By Nicole
Lowering the yellow quarantine flag today and raising the Mexican flag in its place made it official – we’re in Mexico! Well, the stamped paperwork from customs, immigration and the port captain is what probably made it official, but still…
Down comes the quarantine flag (the flag you must fly before you’re officially cleared into a foreign country)…
And up goes the green, white and red Mexican courtesy flag (with a colossal Mexican flag in the background).
The clearing in process was relatively painless, especially since all the offices we needed to visit – immigration, customs, the port captain and the bank – were under one roof. This saved us from running from office to office (and back) all over town. This was the basic flow, with stacks of papers being vigorously stamped all along the way:
- Immigration
- Bank
- Port Captain (es una capitana!)
- Back to immigration
- Copy center
- Back to the bank
- Customs
My limited Spanish came in quite helpful with the officials, and I even got a few chuckles (not at me, with me!), which is a little like getting a DMV employee to smile. Overall, the whole process went better than I expected (taking an hour or so instead of all day). Esta bien.
We celebrated with a lunch of homemade quesadillas, a few cervezas and a nice, long nap.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this is one of the largest flags in the world. It’s gigantic! Note the size of the palm trees. Viva Mexico!
To cruisers coming to Ensenada: anchoring* is no longer allowed in the bay (as our friends on Estrellita found out today). We’d highly recommend Baja Naval Marina (that’s nah-VAHL, not NAY-vul). The staff here is extremely helpful and friendly – ask for Roger.
*Overnight anchoring is not allowed. There is a two-hour limit. (Thanks for the clarification, Livia!)
Felicitaciones! Estamos celoso!
ReplyDeletes/v Osprey
You forgot the extra steps we engaged in:
ReplyDelete- Go ask to pay for anchoring.
- Be told no anchoring but get a letter needed by immigracion saying we don't owe money for anchoring.
- Leave bay and encounter fog.
- Come back to Baja Naval and party with Bella Star (to be continued).
Also, technically you *can* anchor in the bay for 2 hours. That's what they told us. Of course, we were way past that from walking to and waiting at the other office already.
YAY! Congrats on this huge accomplishment!!
ReplyDeleteOoops - Anonymous was me - Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty painless! How long do you plan on being there?
ReplyDeleteWe have stopped over for a few days in Avalon, this place is so cool! we are here with Deep Playa and Shannon, before heading to San Diego to wave good bye to the Haa Haa'ers
see you soon in Mexico
Tom & Jeanne
Congrats! You've inspired me to change my latitude right now.
ReplyDeleteJustin
We'll be here at least a week. We hauled out yesterday and it'll take at least until Tuesday to get the work done on the hull. Between the yard work and the insurance survey we have to get it's going to be an expensive week :(
ReplyDelete-Aaron
Congrats! We can't wait to get down there too! Hauling out/insurance, this isn't the liability insurance requirement is it? We have to deal with that, so I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteKyra and Rick: Hello! We needed an out-of-the-water survey for our new, full-coverage insurance, not the Mexican liablity insurance. But the liability insurance is super easy to get online (5 mins, $200 and a printer is all you need). No one's asked to see it yet, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. We used Baja Bound: http://www.bajabound.com/buy/boat_start.php?quote_idx=b0a185a9
ReplyDeleteSee you guys down here -- soon I hope!
-Nicole
Yo - where is an update? Are you surviving Mexico? I am sure you are just too busy relaxing to post :)
ReplyDeleteHugs!
-Rebecca