Our thanks to Frank Virgintino for passing on this information – 30 January 2010.

See update from cruisers at bottom of the report – April 2010.

The current clearing in the process for the Dominican Republic has been simplified further with some additional changes.

The way it stands now is when a boat arrives to clear in the fee is $43.00 for the boat and $10.00 for each visa which is good for 30 days and easily renewable. These fees are paid to immigration and numbered receipts are given. The fees are paid only once.

The coast guard (Marina Guerra), along with M-2 (Intelligence) and Department of Drugs may board your boat on arrival. There is no charge for their services.

The Coast Guard also issues a Despacho from harbor to harbor. Despacho’s are issued only to “Puertos Habilitado” (Ports that have a clearing in and out facilities). Stopping between official ports can be done with your Despacho provided you have a reason. Reasons can include being tired to take a rest, mechanical work etc. Some of the intermediate ports get more traffic and the officials at those ports are easier to deal with. Some ports or anchorages like Punta Macao on the east end have a reputation for asking for a fee for stopping, although such requests do not have to be honored.

The country has a culture that relies on tipping and it is customary but not mandatory.

At some of the ports, there may be additional charges for rubbish disposal or for an agricultural inspection ($10.00 US).

Department of Ports has jurisdiction over all government docks and if you go alongside a government dock you will be asked to pay $.70 cents the US per foot for every 24 hours, whether you stay for one hour or 24 hours. In the Bay of Samana, when you anchor, ports will ask you to pay $.70 per foot for anchoring. This is not part of what the law requires (Law 519-5) and the request is inappropriate. I anchored there the week after Christmas and was asked to pay. I politely declined and told the officer that the charge was inappropriate. The official was polite and asked me to come to the office and speak with the supervisor. I spoke with the Supervisor and told him I would not pay as the charge was not warranted or required by the law. The supervisor smiled and told me to have a nice day and I departed without problem or incident. As far as I know, only Samana and sometimes Luperon have tried to assess this anchoring charge. The Department of Ports has NO JURISDICTION OVER THE HARBOR, only over government docks. Only the Coast Guard (Marina Guerra) has jurisdiction over the harbors.

If you choose to pay no tips and can remain polite and steadfast, the ONLY CHARGES to visit the DR with your boat are the $43.00 to bring the boat in and the $10.00 per person for the visa which is good for 30 days. The $43.00 for the boat is a one time charge and is good for up to one year. After that to keep a foreign flagged boat in the country requires some paperwork that results in a fee of about $250.00 US for the following year.

The entire process for cruising boats is becoming easier almost daily in the DR. More and more boats can be seen throughout the North, East and South coasts.

Message Received – 21 April 2010.

Your latest updates in DR were helpful. Here is the situation in Luperon: as per your document, $43.00 plus $10.pp. and then agriculture $10.00.

Then we had an entrance to the bay fee for $10.00 and were asked to buy a Tourist card for $10.00pp (except for the Captain.

Marleyne Mauri

s/v/ La Buena Vida