothly. Here we were charged 455 pesos. The agriculture officer asked us if we had any fruits and veggies on board, and if you reply you do not, they will generally bypass boarding (unless you are coming from Columbia, in which case we have heard they will search your vessel with a drug dog and possibly a diver). He then handed me a form he filled out, which had a box checked that we had no animals on board. I told him we had a dog, and he asked to see the health papers for the dog and copies of our exit zarpe for Guatemala, where we last had our dog “checked out” and where we got our most recent vet documents about a month prior. After looking over the documents, he said he needed to see the dog, so as soon as we were finished with the rest of the paperwork, we all jumped in the dingy and headed to the boat. He didn’t inspect our dog other than to visually confirm that he matched the physical description of the dog listed on the paperwork, and then we returned the official to the island. We had to pick up an animal import permit from him the next day at the port captain’s office, and then we were finished with the clearing in process (humans and dog alike).
• Getting a temporary import permit (We were told this needed to be done within three days of clearing in, but we’ve talked to folks that took a week to do it with no problems).  As far as we understand, agents are not allowed to handle this step; you must do it yourself. From Isla Mujeres, get on a ferry to Puerto Juarez (the Magana ferry dock is closer –walking distance- to the Customs office in Puerto Juarez, and it’s a bit cheaper than UltraMar at 130 pesos, round trip). From the Magana dock, go right on the road and walk for a little more than a quarter mile. The customs building (which looks a lot like the port captain’s office in Isla Mujeres) will be on the left, across the street  (on the west side of the street). Enter the building and head to the desk straight back and to the right of the restrooms. It’s got a sign that says “Banjercito” and several posters with information on fees associated with importing vehicles. Unlike several other desks, there was no line when we went. Here they will want copies of your zarpe & crew list (with all five department stamps on each of them: sanitation, immigration, port captain, agriculture and customs –make sure you have ‘em all!), passport, vessel registration, and visa.  The Banjercito clerk requested color copies of all except passport (so she could clearly make out the color stamps), which meant I needed to walk up the street to an internet café to have a few color copies made (Also, the port captain prints on the back side of the zarpe, so don’t forget to get a copy of that as well).   She also requested engine serial numbers, which I didn’t expect to need but was able to get via a phone call to the boat. Once I returned with all requested copies, I was charged $50 (specifically in US dollars, not pesos, in exact change, and with no torn or marked bills), filled out an inventory form for the boat, and we were finally done with everything!