Colombian Money Question, Santa Marta

[sadia]

We are planning to enter Columbia at Santa Marta. Do the custom officials accept US $ ? What is the best way to get Columbian pesos in Santa Marta ? Do the customs officials board your boat ? Is the IGY marina open?

[CabezonBD]

Be careful, We got taken in Santa Marta. We only wanted to get some fuel, but our stop lasted all day while we tried to clear customs. We never did get official entrance or exit status, but had to pay "the man" to leave the harbor. It turned into an expensive fuel stop. They did take american dollars.....a lot of it.

[colemj]

We spent a week in Santa Marta last month. The marina is open, but not finished. They didn't have bathrooms or showers when we were there, but they had electricity and sometimes water. The fuel dock was still being built. It is safe, secure and clean, but there is a lot of construction work going on in it. They are open to negotiating prices right now, so don't be afraid to bargain with them.

The agent takes care of everything and they take US $. The ONLY agency to use there is Edgar Romero - Dino is the representative. The marina will try to get you to take any agent they bring to you, but all other agents are extremely incompetent at best. Search the site here for a post I did on our problem a while back. One month later, we have finally laid it to rest. $120 will get you cleared in, immigration, customs, boat immigration, agent fee and marina cut. You only pay your agent. You will need to pay another $80 or so if you also go to Cartagena.

Make sure your exit papers from your previous country list Santa Marta as the next port of call. Stopping there with any other place listed will cause you problems. Again, I have a post on this somewhere here.

For pesos, there are banks and money machines on every corner. There is also a money exchange in the town that had decent rates. The marina is located right in the town, so you can walk everywhere.

Santa Marta is a great town.

Mark