Mexico confiscated 380 yachts - MERGED THREADS

[cbp]

That our hull number was not on the exterior of the boat. Except that it IS engraved on the exterior of the boat, on the stern, where it is supposed to be and clearly visible. We were told to have an attorney submit notarized photographs to that effect to the SAT - which we did the next day - but are still being held.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

We have spent years been getting ready for our first extended cruise to Mexico. Getting our boat, our lives, etc. ready is a Herculean effort. We applied for Residente Temporal to stay for a year and intend to do everything Mexico requires of us as correctly and completely as we can. We were just about to leave from SoCal a week from now. But, based on what has been happening to cruising boats there, we just decided not to enter Mexico until this is resolved. I understand Mexico has the right to enforce its laws about importation and that every country has its Bureaucracy, but we will not take the chance of getting caught up in this. We will spend our time, weeks or months, cruising from San Diego to Santa Barbara, Catalina, Channel Islands, etc instead. A missed opportunity for us and a lot of USD spent here rather than in Mexico. I hope Mexico can get this straightened out quickly and all of the boats involved will be released soon. These kinds of problems between friendly neighbors do no good on either side of the boarder.

I can understand your fear and I might have had it myself before we spend 4 years cruising Mexico, but after gaining experience with Mexico I personally would not let this headache stop me from heading South to Mexico. Nor would I advise my friends and family to either. Just like in many countries, you have incidents of confusion and bureaucracy but it will be figured out. Heck, after being gone to Mexico for 4 years it took me WEEKS to get my car registered again and the DMV people were almost impossible to deal with to resolve the mess.

It's definitely a black eye for Mexico and hurts the tourists/cruisers they spend big time money to recruit but no boats with their paperwork in order are going to be confiscated. It just won't happen. The boats now in limbo will soon be all cleared away and then the panic will move onto the check-in/out procedures of another Country trying to get a hand on their rules and bureaucracy.

Personally, I would rather be 'trapped" in a Mexcian Marina any day while waiting for my paperwork to be resolved than “trapped” here in the California waiting for my kids to get out of school so I can get BACK to Mexico!

Originally Posted by cbp

Very scary to be the subject of such a high-handed action by a government entity. If and when we get our boat back, we are canceling all future plans to cruise, or even visit, Mexico - EVER.

The US DEA does this to innocent people all the time, this isn't a product of Mexico, but of typical Bureaucracy. When you say "get our boat back" the impression is that they TOOK IT, which I don't think is accurate. They are just saying you can't leave until the paperwork is figured out, that's a big difference. The US DEA, just TAKES your stuff and sells it while you figure out the paperwork. I know this is easy to say because it is not my boat being held up…but RELAX a bit…go have one of the Great Ensenada Tacos… the world is not going to end tomorrow and you will get clearance to leave soon. The Mexican Government does not want your boat…they want your tourist dollars!

[TacomaSailor]

I had lunch on Thursday with my friend who keeps his boat in San Carlos. They were out cruising when the San Carlos inspection occurred. Upon their return they were told they needed to check in with government officials so they could compare the papers that the Marina had with numbers on their boat.

The problem they now have is that they have a new dinghy and motor (their previous very expensive dinghy & motor was stolen while they were anchored on the Baja east coast) that they just brought down to San Carlos.

Their current TIP shows the old dinghy and motor serial numbers and no one, not the Marina and not the San Carlos government officials, can tell them how to modify the TIP to show the new serial numbers.

They are afraid to leave the dock until someone tells them how to update the TIP and they have been waiting almost two weeks for guidance.

I am sure every one in San Carlos wants to be cruiser friendly but it sure sounds like a challenge to conform to such ill defined and implemented rules and regulations.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

Their current TIP shows the old dinghy and motor serial numbers and no one, not the Marina and not the San Carlos government officials, can tell them how to modify the TIP to show the new serial numbers..

Amending a TIP is an easy 1 page form that our dealer in La Paz (La Paz Cruisers Supply) helps cruisers do all the time when they install a new water maker for example. If he was in La Paz, an easy trip out to Pichelingue would take care of this, but I don't know the people or office set-up in San Carlos. (the Baja and mainland Mexico are almost different worlds in officialdom paperwork) Have him get ahold of our guy in La Paz (Tom on SV Eagle) and he can send you a copy of what an amended TIP form looks like at least. Big Left Turn

[Ocean Girl]

Amazing third day, you have been quite outspoken about government over reach and how displeased you are with certain gov policies. To tell a cruiser, who has had their boat seized, impounded, taken, or marked for legal action, for no justifiable reason, to tell them to "RELAX" is quite remarkable. Maybe you are softening in your attitudes

Well wishes to all who are effected by this, I hope you are free soon.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

To tell a cruiser, who has had their boat seized, impounded, taken, or marked for legal action, for no justifiable reason, to tell them to "RELAX" is quite remarkable..

I have friends on the ground going through the exact same situation themselves. They are relaxed with more experience having cruised Mexico for years compard to the new folks who really think their boats will be taken from them. They know it is a PITA, but that Mexico does not want their boat.

You use the words "Seized, Impounded, Taken" as if that was TRUE....it isn't. It's a royal pain in the ASS I will agree, but all that is happening is that they are being told they can not leave the marina until their paperwork is cleared up. That is a HUGE difference when you look at it that way vs. the guys with guns came, kicked them off the boat, and have it under armed guard, which is the impression when words like "Taken" are thrown about left and right.

As someone with experience in Mexico, has lots of friends in Mexico running businesses and Marinas I'm trying to reassure people without these connections that they will get this cleared up and their boats will not be sold at auction or given away to a local Mexican fisherman for heavens sake. Going crazy about it will not help...it NEVER helps in Mexico. What helps is "relaxing" and calmly going through the process that in the end will get everything cleared up.

As sure as I'm floating here now, the cruiser rumor mill that I've watched will have this story so exaggerated one day that a 'friend of a friend of a buddy of mine" would have had his boat really taken and sold for a Pacifio beer to a local fishermen by a corrupt Mexican official. That's how these stories go....been there....seen it.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by SvenG

This reminds me of the thread several years ago where you claimed to know a boat that had a non-pressurized alcohol stove explode five times and burn up the galley each time.

I'll see if I can dig it up. Comic relief is always good



-Sven

if you could read accurately you would have seen i did not say explode. i said BURNED as in galley fire 5 times prior to my acquisition.i dont know how some people manage in life as they cannot understand simple words as written.


and ,your point is what, pray tell....

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I have friends on the ground going through the exact same situation themselves. They are relaxed with more experience having cruised Mexico for years compard to the new folks who really think their boats will be taken from them.

You use the words "Seized, Impounded, Taken" as if that was TRUE....it isn't. It's a royal pain in the ASS I will agree, but all that is happening is that they are being told they can not leave the marina until their paperwork is cleared up. That is a HUGE difference when you look at it that way vs. the guys with guns came, kicked them off the boat, and have it under armed guard, which is the impression when words like "Taken" are thrown about left and right.

As someone with experience in Mexico, has lots of friends in Mexico running businesses and Marinas I'm trying to reassure people without these connections that they will get this cleared up and their boats will not be sold at auction or given away to a local Mexican fisherman for heavens sake. Going crazy about it will not help...it NEVER helps in Mexico. What helps is "relaxing" and calmly going through the process that in the end will get everything cleared up.

Yeah, right... for those who followed all available instructions for paperwork and still have their boats impounded (kept from leaving the marina) and thus have travel plans for themselves and perhaps family or other guests... sure, relax! Sure, it will be resolved... eventually, maybe... what could possibly go wrong?

No, the boats have not been confiscated nor the owners thrown off or into jail, but when one's carefully worked out plans, perhaps the results of years of dreaming, are thwarted, being told to "relax" is almost as aggravating as the government's actions.

We spent 18 months cruising the SOC before heading on West to the South Pacific, and we had a grand time there. We faithfully followed the rules/regs of the time (1986-88) and had no problems. Had our boats been sequestered in a marina (see, I didn't say seized) I would have been pissed off indeed. I expect that the situation will eventually be resolved, and I agree that "going crazy" won't help, but your dismissal of the situation seems to make very light of what must be a really frustrating situation for a number of innocent cruisers.

I can completely understand not wanting to deliberately introduce myself into that situation until it is indeed resolved, and think that those who choose to not voyage to Mexico are justified in that decision.

I sure hope that this gets some attention from officials with enough clout to actually get something done to quickly release the boats whose paperwork is indeed correct. For those who chose to flout the rules, well, less sympathy from this observer!

Jim

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

your dismissal of the situation seems to make very light of what must be a really frustrating situation for a number of innocent cruisers.

Hey Jim...I never dismissed or made light of the crap situation these cruisers find themselves in and I have the greatest sympathy for these folks that did everything right yet are being told they can't leave the marina...again that SUCKS. All I'm doing it trying to add some calm to the storm, sorry you took it as dismissal of their situation.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Hey Jim...I never dismissed or made light of the crap situation these cruisers find themselves in and I have the greatest sympathy for these folks that did everything right yet are being told they can't leave the marina...again that SUCKS. All I'm doing it trying to add some calm to the storm, sorry you took it as dismissal of their situation.

OK, perhaps I misunderstood your post. Lets all hope for some sense to be applied to the situation.

Jim

[zeehag]

my friend in nuevo vallarta took his papers to sat and was liberated same day., doesnt sound so difficult.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by zeehag

my friend in nuevo vallarta took his papers to sat and was liberated same day., doesnt sound so difficult.

Ya but come on Zee....
You know that what works in one pleace easily with Mexico Officialdom may not work in another, so it's not quite fair to those still struggling to make is sound like they just need to walce in and take care of it as if they are not trying.

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Ya but come on Zee....
You know that what works in one pleace easily with Mexico Officialdom may not work in another, so it's not quite fair to those still struggling to make is sound like they just need to walce in and take care of it as if they are not trying.

But she's right. I have a couple of friends who walked across a crosswalk and they weren't hit by a car. Why do other pedestrians complain about being run down in crosswalks when they don't have to be ?



-Sven

[SV THIRD DAY]

[gordwedman]

I don' think I'd cancel my trip altogether but I would stay out of marinas on the mainland till this gets sorted out. Sounds like these guys need some guidlines as to what is an omission serious enough to pursue. This sort of action dosen't do anything to endear one to Mexico. Instead it makes you uneasy wondering what might suddenly happen next.