Cayman Islands - Clearance
Arrival Formalities
Advance Notification:
“George Town Port Security” should be called on VHF Channel 16 upon entering Cayman Islands waters. This is monitored 24 hours a day. At this time your Q flag should also be raised. They will notify Customs and Immigration and keep you informed regarding boarding of the yacht.
General Clearance Process:
The SailClear advance web notification service for clearance is now operational here. Completing the online forms prior to checking in may save time at Customs.
For a full explanation of this service and other web clearance services in the Caribbean see this useful report.
All vessels arriving in the Cayman Islands must first proceed to the George Town Port in Grand Cayman or the Cayman Brac Port for Customs Clearance.
Each port has its own procedure for arrivals.
Generally, you will need to be cleared by Immigration, Customs and the Port Officer. No one may leave the boat (even for a swim) and no one may come aboard prior to clearance.
Officials are reported to be friendly and may not even come on board your boat. However, ensure that you follow their procedures as visiting boats have been fined for minor infringements.
Departure Formalities
Domestic Clearance:
Cruisers may stop at any of the islands during their stay but must clear between them. When leaving one island for another you will need to clear your boat with Customs (although not Immigration) and clear in when you arrive.
International Clearance:
You can clear out at either Grand Cayman or Cayman Brac to an international destination. On departure, contact Customs up to 24 hours in advance. You will need to give a copy of your exit zarpe to the fuel dock if you want duty-free fuel before leaving, so be sure to get a copy when it is granted. Finally, Immigration clearance should be completed in person by all aboard not more than 5 hours before departure.
Last updated: March 2024
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Cayman Islands 30 day extension process:
When you clear in, they will advise you that you can only stay for 30 days. We, along with a couple of other boats were told that if we wanted an extension “Just come down on a day with no cruise ships and we will take care of it for you”. This was very bad information. Don’t wait until you are a day or 2 from 30 days. Better yet DON’T STAY MORE THAN 30 DAYS. They don’t want us there, and they have made it unnecessarily difficult to extend your stay.
So, here is the process, as we understand it. Note that many CBC employees do not understand the process, and we received several “why are you here?” queries. We also received some advice that indicated that the vessel extension includes crew, and that the immigration process was unnecessary. ****** ANY TIME you are in a CBC (Customs or Immigration) office or building, remove hats, hoodies, sunglasses. No cell phone use unless it is directly related.
Write a letter to the Director of Customs, indicating why you wish to extend your visit. My recommendation is that you have a good reason for this. Certainly something more than “because we like it here”. Drop it off at HM Customs office, at 42 Roberts Drive, just west of the airport terminal. It’s a pale blue building, as you face the building, go up the stairs on the left side, ring the bell, and someone will help you. They may take 2 or more days to approve this. If you don’t have a local phone number, try and give them someone local that can get a hold of you. They don’t seem to make international calls, and even though you are asked to supply an email address, they won’t use it. Another good indicator they don’t want us here.
When you hear that your letter is ready, you will need to go back to 42 Roberts, and sign it.
Go downstairs to the right side of the building. Take a number. You will need to pay one of the cashiers on the right side of the room, because they have to get the boss to write up a manual receipt. It’s $100C, and you can pay with a credit card. Amazingly, they convert to USD at the actual exchange rate. This place can be very busy. It might take a while.
Go back upstairs with your paid receipt, and they will stamp your approval letter.
Hump down to the CBC building on the waterfront at the North Terminal. It’s a green building with Tortuga Liquors in the same building. It’s a 2 mile walk from the airport. Go to the Customs office, where they will make a copy of your approval letter. Seems silly, just to drop off a copy. But that’s what you do. They will send you upstairs to Immigration, but they can’t do anything for you.
***** In theory, at this point, your boat is officially extended, and you can extend your immigration online. We chose not to do this, because we wanted the process done, CBC had previously failed at notifying us that we were approved, and there are some big potential pitfalls in the Immigration extension. It’s way too easy to say “no” online.
Immigration extension in person: Go to 94A Elgin, just east of downtown. It’s about a 5-10 minute walk from Customs. It’s just east of the police station, on the other side of the road. Brace yourself before going in. You will need to fill out an application for each crew member, who must be there in person. You will receive a number. Don’t get too excited if your number is called quickly, you only go up to pay your $50C per person application fee (credit card ok, not returned if you are denied). Then you get to wait for your interview. This wait can be extensive. Plan accordingly.
IMPORTANT: Since you don’t have a plane ticket to leave and you aren’t staying in a high dollar resort or home, you must provide them with proof that you aren’t destitute. They assume cruisers are. In other words, bring lots of cash to show them. $4 or 5K? Credit cards are worthless. We only had $400 in cash on our person. We finally got them to agree to use our online app showing we had nearly $30k in our checking account. It was touch and go.
Clearing out: Go down to the CBC office near North Terminal, downtown. Customs actually told us we’d overstayed, even though we had an extension. They had no record of it, and we were unable to find out what they did with their copy of our approval letter. So they made ANOTHER copy of it, for their files. Be sure and get an extra copy of your clearance (Zarpe) paperwork if you want to buy duty free fuel before leaving. The fuel dock will need that. Then upstairs to Immigration.
Kookaburra sailed to Cayman Brac (CB) from Jamaica and enjoyed 4 days of settled weather, the Caymans supply mooring balls free of charge & you are required to use them. There are plenty around and not that many cruisers come through. The problem with Cayman Brac is there are no harbors to hide so you are going to need NE-SE winds to stay any length of time, we were chased out after 4 days by a northerly. You will check in at the Scotts dock NW side of Brac, call them on ch 16 as you come into the island, they will tell you to grab a mooring & dinghy to the concrete pier, they are not interested in getting on your boat. You will check out here as well. We then walked up to the road and had a wood fired pizza & a beer at Barracudas bar. If you want to go to Little Cayman you will have to come back to Brac to check out before going to Grand Cayman. There is a good lagoon on the SW corner of Little Cayman about 10 miles west of the Scotts Dock, CB but we did not go. We rented a car, $30 a day at the airport which is a 15 min walk from the Scotts dock, and toured Cayman Brac for a day. There are three roads that run the length of the island. Start on the North road all the way to the east end, park it at the parking lot and walk to the North end walking up to the cliffs. Come back down to Bluff Rd and cross over to the Middle road and take that all the way to the North end and you will be at the lighthouse and at the top of the 150 ft tall cliffs with a good hiking trail. Come back down the middle road to Bluff Rd again & drop onto the South road again take it all the way to the north until it ends there’s a parking area & Great cave, then head south on that road with other stops to bat cave and Jessica’s cave. We ate lunch at Coral isles restaurant (South road), the two dive shops on Cayman Brac are on the southwest corner of the island and there are some bird watching platforms there opposite them. Very nice quiet island with good grocery stores and bakeries. There is a nice little grocery store just past Barracudas.
When entering the Caymans they will offer two weeks or a month, both options are free but evidently there is more paperwork for a month. We took the two weeks then had a friend visit so we had to ask for an extension from immigration that cost us $50/person and 3 hours at the C& I office. (take the month). Checking out of Cayman Brac they request you call on ch 16 with 24 hrs notice. EZ peasy.
Sailed to Georgetown, Grand Cayman (90 miles) harbor patrol was looking for us & were very pleasant. They directed us to a concrete dock for check-in. Again no one was interested in coming on board but we did do ALL the paperwork again for customs, the immigration clock was still ticking though. It is recommended on some pages to fill out Sail Clear before arriving, we did so in Jamaica and never was it mentioned or acknowledged. When finished the harbor patrol escorted us to a mooring, then had me jump on their boat for a tour of the harbor showing us the dinghy dock, grocery store & basic info, extremely nice!
We dove with “Living the Dream” dive shop, right at the dinghy dock, rated #1 on island and I can see why. Lots of diving in the Caymans is shore diving but we opted for a boat dive as we were snorkeling lots of the shore dives.Food prices are high in the Caymans and their KY dollar is based on the euro so 20% exchange rate is added to everything. They are used to dealing with Americans so their registers convert it automatically. Remember your next destination will be much cheaper but not as good a selection. There is a Cost-U-Less for bulk US brand buying if needed. The Kirk Grocery, across from the dinghy dock is pricey but staples, fruits & veggies are fairly priced with excellent bakery products, meats are expensive! DYI, True Value & Ace hardware stores are walking distance up the road from the grocery. Downtown Georgetown is a cruise ship port (enough said) & you will have lots of company in the harbor. 7 mile beach is to the north of Georgetown and a nice walk. Local busses (vans) are $2 KY and convenient. We rented a car ($140/day) at the airport and toured the Eastern end of the island ending with the bioluminescence tour at Rum point that evening. You can boat around to Stingray city (grab a mooring) then anchor off Starfish point for Nly or Rum point for a Sly. Georgetown always has a roll, usually fine but we had three days that everyone was playing with their bridle angles.
Jaime & Keith
sv Kookaburra
Re Civil Partnership law Cayman Islands, I have a copy of the relevant law, if you would like I can email as .pdf file.
Cayman Islands: Same Sex Civil Union is now approved in the Cayman Islands, I think the date was September 2020.
We recently sailed from Florida to Grand Cayman, where our boat stayed for the winter, while we flew back and forth for work. Recommend sailing east to west to catch prevailing currents and winds, (we had to do it the other way for family visit reasons and it was tough). We highly recommend Grand Cayman – especially Cayman Island Yacht Club for docking. It is about the safest place you can visit. You can anchor out however, I would agree it is weather dependent, and much of the water is environmentally protected. Best place to anchor is by Starfish Point. You can snorkel every day and see something new. I did write a blog with video – our Grand Cayman Cruising Guide. You can find it here. Hope it helps you. http://bluedotvoyages.com/cayman
Reported by Brian Simm, Sundeer 56 – 29 January, 2018
Grand Cayman Island is not a destination for sailors, unless you are a diver, but rather a stopping point on passage. We were en route from Cuba to Belize. The anchorages are very weather dependent. But once in, almost hurricane proof.
On arrival you should go to Georgetown on the west side. Port security, channels 16, 14, works efficiently 24 hours a day and will give you instructions. There are 5 free moorings 250m north of the port, large red buoys. If all are occupied then ask permission to anchor. Customs and immigration are at the main dock and will normally ask you to go alongside. In our case the port was busy and the harbour patrol boat collected us for check in without docking.
This anchorage is exposed to Northers and if blowing the only recourse is to go to South Sound where there is a landing dock used by cruise ships in poor weather.
The big attraction of Grand Cayman is the large but shallow North Sound entered through a poorly marked pass, position accurate on navionics. This pass is not usable in northers or in any weather above 20 knots or so. We came out in 22 easterly and had to punch through the swell, I would not enter in those conditions. We saw a minimum of 2.7 m in the pass on a 0.2m tide, dropping to 2.4 m close to the entrance to Governors creek.
Anchorages are free and in the sheltered mangrove creeks among the millionaires houses, mostly 2.5 to 3m. Governors creek is a large anchorage area near the Cayman island Yacht club, fuel etc. Further in it leads to Mitchell’s creek, also a large area of 3m or so. A more recent alternative is in the large commercial shopping village of Camana Bay, where new canals have been dug.
The pluses on Cayman are superb supermarkets: Duty free fuel, after checkout: and duty free booze from Tortuga in the customs building, delivered to you by the customs on leaving. Otherwise think of it as the most expensive island for living in the Caribbean.
We plan to visit the Islands on our small 30ft vessel where there is no holding tank installed and we simply do not have space to install one. I wrote emails to the port authority and the environmental department and both of the confirmed that their laws do NOT require every boat to have a holding tank, just that it is forbidden to discharge ANY waste water into the sea. So if you have no holding tank, but you are going to stay in a marina or always use the facilities ashore, you are good to go. You won’t be denied entry because you have no holding tank.
We are currently in Cayman, it’s a wonderful place to visit and a shame so few yachts stop here. I’d like to correct and update a few things we’ve learned here:
1. You can stay up to 6 months WITHOUT paying import duty on the yacht. You will initially get 30 days on clearing in, then you need to apply for an extension in writing to the main customs office by the airport. Email is acceptable but it would be best to phone the office via the number on the customs website and ask them who to email it to. When my extension hadn’t been issued by day 30 I went personally to the customs office. The correct office is the one upstairs with a separate entrance, not the main office downstairs. I explained that it was the last day and the staff were very helpful and I left with a letter granting the extension. The extension costs 100 cayman dollars per month.
2. Mitchells creek is a great, sheltered place to anchor in 2m, weed and mud but the anchor held well on second attempt. Anchor off the end of Lime Tree Bay road and there are some holes in the corner of the concrete wall there where you can lock your dinghy. Cost U Less big box supermarket is just over the road.
There are a line of free orange mooring buoys off georgetown, to the west of the main dock. If you ask “Port Security” on channel 16 they will usually permit you to stay on them as long as you like. Also free short term mooring buoys at all the dive sites.
The entrance to the stingray city sandbank is just East of Main Channel and marked by small white floats. Main channel itself is usually well buoyed but some buoys were missing at the start of our visit (now replaced).
Make sure to get the free PDF cruising guide from the freecruisingguides website and make use of the waypoints in it to navigate North Sound.
You can get parcels delivered duty free but its a hassle. After trying all the other customs officies I found that they need to be collected from the customs office in the port authority building, not the airport or the cruise terminal. A customs officer is supposed to accompany you and see the parcel going onto the boat but this requirement might be waived.
Cayman is a very friendly place to visit, probably the most developed and “first world” of the caribbean islands. It has a wide range of shops and well stocked supermarkets. AL Thompson is a huge superstore for DIY, hardware, paint etc. etc. and prices are pretty good compared to the chandleries.
Cayman does have good boatyards and chandleries but their prices are excessive and we chose not to use them.
My George Town Grand Cayman formalities experience: Directed by “George Town Port Security” to the free orange/blue stripe moorings for overnight, then to north ferry dock in hogsty bay for formalities. 30 day visit from Immigration. 3.5 hour Customs (drug) search. No health inspection. N.B. vessels staying longer than 30 days are subject to 12% import duty.
And a note for gun owners, they will inspect your boat with a drug and gun sniffing dog so you will have to declare your guns and they will take them and lock them up, even if you have safes on board. First time that has happened to me so far.
Caymans is not a duty free country. Of course, like many countries, you can get duty free parts for your boat but customs really doesn’t like to do that and they go out of their way to make it difficult for you, just like every other country.
Also, Harbour House Marina isn’t a marina, but a yard with tie ups alone a channel. The WIFI goes down every Saturday night and doesn’t come up until Monday morning. A good place to get repairs done though but if you use their shipping, the costs are very high and they use a 1.25 exchange rate if you use Visa to pay.
Check-in is easy but make sure you have some very good fenders as you will be asked to pull your boat up to a concrete dock where wakes are common.
Oh yeah, and everything closes down by 6pm and nothing is open on Sunday.
We approached Cayman Brac by night and tried to get in touch with the customs but we got no answer. Mr Raymond Scott that works as a Shipping Adviser did answer and helped us to do a safe approach. I wish all countries could have the same service! Makes life a lot easier and safer for us sailors! The Ship adviser also helped us out with contacting the customs and immigration so that we could clear in- Thank you for this service!
Daniel & Anna
Fuel. You can get discounted, tax free fuel after you get your departure papers. A substantial savings. However to get fuel at the Govt. dock is a disaster in the making. I would never do it again no matter what the savings.