I read the comments at the bottom of the Greece main page about Schengen problems, various taxes and penalties people have been subjected to at different ports in Greece, and as you can clearly see from these comments it is a “dog’s breakfast”. The problems are two-fold;

1) Some of the Greek port authorities are poorly informed or poorly understand their own rules and regulations, or they don’t care, and it is impossible to get a straight answer anywhere – often you get different rulings and answers to identical questions even in the same port when different personnel are on duty, between different ports it gets worse. Much depends on the officer on duty when you clear-in or clear-out, sometimes rules are enforced sometimes they are not – one can never be sure ahead of time.

2) Some of the cruisers are ill-informed about the rules and regulations, understandably so since it is impossible to get a clear answer in the first place. Basic rules apply though and should be followed to avoid fines and penalties; ie Schengen allows 90 days out of 180 days, sometimes extensions can be obtained but not often, this is not a Greek issue, it is a Schengen one. Accepting or believing anything different is dangerous, especially when they come from Customs officers or port police (this is an immigration issue), some ports are strict, others do not care much. In many cases, it is the luck of the draw, and for the most part, one should either follow the rules or not follow the rules depending on one’s risk tolerance level.

The problem of the Australian Yacht as reported by Stephanielee (at the bottom of the Greece main page) of having to pay 945 euros in taxes could possibly have been avoided. My understanding of this particular tax is that it is levied on non-EU boats (and possibly the UK registered ones are also exempt), and is some kind of cruising tax. Non-EU boats are allowed to cruise 3 months with no taxes payable, then the tax kicks in and is payable every quarter. For our 13.9 meters Canadian registered boat it used to come to about 250 euro per quarter. In the past we have successfully avoided this tax when leaving the boat in Greece for the extended period of time to return to our home country by putting the boat in bond at the nearest customs office, effectively stopping the clock on the transit log.

It seems that every time we have done this (about 3 times in the past) the customs officer’s initial reaction is that no such thing exists, but when pressed they will complete the paperwork and hold your transit log till you return. Make sure you have all the documentation that you normally present when entering with you, including documents/receipt from the yard where the boat is stored.

Much uncertainty remains about taxes and port fees in Greece, but in our 4 years on and off there, we have learned to go with the flow. Almost without exception, we have found the officials friendly and helpful, much more so than in other countries. At times we have been allowed to remain in a port of non-entry with permission from the port police before clearing in at a subsequent port when arriving from outside Greece. On a recent arrival in Greece, the port police voluntarily drove us in her personal vehicle to the tourist police office, which is some distance from the marina, to get our passports stamped and she had made sure the customs office, which is also not at the marina, had copies of all our documents when we came to buy the transit log the next day! That is what I call putting out the “welcome mat”.

In many cases cruisers focus on tax issues and forget that other cruising costs in Greece are relatively low when avoiding commercial marinas – and even these are usually much lower in costs than in other countries.

We recently took one month to cruise from Kalamata to Kastelirozo, a trip of approx. 500 NM, anchored around many beautiful islands and in many beautiful harbours and we docked in a few ports, total harbour fees paid – 28 euro.

Hope this helps some cruisers,

Con Sprenger – SY Big Sky