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#1
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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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The following is info we have acquired about the check in procedures
for Mexico. Upon arrival you must call the Port Captain on VHF and notify them that you have arrived. They should make arrangements for Sanitation to come to the boat to do their inspection. No crew should go ashore till that is done. Once they have inspected, the Q flag can come down and you can proceed. There is no charge for this. Next you go to Immigrations with your passports. They fill out a short form and stamp the passports. They will give you a form to take to the bank to pay the Immigration fees. They were $21.00 US per passport. The bank stamps the form and returns it to you. Don't lose that form. Next stop is the Port Captain. Upon our arrival we were told we must hire an agent. We had been expecting this. We informed them that we were aware of the change of law and that an agent is not required. They told us the law here in Isla Mujeres is that an agent is required. We knew that was not true. We had a copy of the December issue of Latitude 38 stating all of the changes for clearing under Reglamento 69 passed and signed in to law by President Fox which applies to ALL of Mexico of which Isla Mujeres is part. Our next contact was to Tere Grossman of the Mexican Marina Owners Association. She was instrumental in getting this legislation passed. She is in constant contact with the Director of Port Captains in Mexico City on just these issues. By the end of the day we received a email from her stating that she had passed our email on to the Director and he was to call the Port Captain here and inform him that he was not to require an agent. When we returned to the Port Captain office we were processed with no problem but we had been told that they were only doing this for us and others would have to use an agent. The charge depends on the size of the boat and was $26.00 US for Sea Trek which is 40 feet. You still must have or acquire the Importada for the boat and that is another process. Under Mexican Federal law it is illegal for a Port Captain to require a PLEASURE boat to hire an agent. It is also illegal for a Port Captain to charge additional fees to check in to other ports after you have cleared in to Mexico officially. Tere Grossman can be contacted at and welcomes anyone that is having problems. It appears that the Port Captains in Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos on the Atlantic side are the only ones not in compliance. We hope our actions and that of other cruisers will change that. We emphasize that through this entire process we remained friendly and courteous and believe that helped move the situation along. They know this is wrong but don't want to let go of the old ways. They acted as if this was something they knew nothing about. There was a meeting in Mexico City of all Port Captains to explain the new law when it was passed. Hope this info helps. |
#2
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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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In article .com,
chuck wrote: hope our actions and that of other cruisers will change that. We emphasize that through this entire process we remained friendly and courteous and believe that helped move the situation along. They know this is wrong but don't want to let go of the old ways. They acted as if this was something they knew nothing about. There was a meeting in Mexico City of all Port Captains to explain the new law when it was passed. Hope this info helps. Chuck, you should pass this along to the folks at Lat. 38. I'm sure they and the readers would appreciate the info. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
#3
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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Jonathon, Been working with Richard all along and he has been a great
help. The info is posted on the web site. Thanks, Chuck |
#4
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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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wow..so brazen to force principals on a member of a system of graft and
directed anciliary gratf afforded the bro'inlaws of the third world. He could have found something in your boat that make you wish you had flwon him and his whole family to Australia for a week of firstclass binge drinking. Morals and principals and 'fair' are only enforcable in civilized countries.........like Canada. Seriously though...you took a big chance to save some money. US and Canadian laws and principals are not endemic and universal...you got spunk though. Are you still free? ... The following is info we have acquired about the check in procedures for Mexico. Upon arrival you must call the Port Captain on VHF and notify them that you have arrived. They should make arrangements for Sanitation to come to the boat to do their inspection. No crew should go ashore till that is done. Once they have inspected, the Q flag can come down and you can proceed. There is no charge for this. Next you go to Immigrations with your passports. They fill out a short form and stamp the passports. They will give you a form to take to the bank to pay the Immigration fees. They were $21.00 US per passport. The bank stamps the form and returns it to you. Don't lose that form. Next stop is the Port Captain. Upon our arrival we were told we must hire an agent. We had been expecting this. We informed them that we were aware of the change of law and that an agent is not required. They told us the law here in Isla Mujeres is that an agent is required. We knew that was not true. We had a copy of the December issue of Latitude 38 stating all of the changes for clearing under Reglamento 69 passed and signed in to law by President Fox which applies to ALL of Mexico of which Isla Mujeres is part. Our next contact was to Tere Grossman of the Mexican Marina Owners Association. She was instrumental in getting this legislation passed. She is in constant contact with the Director of Port Captains in Mexico City on just these issues. By the end of the day we received a email from her stating that she had passed our email on to the Director and he was to call the Port Captain here and inform him that he was not to require an agent. When we returned to the Port Captain office we were processed with no problem but we had been told that they were only doing this for us and others would have to use an agent. The charge depends on the size of the boat and was $26.00 US for Sea Trek which is 40 feet. You still must have or acquire the Importada for the boat and that is another process. Under Mexican Federal law it is illegal for a Port Captain to require a PLEASURE boat to hire an agent. It is also illegal for a Port Captain to charge additional fees to check in to other ports after you have cleared in to Mexico officially. Tere Grossman can be contacted at and welcomes anyone that is having problems. It appears that the Port Captains in Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos on the Atlantic side are the only ones not in compliance. We hope our actions and that of other cruisers will change that. We emphasize that through this entire process we remained friendly and courteous and believe that helped move the situation along. They know this is wrong but don't want to let go of the old ways. They acted as if this was something they knew nothing about. There was a meeting in Mexico City of all Port Captains to explain the new law when it was passed. Hope this info helps. |
#5
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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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going over land i had to deal with this too in mexico. most of the
time "no comprende" gets you pretty far in mexico, they can't get a bribe from you if they can't make you understand what they're even talking about. and there is at least a certain amount of reluctance to push you too far for fear that you will freak out or something and they'll have to explain why you are freaking out to someone in charge. and sometimes you are just too much trouble for them too and they let you go. but i had to pay a few times and couldn't get out of it, or made mistakes that lead to having to pay. once i had to pay because i messed up and left a few $us laying out on the passenger seat, big mistake there. you can say you don't understand all day long but they know you understand when they're reaching across you, pointing at money on the seat, saying dinero over and over, you just can't play that dumb. that one cost me about 2$us, trivial. another time i had to pay was in cancun, going into cancun from the west. i got caught in a traffic stop there by a local that really knew how to work the tourists, a seasoned professional, and he spoke perfect english. no comprende doesn't get you far when they speak perfect english, and he knew the game a lot better than i did, and i could feel there was a machine of corruption backing him up that had been in place a long time. so that one went the typical way ... something like "you were speeding" .. and "i don't want to cause you a lot of trouble with having to go with me and i don't want you to have to waste your time in front of the courts" .. and "maybe we can take care of it right here, you know, so you can be on your way" ... and "200$us is what they're going to charge you, but you weren't going that fast and i think we can work something out", type of thing. he really knew what a typical american who had seen the words "mexican jail" on television was willing to pay, and they are willing to pay, that's why it works. and i was willing to pay too, unlike the typical cancun tourist who can get in a taxi and go 10 miles back to their cruise boat or hotel or whatever and laugh about it later, i was in my personal vehicle 1000 miles away from the states, if i didn't cooperate they might help me "sort" the things in my truck, or worse. so that one ended with me letting the guy know i'd played the game before and that he could forget the 100$us he eventually was trying for, i gave him that sincere look of understanding and a "i am only ever going to be able to afford 20$us" with a serious look of ... you better take it ... on my face, because that's all your going to get. and of course he did, 20$us was the biggest bribe i was forced to pay while in mexico, and it was a lot of money to the cop, even for cancun. and i got out of paying most of the time, though that didn't stop them from trying. once at a military checkpoint, of which i must have passed through 35 of them while in mexico, a kid/soldier tried to take money from me and i ended up not having to pay. that one was a mixture of "no comprende" and simply pushing the kid around because he was young. sure, his friends pointing the automatic weapons at you from behind while he is talking is real convincing, but i managed to get out of that one mostly by pretending i didn't know what he was talking about. eventually he climbed into the truck and got a flashlight and let me know he was keeping it, and i took it back from him and started pacing around somewhat erratically saying "no ... no ... no" over and over. finally his superior caught sight of me, came down, and started questioning what was going on ... not questioning ME, but questioning the soldier, and that put an end to that, the military is much better about graft than the cops are, and i could tell i was free when the kid started getting brow beaten by his commanding officer. the officer gave me a seriously angry type of look and asked them if i had been searched, they said yes (wanting me to be sent on my way to avoid embarrassing explainations of why i was upset), and the officer sent me on my way. another time i did have to pay was just a complete bozo move on my part. i was playing the no comprende game with a cop because i thought he was going to hit me for a bribe, but then he started to seem very genuine to me, like he was a good cop who was actually trying to tell me something i needed to know. he was using long sentences and so i started to try to figure out what he was saying. he wasn't smiling and was carefully trying to talk slowly so i could understand, and he kept shortening what he was saying trying to get the key points across. doyes .... doleres ... doyleres ... i couldn't make it out ... dollares ..... oh!! i got it!! and i was smiling because i thought i might have figured out one of the words and said something like "you mean dollars ? dinero ?" and in an instant knew i'd screwed up! sure enough, he smiled confidently and started shaking his head up and down saying "si .... dinero" ... and that stop cost me some pesos. he wasn't about to let me get away without paying when it took him nearly 10 minutes to explain the game to me. the worst for me was really in guatemala, not mexico, that's where you can get into real trouble. the worst thing that happened to me there (not the only thing, just the worst) was being stopped by some real shady guys patrolling out on a lonely dirt road in the middle of nowhere. they were really sizing me up, and i could tell i wasn't far from ending up in a ditch somewhere with my head caved in, or worse. the head guy in that group had this sort of sly smile with gold capped teeth and through his mannerisms i knew he wasn't afraid one bit of what might happen, and his little gang were really giving me the look like they were wondering how much trouble i was going to be for them if they made me give up all my money, and one especially was waving his gun around pretty freely. one of those guys marked my truck, i know so that someone in the next village would know i was "fair game", and i just happened to see him doing it as i was pulling away and i stopped down the road and took the mark off, and nothing further happened. but you do need to be careful. i really think the only thing that got me out of that one was that the guys were just so surprised to see me there in that remote place that they didn't know what to think of me .... was i on some kind of official business, who was i friends with, who was waiting for me to arrive at the other end of the road, etc ? i think i just surprised them. do i feel bad for paying bribes and helping the game continue ? yeah, of course, it's not good and it's just making it worse for the next guy. you shouldn't ever pay if possible. but sometimes you do have to pay, and only someone sitting in front of a computer in the safety of their own home or business would say that you should never pay a bribe in mexico or anywhere else. sometimes life is simply unfair and you do what you have to do, justice isn't the same everywhere, and we are lucky in america to live where you usually don't have to worry about cops making you pay bribes and things. it's not always easy to get out of paying bribes like this poster did, he did a fantastic job not paying that bit of money, that was a good move. i wish they were all that easy. |
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