Impounded boats in Mexico

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

We sail for the pleasure it gives us to live on our boat and travel. I do not think what is happening to boats in Mexico now is something I want to chance getting caught up in, and certainly not a pleasure. We are now cruising after years of getting ourselves and our boat ready, rented the house and moved on board and gave up our slip. We will cruise US waters until this all shakes out in Mexico and then maybe consider going south.

So sorry that this has affected you but fully understood.

For those of us waiting for real information, I suggest you read Latitude38, 'lectronic latitude, if you don't already, on a daily basis.

Richard has promised an update tomorrow, Monday.

Good luck, hopefully the government can work its way of out this self-imposed nonsense (hope that's not too strong a word, Coops).

[mcm]

Foreigners cruising in the US with a cruising permit only have to phone your location when you arrive at a different customs jurisdiction, read the form, foreigners arriving from foreign port in private craft must have a visa and can do the personal visit within 24 hrs provided you have that permission from customs and immigration when you phoned in. Apart from the requirement to go foreign every year in order to renew the permit, the system ain't that bad, there is question why "friendly" flagged foreign vessels have to that every year considering the potential danger to the skippers and indeed the potential importation of undesired goods and people, the owners must leave every 6 mos any way, why punish the vessel ??

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by mcm

foreigners arriving from foreign port in private craft must have a visa and can do the personal visit within 24 hrs provided you have that permission from customs and immigration when you phoned in.

Not sure what you mean by "personal visit" ?

The rules are here:

Crewmember Visas

The interview conducted in the US embassy abroad is not a "friendly chat" per more than two ships crews we have talked to. This is from world cruisers who are used to sailing in foreign waters around the world.



-Sven

[mcm]

When we arrived on our Yacht from the Bahamas, we all had US visas, phoned in to the call in phone number, he took all the info down and said please report to office xyz within 24 hrs for official clearance which we did, no problems, then under cruising license all we have to do is call the number when arriving at a different jurisdiction, no visit required no clearance numbers given. YMMV

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by SvenG

Not sure what you mean by "personal visit" ?

The rules are here:

Crewmember Visas

The interview conducted in the US embassy abroad is not a "friendly chat" per more than two ships crews we have talked to. This is from world cruisers who are used to sailing in foreign waters around the world.



-Sven

Just be Aware that us crew member visas cannot be used for leisure vessel " crew" these require a full blown B1

Dave

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Just be Aware that us crew member visas cannot be used for leisure vessel " crew" these require a full blown B1

Thanks, I should have stated that but I wasn't positive.



-Sven

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by SvenG

Thanks, I should have stated that but I wasn't positive.



-Sven

My understanding from being in Florida is I was required to notify CBP every time I moved the boat. Even in the same marina. This info is also posted on noonsite. I found the US rules quite intimidating and the CBP people had a fair attitude on. I sympathise with the people in Mexico . But in common with issues in other countries especially if you don't speak the language , you have to do it face to face to resolve anything. My experience is bureaucrats will not deal on official business in a foreign language even if the official in question has quite a good command of your language.

Dave

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i do not believe in coincidences.
when the occurrences are in a specific area, when the mouth roared exactly from the affected area, and when these affected areas are only in the exact locale in which one person who d¡srespects mexico is hanging out, and when i hear what it is that is being spoken by officials i sail with and judge regattas with, i must wonder why it is the lofty souls who spend so little time here actually think they know th e place.
r

The best part is that you honestly think I, Eric on Rebel Heart, am responsible for all of this. Hey if the guys from Aduana right now are reading this tell them to handle my luggage a little more gently the next time they xray it.

[donradcliffe]

I'd be willing to bet money that this is cleared up by the end of January.

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

The best part is that you honestly think I, Eric on Rebel Heart, am responsible for all of this. Hey if the guys from Aduana right now are reading this tell them to handle my luggage a little more gently the next time they xray it.

Glad you and Charlotte and the girls are OK.

She had us thinking we should not cross over to La Cruz but we'll blame it on the vapors and stick to our loose plan. Look forward to hearing Cora chattering away at you on the dock :-)

See you in a few weeks.



-Sven (& Nancy)

[rebel heart]

Sven,

Enjoy the crossing man! I don't know your route or if you'll be going back to or already have been to San Blas but that place is kind of neat. The town is cool, it's the northern end of Nayarit, and the restaurant at the top of the crocodile river thing is cool. Matanchen Bay is pretty easy to get in and out of, good holding.

We already went so we just did a straight shot down from La Paz. I was looking forward to the long multi-day passage. We coupled it with a norther.

La Paz to Bucerías: sailing and passage planning.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Richard5

Minaret, you got to know that 'dude' (and any reference therein, intentional misspelling nothwithstanding) carries a heavily dismissive overtone here in the west. I'll make an allowance if you're in, or have been in, a Seattle grunge band...or sniff resin for a living. Fair thee well.

Oh hey, we want pictures dammit!

Yes, yes, I fit all the parameters, I'm allowed dammit!


I'll get around to that soon, but FYI the detectives currently handling the burglary case from the human scum who broke into the boatyard and stole our tools told me I'm an idiot for posting pics of a jobsite online, which I don't really believe, but I'm giving it a few anyway. So you see, it's not just Mexico where you can get screwed by crooks!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by mcm

Foreigners cruising in the US with a cruising permit only have to phone your location when you arrive at a different customs jurisdiction, read the form, foreigners arriving from foreign port in private craft must have a visa and can do the personal visit within 24 hrs provided you have that permission from customs and immigration when you phoned in. Apart from the requirement to go foreign every year in order to renew the permit, the system ain't that bad, there is question why "friendly" flagged foreign vessels have to that every year considering the potential danger to the skippers and indeed the potential importation of undesired goods and people, the owners must leave every 6 mos any way, why punish the vessel ??

Nah, just turn up announced - wave a gun, shout loudly and if the local officialdom give any trouble (by requiring that their silly local rules be followed) then wave your passport and flag at them and remind them your Embassy will send a gunboat . Seemples .

If that don't work try shouting on the internet .

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Coops

Right then. This is a topic that is currently of interest to the cruisers. With that in mind we are reinstating it after we have been through the last efforts and deleted many posts that were offensive/snarky/ rubbish/completely off topic/ other reasons that I forget right now. Plus, any post that quoted the aforementioned posts had to be deleted. This has taken a fairly long time as you can imagine, so please heed the fact that it is now a hot topic and keep it polite and relevant to the topic so that all the effort by the members and the mods is not wasted.

Coops.

^^^^^^Nice one, Coops.

It seems to me that we who are at a distance from Mexico are frustrated by our inability to offer more than encouragement to the folks whose boats have been placed under restriction. It must be really scary for them. And the way fear presents when talking to an official can appear to be inappropriately aggressive. Anything at all they can do to de-fuse their anger before talking to "officialdom" will serve them well. It may help to bear in mind that from time to time all governments make laws that inconvenience us; bureaucracies are almost always a hassle to deal with; and at the same time, behaving in a polite, respectful manner will get you more help from whoever you're dealing with.

Although it was many years ago, we discovered that in Mexico, a skipper's wife could not legally move the boat if he were incapacitated unless she was listed on the rol de tripulantes as the first mate. I do not know in what role to Richard Spindler Dona Mallorca stands, but if she is not the registered skipper that might be where the problem was.

We're just going to have to wait and see whether Richard's efforts to get American politicians involved will do any good. If I were Mexican, I might not like having the Americans try to interfere in what is a Mexican administrative matter. Maybe the marinas may be able to help the AGACE come to a quicker resolution, and the local tourism bureaus might also apply some pressure.

Ann

[Blue Crab]

Ha Good one!

Another reason is it's early January and 18° and 23 knts of wind right here where it's supposed to be nice! Dang.