We are a retired couple from Sweden who are cruising the oceans in our own sailing vessel. In this capacity we encounter clearing in and out administration in all countries we visit – and no country has been even remote to the administrative hassle or the cost of using an agent that we met in Costa Rica when clearing out.

Let me give you the story – but keep in mind – this is our experiences we refer to here. Others may have different experiences and we hear form other sailors that clearing out at Playa del Coco seems to be somewhat easier. But this story may also serve as guide to all the steps needed in order to receive the exit zarpe for others that are in the mood for handling this process by themselves.

Checking in at Golfito

We checked in to Costa Rica in Golfito when we arrived from Panama on 30 April 2022. We used the service from Banana Bay Marina for the clearance process at a cost of 395 USD. The service from Gabriella and Warren was outstanding and they very much live up to their ambition to (quote) “make life simple for the cruisers in a country where nothing is simple” .

During our time in Golfito we rented a simple car at the cost of 160USD per day and went to Fortuna and Monte Verde for a couple of days. We hiked in jungles on volcanos and cloud forests, did zip-lining and had days full of activities – and spending a lot of dollars. We left the Banana Bay Marina in Golfito after 10 days to anchor at Drakes Bay. A bit rolly on the anchorage but the village, the restaurants and the hiking was very pleasant and the diving at Isla Cano was very good. There is a dinghy dock at the resort on the village side of the small estuary that we could use for free.

Things start to get expensive

Our intention was to then go to Uvita. But after our American friends on another boat were forcefully chased away by the rangers two days before, we decided to go directly up to Quepos to anchor outside of Biesanz Beach. Quite rolly and very difficult/impossible to land a dinghy on the crowded beach. I checked the price for us to go into the Pez Vela Marina in Quepos– it was 140 USD/night for a 46 ft monohull – with the Panama Posse discount! And the cost to just tie up a dinghy in the marina during office hours (8 am to 5 pm) was 40 USD per day. We started to feel that the price level in Costa Rica was ridiculous and that we were being ripped off in many places, so we decided to leave for El Salvador directly from where we were in Quepos.

Could we do it ourselves without an agent?

I got in contact with an agent in Puntarenas and was informed that the price for clearing out of Costa Rica was 550 USD (+tax?). We found this to be just another rip off. We like to see other countries, meet people, eat at restaurants, have a drink at a bar, buy local artifacts and enjoy sightseeing and adventures. But to pay 550 USD just to check out from a country we felt was just over the top. We have not experienced any other countries that has been even close to this cost level for check in/out for a small boat like ours. We decided instead to sail to Puntarenas to do the check-out procedure ourselves. Hey – it must be possible we thought – or?? So here follows a chronicle of the steps we encountered in our check out process:

Thursday:

The lady at the Capitanaire de Puerto in Puntarenas could not handle international zarpes and referred us to the main Capitanaire Office in Puerto Caldera. So we took a taxi – first stop to visit the Aduana/customs in El Roble on the way to get the “Solvencia de Nave” / check out document for the boat. When arriving to the Port Captain’s Office in Caldera the officers on duty informed us that in addition to the papers we could present, they also needed:

• Exit payment receipt for zarpe from Municipal – 20 USD
• Exit fee receipt for Guarda Costa – 30 USD to be paid at Banco Costa Rica
• Egrese de Migracion/permit to leave Costa Rica from the Immigration Police
• Crew list signed and stamped by Immigration Police
• Formal request to receive a zarpe.

If outside of office hours, we should pay 22 USD to Port Captain. They were going to specify this if it was needed on forehand. We were informed that the next day there would be an officer from the Caldera office in the Puntarenas office who could speak English (our Spanish is very limited) and also handle international zarpes.

We went back to Puntarenas to visit Migracion. We also got clarification that in order to check out and receive the exit documents from them, they needed from us:

• Crew list
• Passports
• Certificate of the boat
• “Solvencia de Nave” from Aduana
• Request for International zarpe to Port Captain

We were informed that from the time the passports have been stamped we have three hours to leave the harbour/Costa Rican soil. After this grace period, our presence in Costa Rica would be illegal.   The bank was now closed so we had to wait until the next day.

Friday:

Went to Capitanarie de Puerto in Puntarenas at 7:00 am and met the officer from the Caldera office. We explained our intention to do the check out tomorrow morning (Saturday 23 April) and visit the Migracion very early in order for us to be able to leave the harbour on high tide, as it is only during high tide we can cross the shallow areas between the marina and the ocean and high tide should be just before 8:00 am. He agreed and understood this and confirmed that he needed the documents listed above as expressed from his colleagues yesterday in Caldera – nothing more.

The office in Puntarenas should be closed on Saturday, but the office in Caldera should be open as we understood it. I asked if we could send the documents as scanned PDF files in a mail due to the three hour limitation after Migracion and our need to pass over the shallows during high tide. He responded that it was OK to send electronic documents and that he can send the zarpe in a mail to me within 12 hours after he received the documents.

We then went to the Municipal to pay for the exit zarpe and to get the receipt. So we stand in line to the bank that opened at 9:00am for the Guarda Costa fee. Then back to the officer at Capitanarie to just check that it was OK with the receipts – and it was confirmed to be OK. So now we needed to write the request for a Zarpe. I sat on a bench outside the office in Puntarenas to write a mail with a request for the Capitanarie to issue a Zarpe and attached all the PDF documents. I sent the mail and went into the office again just to check that he got the mail and yes, he had got the mail and yes, all was good. I later also got a written confirmation and it was now only the documents from Migracion that should be sent next morning.

Saturday:

Just before we were about to leave our boat for the Migracion I checked the mail – and there was a new mail with a new requirement on how to make the request for Zarpe in another format. He sent an example of this new format in only Spanish and it was a ton of information they needed – like we were a big commercial ship. It took one hour extra to set up a request document according to this new demand and the time was ticking for the high tide window.

After it was done and sent we took a taxi in a hurry to Migracion where the officer on duty seemed to be very unsure on how to handle our check out. He had to call the Port Captain’s office in Caldera to confirm they knew about our intention to check out and he also called his colleague that we met two days earlier to check what we had agreed with him. After this he gave thumbs up and issued the exit document from Migracion and stamped our passports.

In the taxi back to the marina I texted to the Port Official that he will receive the documents within a few minutes. He now replied that he needed to have the original stamped papers from the Migracion! After some discussion we agreed that we can leave them in the Marina reception for him to pick up. He replied – I am coming to pick them up at the Marina. I waited at the marina entrance until 9:15am, but no Port Captain Official showed up, so I handed the papers to the Marina Reception.

But wait.. there’s more

Then I had to go to the boat and start to move out of the marina. We had less than 20 cm of water under the keel when we passed the shallows. If we had been 10-15 minutes later, we would have been stuck in the mud. The marina manager led us out in a panga and just as we reached safe depth I get a mail from the port official with a request to pay an extra fee of 18 USD for “extraordinary services”. This is 09:30 on a Saturday morning when I get this message and we have just managed to get the boat over the shallows. I was thinking – “What the f….?” but tried to focus on finding a solution. So I proposed that we arrange there will be 18 USD together with the documents in the reception of the marina. The response is: “No- it has to be paid in the bank to the Port Captain’s Office!” This is now too much for us and I argued that:

• We have been so extremely thorough to follow all instructions from Capitanarie and Migracion and double-check what is needed for our departure.
• We have just checked out at Migracion and have now only two hours left before we are illegal in Costa Rica.
• It is Saturday morning and the bank is closed and does not open until Monday at 9:00 am.
• We have left the marina and are on our way out to the sea.

An impossible demand

To come with this completely new demand that is impossible for us to fulfil, is not acceptable. I politely note that there is nothing we can do now, that this situation is really not caused by us and he must be able find a solution internally in order to issue the Zarpe. He just refuses and refers to his internal rules and governmental policies.

But I am 100% sure that actually, he just does not want to correct his error or to help us. He then indicates back to us that we should have used an agent instead of trying to do it ourselves! I reply back that it should be possible for us, sailing on our own sailing vessel, to be able to check out from any country without using an agent for many hundreds of dollars. But his comment about using an agent triggers a not so nice thought in our minds in that the Capitanarie may have too close relationships with the agents and deliberately sabotages the Zarpe process for us who was trying to do it by ourselves. No proof at all for this, but it is not an unlikely thought. The only other reason would be complete incompetence.

We left Costa Rica and sailed to El Salvador. After being outside of phone/internet coverage for more than two days I could access my mail again and just note that there were no Zarpe from Costa Rica in my inbox  – and I had contacted the manager at the marina in Puntarenas and asked him to pay the 18 dollar in the bank urgently on our behalf and I would cover this and all other expenses in an allowance to make a withdrawal from my credit card.

Come back and do it again!

As he had a friend in the local administration he wanted to first contact him in order to reach out to the Port Captain to see if there were a way to solve the problem. But now the message from the Port Captain was that the papers we had created on Friday and Saturday were now too old!!!! And that we had to come back to Puntarenas and do the whole process again – and use an agent! But we were now in El Salvador and cannot turn back.

The situation was absurd, and we got the feeling that whatever we did – the Port Captain had decided that we should not be able to clear out unless we hire an agent to do the job for us. We got the feeling that the official we dealt with was very supportive to us in the beginning. But frankly we also believe that he got new orders from his superiors right at the time when we should do the check out on Saturday morning. This was just an ambush on us and they managed to raise our level of frustration and fury a few steps.

How did we then manage to clear into El Salvador? Well, we just told them the truth and showed all the supporting documents – and that was it…

To add to the story:

We have friends on another sailing vessel who just a few days after us decided to make the same check out process by themselves as we tried to do, so I gave them all information and advice based on our experience. They spent two days to have all the work done. When they were at the Aduana the officer first refused to issue the exit paper for the boat without an agent.

After our friends informed the officer that it is illegal to put up such requirement to them, he reluctantly issued the exit document. In the end of the process, they met the Port Captain in Caldera whose reaction was quite interesting; He laughed and said directly to them that he did not expect them to be able to make all the procedures and paperwork needed for a zarpe without an agent. But the back side of this story is that they instead missed the tide window to get the boat out of the marina so they were stuck there for one more day – not being able to leave within the three hour limit from Migracion.

It just seems to be impossible to clear out from Costa Rica in Puntarenas without violating the requirements from either the Migracion Police or the Port Captain – if you do not have an agent.

Costa Rica has a lot to offer, and you can go there to have a lot of fun in this eco- and adventure-touristic theme park of a country – and pay the high dollars – but think twice and be prepared for the cost and/or the hassle before you bring your boat there. You are now warned!

Tore Janson
Captain
Song of the Sea