We arrived at the mouth of the entrance to Isla Mujeres at around 1 a.m. We hailed the harbor master on VHF 16 and to my relief, the port captain speaks fluent English which was a very good thing as my Spanish is muy poquito. ” Lo Siento senor Capitan, lo siento. ” I said every time I had to speak with anyone for the next 5 weeks. I would become very fluent in apologizing for my Texican Spanglish.
The next morning, we began the process of clearing in. Step one is to gather the following documents- passports, crew list, zarpe, boat registration and visa ( if necessary.) We made it , copies in hand as required at the Port Captain’s office first thing in the morning. The trouble is, there seemed to have been many, many boats who arrived the day before. This meant hurry up and wait. And wait. “You must see the doctor. He is very busy” and then a wave of the hand, a closing of the little window from the gentleman manning the front desk. I will never forget him as he seemed to be the one and only unfriendly and unhelpful worker in all of Isla Mujeres. Everyone else was very professional and courteous.
The bureaucratic efficiency,-or lack there of, was an incredible sight to behold. The Port Capitan’s office open the doors at 8:30 and begin working a little after 9, take a nice lunch and are done passing the piles of paperwork between offices at 2:00 in order to have the doors closed for the day at 2:30. Mark, ever the efficiency loving engineer really struggled with the process. “Why can’t they be efficient?!?” I applauded their realization that maybe life is going to fast and what better way to slow things down and admire the view and enjoy life? Take what should be a 2 hour process that only involves 2 or 3 people into a multiday affair where in you tour the entire city by foot because the required documents seem to change with the weather and yes you need 5 copies but lighter copies…. My favorite thing to do anyway is walk around a see a city and meet locals so despite there being looooong stretches of waiting I figured, what better thing do I have to do?
We ended up getting the Customs and Agriculture agents on board to inspect Ceol Mor. They were incredibly friendly and professional. The office might have closed at 2:30 and this meant we would have to come back the next day, but we found Compadre’s on the way back to the boat and they had great tacos and a margarita so our dinner break in the middle of clearing in was pretty great. Really, what is there to get impatient with?
If you are clearing into Isla Mujeres, here are my helpful tips.
- Be polite. Mexican culture still appreciates honorifics. How you address people matters. A smile and “buenas dias” goes a very long way.
- Be patient. PATIENT.
- Bring the original and 5 copies of each document. Be prepared for them to spring a new one. We thought we had everything save the zarpe. Turns out they also wanted a fumigation certificate. The people who cl.eared in after us were not asked for one. Just go with it.
- Be flexible. It isn’t efficient or fast, but who cares? Where else will you get to see so many rubber stamps in use? You are in a beautiful, warm sunny place with warm, sunny people. “You might as well have a good time.”