Clearance is straightforward here as officials are used to dealing with yachts.
Fly the Q flag and the officials will come out to the yacht in office hours (weekdays 0800-1300, 1500-1700), for initial clearance and inspection. Customs will take the zarpe from the last port and ship's papers, Immigration authorities take the passports. The captain must collect these later from the shore offices with the necessary entry stamps as well as a new zarpe and cruising permit.
This can all be done in one day if arriving early enough, and some cruisers have reported it only taking 2 hours. Quetzal will be needed to pay various fees.
You should arrive in Livingston early in the morning (the offices open at 8 am) so that you can deal with the formalities and leave at high tide to get past the bar. If the sea is choppy, it may be difficult to work out where the buoy is, but you will be able to follow your arrival route in reverse.
If you choose, there is a cruisers customs agent, "Raoul", half a block from the Municipal Dock. He has been recommended by many. His fee is approx. US$200 including the fees charged by the authorities. It is quite possible that he will come out to the boat with the officials to offer his services. With his help, clearance is quick and simple and you may not even have to go ashore.
Last updated May 2018
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Hi – do you have a contact email / whatsapp for Raul re. agent for Gautemala? Thank you
Hi Linda – see https://www.noonsite.com/business/servamar/. To find Clearance Agents you go the country, click on the blue button “Explore Country” – click on “Formalities” and then “Clearance Agents”. To see business listings in all sections you have to click on the button that says “See Related Businesses”.
I made over the sand bar it in a 1.8m draft vessel (neel 51), Waiting for spring tide (highest possible). Starting from the only light in existence, the Red light, which you should keep to PORT (contrary to normal nav rules in this part of the world). Take a bearing of 220 mag. Although my depth sounder read 1.3 at one moment, the silt and mud is actually quite light at times viscous, the motor and ship had no problems passing through on average 5.5Kn. I would have preferred to sail through but there was no wind at the time. If you have radar, this buoy is seen easily at it is large. There may be a multitude of small fishing vessels covering the channel, so plan early. If you can have a spring tide at first light, this is the best plan. Obviously good visibility is helpful. Note, there is a lot of silt so anchor drift at the entrance is almost inevitable. Plan for it. Best of luck with it. At present, Immigration will do a PCR test for the virus and the regs seem unclear, but we are told that we will still need to quarantine irrespective of results. I doubt that will actually happen. Please also note. use a reputable tide calculator. I had a lot of incorrect ones. The time zone is CST. Confirm this.
Please not the light may also drift. As there are supposed to be 2 others. Non existent.