Mexico confiscated 380 yachts - MERGED THREADS

[Weyalan]

I have spent a few months in Mexico. Unfortunately no officials tried to exhort / bribe / double deal / illegally fine nor achieve a financial advantage from me, so I don't have any cool stories to share. I did climb to the top of Mount Popocatapetl though, in the snow.

[zeehag]

weyelan...awesome!!!!!!!

net anonymity matters not when there is an area mentioned, as there was, and then it is very strange to me that the purge was mainly in the areas where from the words came about getting the visas on the downlow. it is squawking like that that makes the interest. one need not mention names. the attention is already achieved.
you would be surprised at who reads these forums without registering.
the lil idiosynchrasies encountered in mexico in past years that made every place to check into a different adventure have been normalized and universalized so that it is not the misadventure in mexico it used to be, thank goodness.

[Jimbo485]

Why so much use of the word "regime"???!??

Do you talk about the Bush government or the Bush regime? Obama regime or Obama term?

Is it just your different vocab when speaking your local dialect of English? Democracy in Mexico requires a different word? Or something else you don't want to say out aloud?

Confused.

[zeehag]

mexico is different than usa.
mexico is entirely different with each new elected government and the proper wording for it is regime.
in usa the government is not entirely changed with each election., there fore isnt a regime.

[doug mcfarland]

Yea our boat in Marina Coral was told that it is "probably not a good idea to leave" whatever that means. The issue they say with our particular boat is that somehow someone put the document# in the field where the VIN# was supposed to go. It is hard to believe because the Marina held our hand through the whole process and all the documents were present. My friend who works in Tijuana said that it was on the news. The boat is not officially impounded according to the marina.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by zeehag

because i speak spanish and i do not hang with gringos,but with locals. some of my better friends to sail with have been mexican captains inclusive of second in command port capt in one port in which i stayed a short time.

Curious, do Mexicans routinely identify/describe U.S. and other non-Mexican, non-Spanish-speaking citizens as "gringos" in their conversations about foreigners? That term is disparaging, and certainly not respectful.

[doug mcfarland]

"I think that if the US found foreigners without the proper paperwork there'd probably be 10 Coast Guard guys with guns and 20 cops on the boat and they'd take your ass away. Then there'd be a long court hassle and a big fine, not just a chance to fix your paperwork in 10 days.
__________________
Steve
http://www.landfallvoyages.com"

I am not badmouthing mexico. I love it there.

But as regards your assertion that in the U.S. they would react like this is a bit off. In the U.S. you have to clear customs to enter with your boat and if you did your paperwork is properly filled out. This would only happen if you did not clear customs and it would never be done as a sweep.

[doug mcfarland]

A further update. Although we are being told by the Marina that we have ten days to clear up the matter we are being told by the Mexican authorities through our Mexican lawyer that it will take six months (read years) and will start with a hearing in a month. They were not simply checking to see if all boats had TIP. They were scouring the documents for errors.

To all the people who are bashing boat owners for not having paperwork in order. I believe that we made every effort in good faith to have all paperwork in order. Our TIP was on file at the marina office. The marina who has an employee who's primary job it is to assist vessels in getting the correct papers guided us step by step pointing to the fields where we should put stuff and sign. They also inspected and compared the forms with our documentation and drove us to the Port Captains. No one I have talked to has simply not had a TIP. All the people I have talked to are being told not to leave for issues like one missing signature or in our case having the document number in the VIN field and vice versa. These are technicalities that should of been caught by the official who reviewed our documents. The fact that the marina is telling us one thing and the Authorities another is also disheartening. People are being told that they can't leave and for minor issues like these they are being told that they must attend a hearing and that it cannot be cleared up by simply correcting the paperwork (at least that is what the authorities are saying). We have someone down there right now trying to clear it up with the marina if that goes through I will post when I know.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Curious, do Mexicans routinely identify/describe U.S. and other non-Mexican, non-Spanish-speaking citizens as "gringos" in their conversations about foreigners? That term is disparaging, and certainly not respectful.

I was told a long time ago that the word gringo is derived from the Spanish/American war where the Americans wore green strips on their pants and it is just a identification of soldiers. You shouldn't be offended. But, here's the whole story >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I was told a long time ago that the word gringo is derived from the Spanish/American war where the Americans wore green strips on their pants and it is just a identification of soldiers. You shouldn't be offended. But, here's the whole story >>> Gringo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's only a derogatory name if it's used that way.

[tropicalescape]

Light aircraft and hangliders are being treated in a similar fashion in Mexico,in the past they didnt give a hoot..sign of the times..

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, doug mcfarland.

[Cyndimarcus]

Just arrived in San Carlos to find a notice taped to our hull. They said all of our paperwork was in order and the lawyers were working on releasing the "legal hold". Not sure what that means time frame wise, will keep you posted as we find out more information.
Cyndi

[Ocean Girl]

Doug, I sure hope your matter is cleared up soon. Maybe the publicity will get the wheels moving, tourism is very important to Mexico.

[Cyndimarcus]

I forgot to add that all of our paperwork was in order as we obtained all necessary paperwork when we arrived in Ensenada(including TIP). We left our boat at San Carlos Marina last spring.

Last week the marina asked for a copy of our documentation, apparently they lost the first copy.
When we arrived at the marina today, they were vague on when this would be cleared up.

Not anxious . . . yet.