CLEARING INTO MEXICO VIA ISLA DE MUJERES

First and foremost I should like to say that this is only our opinion and is solely based on our experience. I firmly believe anyone about to clear into Isla de Mujeres needs to remember the 3 A’s. Appearance, Attitude and Acceptance.

Appearance: it is the same anywhere in the world, if you dress like a vagrant you will be treated like one. If you dress as if you are going to conduct official business, you will be treated accordingly. So take the time, have a shower, change out of those salty shorts and scruffy tee-shirts, put on long pants (men) and a clean shirt or polo shirt (or similar) not only will you be taken seriously, but you will feel better too. It shows a little respect for the authority of the person you will be dealing with.

Attitude: Bear in mind you chose to come to visit this country, nobody forced you and you certainly weren’t asked to. One official we met (who shall remain nameless) told us “I get people coming in here with real attitude, so I tell them the official way to do things, instead of telling them the easiest way, after all why should I go out of my way to help them when they come in here shouting the odds”.

When in Rome and all that…... I have to say I find it somewhat amusing that whilst in Miami, we saw tee-shirts for sale saying ‘welcome to America, now speak English’. Yet how many people do the same when they travel to foreign parts!!! So try and speak a little Spanish, even if it is only to say Hello and thank you, it shows you are willing to accept the local ways.

Also, be prepared. Have all your papers ready and in an orderly fashion, it will make life so much easier. We had ours organised in a file (I’m not saying we got it totally right, but we had a good crack at it). Think about it, if you were working there, seeing lots of people coming in with no idea of what to do, not having the right papers etc, day after day, wouldn’t it be a pleasure to deal with someone who made your job easier by being prepared?

Acceptance: Get used to the fact that things will be done differently.  So show some respect for their systems and processes. It may not be as efficient as ‘back home’, but it’s what they do here and it’s the only way you will get in. Nothing is more insulting than to have some arrogant foreigner coming along telling you how you should be doing your job or how well it is done back in your country. And nothing is more guaranteed to slow down the process more. Also remember you are now in Mexico and life is more leisurely.

We know the above for a fact as we met other sailors who though going through the same process as ourselves had a very different experience, but after talking to them, we understood why.

Frankly, you get what you deserve. If you are polite and friendly and use a smile, you will generally receive the same in return. You really do have to go in with a positive frame of mind. If it takes a while, so what, you’re cruising?? An example of this was when we had to go to Puerto Juarez to import the boat. It necessitated taking a ferry across and paying $50 to the Bancacito, as well as preparation of the many copies of documents (more about that later). Roger and I saw it as an opportunity to see Puerto Juarez, where, once the official stuff was done, we enjoyed a leisurely meal by the sea. The others we met immediately thought of it as an unnecessary pain. In fact, they probably were the ones told to do it the official way, which meant going to Cancun and waiting in a very long queue, unlike ourselves who walked straight in and were dealt with immediately???

So with the right approach, we don’t believe it was as daunting as we were led to believe. Now we may be the exception, but as I said, it is our opinion and our experience.

So to the process.

Firstly, we both went ashore and nobody commented, in fact we think it made it easier as there were 2 of us to translate and build relationships.

We anchored and dinghied to the little beach near the ferry terminal (though you can use the left hand side of the Port Captains dock in front of the Cocktaileria). The street directly opposite the Ferry Terminal is the street that leads to the Sanitation department, which is your first stop (we followed our information and went to the Port Captain first, only to be told to go to the Sanitaion department to get our Sanidad) .

Go to the end of the street and on the left hand side you will see the Hospital, to the right of the hospital is the Sanitation department. They will want 5 copies of your Zarpe (official departure papers from your last port, make sure you get these when you leave The states) We only had 3 and he said that was ok. He will ask you if you have water on board and if so  will give you 3 bottles of water purifier. Your Captain will complete a form giving details of the boat and also stating that he is healthy!!!! You will be given a Sanidade, a certificate of sanitation. The gentleman who served us was very polite and spoke very good English. This part of the process took 8 minutes (we went in at 13.39)

You then go back the way you came, but at the bottom of the street turn right and 3 doors down you will come to Immigration and Aduane.

There Gabriela Lopez Sandoval will help you clear immigration. She will ask you for 4 copies of your Lista de Tribulantes (crew list), your passport and you will complete an immigration form the same as if you were flying in. You will also be asked for a copy of your boat papers and your Sanidade. You will be asked how long you wish to stay (you can stay up to 120 days, though they did not seem certain about that, so we stuck with 90 days which was more than enough for what we required) and then  issued with your visa. (the time was now 2.05).

Upon leaving the Immigration building you now turn left and walk 3 blocks up to the office of the Capitan de Puerto, Snr Jose Luis Ibarra Rojo. There Lionel S Sedano, the administrator asked us for a copy of our Zarpe, 4 copies of the Lista de Tribulantes, a copy of the boat registration papers and a copy of our passports. We were then issued with our certificate and the fee was itemised on the certificate (it is based on your tonnage our was $185 (pesos) for 1.5 tonnes and $10 (pesos) for anchoring) we were then told to go to the Marina Paraiso to see Miguel and pay him the fee and he would help us prepare for the rest of the process. The time was now 2.24.

We took the dinghy up to Miguel’s rather than walk only to find him at lunch. We came back an hour later to find that he had gone to Cancun. We asked when he would be back and were told tomorrow at 9am (speaking a little Spanish really does help). It was not a problem and did not really affect us.

Roger went to see Miguel in the morning and Miguel explained the process, that we had to Import the boat or it could, if boarded, be confiscated. He explained that we needed 2 copies of the boat registration papers and the original, 2 copies of our Visas and the originals, 2 copies of our passports and the originals, 2 copies of our inventory which should include the Hull number of the boat, the serial number of the engine and any outboard engine, details of the stove and of electronic equipment, communications, navigation and personal (ie laptops).

Please note that Miguel does this service as a favour and asks for no payment, so don’t get upset if he is hard to get hold of, you need him more than he needs you, and without his guidance and advice (plus he rings various officials on your behalf as required) you wouldn’t have the information you need to complete the process (like the Hull number for example). Or even worse than that, you wouldn’t know you had to import your boat (nobody we spoke to had mentioned that) and could even lose your boat.

He then told us we needed to go to see Snr Christian Martinez at the Banjercito in the C.I.S building which is 5 blocks from the Magagnas Ferry terminal in Puerto Juarez. The ferry runs from Isla de Mujeres every 30 mins and costs $35 (pesos) each way. 24 minutes and $54 (US) we left the Banjercito with our Importacion Temporal (temporary importation papers, valid for 10 years) and the process was complete.

We have been assured by all officials that we do not need to clear in and out of all ports along the coast, only when we wish to clear out of the country. We have been advised that all we should do is radio the port captain and tell him we are there (so we will see if this is true).

So all in all it was not big deal. It took a while to copy all the forms and documents and I think had we not have had our photocopier/printer/scanner on board, finding photocopy facilities would have been difficult. So for the $98 it cost us, it was wort every penny.

As I said I made up a folder with sections for each document and made several copies (mainly because we had read such conflicting information) with spares etc. The only one I hadn’t was the Zarpe. It made life much easier and I am sure looked more professional to the people we were dealing with and certainly expedited the process instead of wading through piles of papers looking for things.

( p.s We had a report on the ‘net’ that the immigration are now insisting that your liste de tribulantes is notorised by either a coast guard or notary, this was only 5 days after we had cleared when 4 boats went up to clear in ‘en masse’. We believe it to be merely a whim of the official that day and not the norm. It is our practice to always clear in by ourselves, we feel that way it is easier to build a good relationship and create a good impression, perhaps this was his reaction to having to deal with 4 boats at once???)