Jessica and I departed from San Diego at 5 am. We would spend the next 20 days slowly sailing our Newport 30 down the Baja peninsula and into La Paz harbor.
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| dropping the dock lines in Mission Bay before sunrise |
The run from San Diego to Ensenada is about 75 nm.
Around noon, we passed between Tijuana Beach
and Las Islas Coronados and then slowly dropped south into Ensenada around 6 pm.
The
approach from outer Ensenada bay into the inner harbor takes a long time and is
a bit stressful in the dark. It’s a bit challenging to discern between lights
from land and boat lights.
We had made reservations at Baja Naval. I highly
recommend this marina. They are primarily a dry dock shipyard but they maintain
2 slips and it seems to be a favorite for cruising sailors.
They charged
35$/daily, but make sure to make a reservation in advance. The final approach
into the Baja Naval docks is a bit sketchy at night. Depth goes down to 9-11
feet and shoals out at 4-5 feet in some sections in front of the docks. We did
not find the navigation lights very helpful in this process. I would say, just
monitor your GPS and depth-finder and advance slowly.
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| The Alize resting after Day 1 in Baja Naval, Ensenada. |
The
harbormaster at Baja Naval is a good guy and speaks English.
Carmina is an
incredibly sweet and helpful women at the front desk of Baja Naval. She
will help you prepare your papers before you approach the Port Captain and
Customs officials in Ensenada. This is immensely helpful. She will prepare
photocopies of important documents and will arrange them exactly how the
officials like to see them. She will also identify problems for you before you
walk over to the officials. If you own an old boat, make sure the previous
owner never acquired a TIP for that boat. Apparently, that can screw up your
chances of getting your own TIP for the boat.
In theory, you can apply for your
TIP online. I tried this and was rejected. I have no idea why I was rejected.
In fact, I was never even notified I was rejected. So, I prepared all my papers
to acquire my TIP when I arrived in Ensenada.
The process of acquiring a TIP boat permit is not fun or easy.
However, you need a TIP permit if you plan to keep your boat in Mexico. Even if you only want your boat in Mexico for a few days, you technically need a TIP. There are well documented stories of US boats being impounded from marinas after it was determined that the boat didn't have a TIP
We had all our papers in order but
still found the process stressful. But, if you have all your
ducks in a row, you should be done with this business in a few hours. It helps if you speak Spanish as only half of the officials we transacted with spoke English. Bring
lots of pesos in small denominations as each official wants some small amount
of cash for some paper or transaction. All in, I think I paid about 100$ (US)
for the TIP permit and other related fees.
You want to
arrive early at the Immigration/Port Captain’s office. Everything is done in
the same building. They open at 9 AM and close at 1PM. We only saw 1 other
gringo getting a TIP and there were only small lines at each window. The whole
crew should join the Captain on this adventure. It doesn’t work if only the
Captain shows up for this process.
You need to:
- show (or buy) your FMM tourist visa
- show your boat ownership papers (title)
- show current registration (US boat reg.)
- show insurance policy in Mexican waters
- present passport
Also be prepared to report your Hull number and the number on your engine. You
will be asked to pay a peso amount based on the tonnage of your vessel. My boat
is 8,000 pounds. When I told them this info, they then wrote 8 tons on the
paper and asked for about 25$ equivalent in pesos. If my math is correct, 8,000
pounds is about 4 tons but I didn’t complain. I have since learned that 8 tons is the minimum amount to report.
There are
about 4 different windows in the Port Captain’s building that you move through
in a series of steps. Carmina at Baja Naval mapped out my movement through
these windows for me ahead of time. While you are moving through this series of
windows/transactions you are also submitting your crew list papers and your
arrival and departure from Ensenada papers. Yes, you need the Port Captain’s
formal permission to depart from Ensenada. This is ridiculous, but it’s how
things are done.
There is a
little office outside the building where a friendly guy named Jonathon makes
photocopies for you. Getting all your stamped papers photocopied is part of the
process. Make sure you bring many peso coins to give Jonathon for these
photocopies. We went nuts and made lots of photocopies of everything. Jonathon was
easily the coolest and nicest guy in the entire building. Plus, he is a
handsome devil, so my girlfriend enjoyed lingering in his office.
Anyway,
about 2 hours later, if everything goes well…then you pass to the TIP window.
Here, a very surly woman begrudgingly presented us with our TIP. She was mostly
focused on watching a reality TV show. She turned up the volume on the TV while
simultaneously asking us for papers. But, we have nothing but love for this
women, because she gave us the shiny TIP permit that is now hanging in my port
window. If I choose, I can now keep my boat in Mexico for 10 years. We handed
her about 65$ (US) for the permit.
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| My TIP permit |
At this
point, we thought we were finished…but nope – we were then sent to the Customs
window (aduana). This was easy. We filled out a document saying that we did not
bring infectious material into Mexico and then an older man stamped some papers
and that was it.
Then, we
thought were done again, but we were told to return in 2 hours because some
other Port Captain officials needed to sign off on our departure papers. They
needed a few hours to stamp and approve a stack of papers. When we returned,
they looked at us like we were crazy. They had no idea what had happened to our
departure papers. They assumed we had done something wrong and implied that we
could not depart the following day. After a confusing conversation, we just
sort of said ‘Okay, well….bye.’ In our minds, we already had the TIP permit so
this long, awkward bureaucracy dance was over, regardless of the stamped departure
papers. Then, as we were walking away - a women ran up and said she had
forgotten to pass the papers over to someone else and actually everything was
fine with our departure. We laughed and said thanks and then went straight to Hussong’s
Cantina and drank many margaritas.
Other resources for acquiring a temporary import permit for your boat in Mexico.
If you are preparing to get a TIP at some port in Mexico, I would consult multiple resources before you head south. The Baja Ha-Ha website always has updated info on this process. Baja Insider is also a good resource. Or you can go directly to the Banjercito page (they handle this transaction). Also, if you are looking for advice on historical food from Mexico, I recommend this page, it shows what the Aztecs once ate.
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| Hussongs, the oldest and best bar in Ensenada |
Those were
some strong margaritas.
The
following day we sailed south to anchor at Punta Santa Tomas.
No diesel fuel dock in Ensenada Harbor
It should be
noted that, as of December 2017 – there is no diesel fuel dock in the main
harbor of Ensenada.
Strange…but true.
You need to stop at Coral Marina to fuel
up. Coral is 4 miles north of Ensenada harbor. So, on the morning of our
departure, instead of backtracking to Coral, we took a cab to a BP station that
sells diesel. We topped off our 5 gallon jerry cans and carried them from the
trunk of the cab back to the Baja Naval dock. Yes, this is a hassle. Also –
keep in mind, not every gas station in Ensenada sells diesel. So, you need to
ask around to make sure you cab it to the right gas station. Also, Uber worked
well for us in Ensenada. When I say cab, I mean we hailed an Uber ride. This
was more efficient time-wise then waiting for a cab.
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| The TIP sticker hangs in your window. This way officials can verify you are legitimate in your absence. |
