See main Bahamas Clearance page for details of all Formalities.
Be sure to complete the required click2clear process and pay the cruising permit fee online before arrival.
Call Customs at +1 242 338 2012 before arrival and advise them that you wish to clear in. You will likely be given the number for the supervisor (Ms Hunt), +1 242 472 0358, and you should call her. She prefers to clear boats in between 11:00 and 12:00 each weekday.
Be sure to call Ms. Hunt on the morning you wish to clear in to confirm your appointment.
Clearance is normally carried out at the Flying Fish Marina. Immigration forms are available here and one should be completed per crew member.
Last updated: February 2023
If you have information for this section, or feedback on businesses used, please let us know at editor@noonsite.com. We also welcome new information about businesses you have used (see Related Businesses).
As a free user of Noonsite you are restricted to viewing 3 country formalities per month. You have viewed 0 formalities this month – but can view the countries you have accessed to date as many times as you want.
Become a Noonsite Member and you can view unlimited formalities each month and enjoy additional member benefits. Membership fees help our team keep country formalities information up-to-date in support of cruisers worldwide.
Find out more about membership levels and Become a Noonsite Member.
Leave a comment
You must Login or Register to submit comments.
As of early February 2023, it is not possible to clear in at Mayaguana. The most convenient port of entry for boats arriving from Turks and Caicos, not wanting to go southwest to Great Inagua, is probably Clarence Town on the southeast side of Long Island.
We attempted to clear in at Mayaguana, and failing, then sailed from Mayaguana to Attwood Harbor on Acklins Island, about a 60nm downwind sail. We spent two nights there (good snorkeling at the entrance reef) and before leaving called the Flying Fish Marina in Clarence Town, listed as a contact for the port of entry.
Flying Fish was not especially friendly or eager to help. We next called the customs office at Stella Maris directly, at +1 242 338 2012. The customs agent there, in turn, gave us the number of his supervisor, “Ms. Hunt”, +1 242 472 0358. We called Ms. Hunt, who was very friendly and professional. She asked us to text her the “PCR” number from the click2clear web site and asked us to get in touch once we were actually at Clarence Town.
We sailed the next day from Attwood Harbor to Clarence Town, about 65nm downwind, and arrived near sunset. We texted Ms. Hunt (the number is a cell phone), told her we were at Clarence town and wanted to clear in the next day.
Shortly after 9AM the next day, having heard nothing back, we called Ms. Hunt. She agreed to meet us at the Flying Fish Marina between 11 and 12. As it turned out, there were three other boats also clearing in the same day; we all texted out PCR numbers to Ms. Hunt, who was suitably prepared when she arrived.
Clearance was straightforward; the only additional paperwork (besides click2clear) was an immigration form for each person aboard, which requested essentially the same information we already provided to click2clear. The form was available at the Flying Fish marina office, so we had them filled out and ready when Ms. Hunt arrived.
It seems that the fishing permit is automatically supplied with the cruising permit, so no separate application was needed.
Our advice to cruisers clearing in at Clarence town is:
* Complete the click2clear process on the web, and pay the $300 cruising permit fee online.
* Call customs at +1 242 338 2012 BEFORE arrival and advise them that you wish to clear in. You will likely be given Ms. Hunt’s number, +1 242 472 0358, and you should call her. She says that she prefers to do clearances between 11 and 12 each weekday.
* Call Ms. Hunt the morning you wish to clear in to confirm your appointment.
Posted 25th August
We just got news of the reopening of Parrots of the Caribbean in Thompson Bay, now named Tiny’s Hurricane Hole. Also, LI Petroleum’s new dock is done and much easier take the big boat up to. And Midway Inn in the Bight is completely renovated, open and fabulous.
Bess and Billy Storm
S/V Alibi II
AS of Feb. 2016 there is no grocery within walking distance from Clarence Town harbour. Said to be because of the hurricane Joaquin autumn 2015. Nearest grocery 6 miles away. Some basic dry food etc for sale in the marina office.
Supplies Needed for Long Island Schools (this via Bahamas Chatter and a Long Island Resident):
Post-Hurricane Joaquin, it is my understanding that the Government is replacing textbooks. The Long Islanders’ Association has very generously replaced workbooks. Reader to Reader and the Family Island Book Initiative have been wonderful in their replacing library books. From what I understand, MGM Major and North Long Island High Schools have had their damages repaired and materials replaced, but we have concentrated on the primary schools.
There has also been a painful awareness of the disparity of materials in the five Primary Schools that existed way before Joaquin. The government does not supply these much-needed materials, and the parental/PTA support is not equal in all the schools. With this in mind, we have broadened our goals to not only replace what the hurricane took but to provide, in a small way, what never was in the classrooms. Additionally, some of the principals are very modest in requesting their needs and wants.
Each school had significant roof damage and educational material on walls were damaged or ruined. Parents and students have repainted many of the classrooms and fresh materials should be there. Broadly speaking the following would be very welcome in every classroom: environmentally educational posters and other learning aids for their walls, chart paper, learning manipulatives, refurbished laptops and tablets, old cameras, guillotine paper cutters, laminating machines.