Howdy. Several of you have enquired about the situation in Mexico, with respect to boats, that is now hitting the international news agencies. We haven’t mentioned it before as the exact nature and limits of what was happening were too vague to try to explain. In fact, the situation has been going on since November when the newly formed AGACE group (appointed by the new Mexican government) began checking vessel documents and HINs (Hull Identification Numbers) in certain marinas in Mexico. That sounds pretty simple, I know, but the confusion had only just begun. Seems many boats, who indeed had their paperwork perfectly in order, became victims of this ‘sweep’ because they weren’t on board when the ‘inspectors’ arrived to inspect… and consequently their boats were put onto a “temporary embargo” list… along with over 300 other boats. I’m not going to try and explain any details because it’s simply too mixed up to do so. What I will do is refer you to Latitude 38, an online publisher that has been chronicling this situation since it began. Their last post, in response to the recent international news reports, provides a good over-view. You can read the post here: Foreign Boat Impoundment Story Goes Mainstream
You will read about armed military and police accompanying the inspectors. This is a very common practice in Mexico and not an ‘act of war’ as some have suggested. You will read about ‘midnight raids’ and vessel seizures… again, these are exaggerated accounts. All people reporting in have described the attitude of the ‘inspectors’ as polite and friendly. So friendly, in some cases, the folks didn’t realize they’d failed the inspection and their boat was embargoed until they read their boat name on ‘the’ list. Please read through the accounts and inform yourself as to what is going on… as best you can.
What does this mean for us? Well, we’ve done everything we could to protect SV Shannon. She has never had an HIN but her Temporary Import Permit shows her Canadian Registration Number recorded on the VIN line; and her Official Number is also permanently carved into her hanging locker and displayed on a brass plaque permanently mounted on her bulk head. We’ve made sure both the marina office and the manager looking after her have copies of all her papers and we’ve explained her HIN/VIN situation to them. We’ve also sent all of this information to her new owners…. and, we’ve left instructions with her care manager to contact us should anything untoward occur. Not sure what else we can do. For those of you wondering, her new owner Bill was injured in a motorcycle accident and won’t be coming to her until October, so we’ve tucked her back in for another summer and she waits patiently for his attendance.
We are continuing with our boat hunt while we watch the situation in Mexico carefully. Let me be clear; we have absolutely no problem with yachts being checked to insure they have entered the country legally and have all their papers in order. Unfortunately there are some owners who have not done this and their actions have led, in part, to this new inspection process. What we hope to see is that the situation calms down, the government figures out how to lift the embargo on the foreign cruising yachts who are not in violation, and things return to pretty much how they were… with perhaps a little more caution being exercised by marina offices and others responsible for checking boats in and out. If things don’t calm down we may be forced to revisit our goal of returning to the Sea and rethink our future cruising plans (as to location). After all, we have a beautiful cruising ground waiting for us in BC and, now that we’re both retired, our cruising adventures will be magnificent there too.
For now, we’re enjoying our visit in Yuma and looking forward to seeing other friends who are already here and others who may be arriving. We’ll be leaving here on, or shortly after, January 20th. We’re sorry to hear about the winter storms still threatening folks in BC , and across the country, and we hope that all of you are keeping warm and safe. By the way, it’s not exactly toasty down here… mornings start off around 50 and the day warms up to the low-mid 70’s for a while, before cooling off again for the evening. It’s not exactly tanning weather, but it’s very comfortable and the sun is wonderful.
Best wishes to all of you, from all of us… even the Princess. Take good care.. bye bye for now….. CJ
