Bahamas cruising Fees
- Thread starter Mikala
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Comodave
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2015
- Messages
- 21,297
- Location
- Au Gres, MI
- Vessel Name
- Black Dog
- Vessel Make
- Formula 41PC
The $4000 per year would discourage me from cruising there. Hopefully it will be reasonable for our 40 to 50’ boats.
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2018
- Messages
- 713
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Wanderlust
- Vessel Make
- 1999 Jefferson Rivanna 52'
Yikes.
Dougcole
Guru
Hmmmm, so the fee for up to a three month stay doesn't change? $150 for 35' and under, $300 for 36' and over is the current rate, though the cruising permit is good for a year, not three months.
Sounds like the ones most affected will be those that stay over three months at a time and maybe for substantially larger boats? May not be as bad for the "average" boater.
More and more though, it seems like 30 to 45' cruising boat is a dying breed in the Bahamas. Mostly now we see big center consoles with twins, trips or quads and bigger yachts, 60' and over. Neither of these boaters anchors out much, they mostly stay on land or in marinas, so that part of it anyway is a good thing.
The center consoles won't care, as they are under 35' mostly, never stay more than a week or so, and often don't bother checking in to customs anyway, from what I can tell. The big yachts won't even notice a $4,000 fee, so it won't hurt them either.
Sounds like the ones most affected will be those that stay over three months at a time and maybe for substantially larger boats? May not be as bad for the "average" boater.
More and more though, it seems like 30 to 45' cruising boat is a dying breed in the Bahamas. Mostly now we see big center consoles with twins, trips or quads and bigger yachts, 60' and over. Neither of these boaters anchors out much, they mostly stay on land or in marinas, so that part of it anyway is a good thing.
The center consoles won't care, as they are under 35' mostly, never stay more than a week or so, and often don't bother checking in to customs anyway, from what I can tell. The big yachts won't even notice a $4,000 fee, so it won't hurt them either.
Dougcole
Guru
Hey Menzies,
I forgot about the Exumas, you are right a lot of Mega Yachts anchor out there. Nowhere near as many in other areas though, in my experience. The other places we go (Abaco, Berrys, Bimini, Eluthera) we generally only see them under way or in marinas.
As far as the CC consoles and not clearing in, I'm a fisherman, I was a guide for 13 years, so I have friends in those circles. I talk to a lot of them on the docks when we are over there as well. I'm well aware that they are SUPPOSED to check in, but I can tell you for a certainty that many of them do not. I'm religious about it, it would scare me to death to skip checking in, but I get laughed at about that. They also don't bother to check back into the US either.
It's not a money thing for them, it's more about effort and attitude. Perhaps the online portal that is mentioned in your clip would help with that.
I heard a well substantiated rumor that Bahamian law enforcement walked the docks at Bluff House and Green Turtle Club last spring checking every boats papers and that they caught quite a few people, both cruisers and fisherman.
I'm still confused as to the rates that are listed in your clip, it's very vague. "Set rates based on size and length of stay ranging from $150 to $4,000" covers a lot of ground. Have you seen any actual price tables? In my experience, the Bahamian Govt. is super unorganized and takes forever to nail something like this down. The recent attempt at implementing a flats fishing license has been an abject disaster resulting in mass confusion and dramatic declines in business for fishing lodges. So much so that the PM said, in print, that they were not going to enforce the law.
A few years back there was a consideration to raise the cruising fee from $300 to $400 and there was so much outrage that they backed off of it. So I can't imagine that raising it form $300 to $4,000 for the vast majority of boats, short of the very largest, would even be considered. But then again you never know.
I did some googling but couldn't find any more info on this, so let us know if you hear more.
Thanks.
I forgot about the Exumas, you are right a lot of Mega Yachts anchor out there. Nowhere near as many in other areas though, in my experience. The other places we go (Abaco, Berrys, Bimini, Eluthera) we generally only see them under way or in marinas.
As far as the CC consoles and not clearing in, I'm a fisherman, I was a guide for 13 years, so I have friends in those circles. I talk to a lot of them on the docks when we are over there as well. I'm well aware that they are SUPPOSED to check in, but I can tell you for a certainty that many of them do not. I'm religious about it, it would scare me to death to skip checking in, but I get laughed at about that. They also don't bother to check back into the US either.
It's not a money thing for them, it's more about effort and attitude. Perhaps the online portal that is mentioned in your clip would help with that.
I heard a well substantiated rumor that Bahamian law enforcement walked the docks at Bluff House and Green Turtle Club last spring checking every boats papers and that they caught quite a few people, both cruisers and fisherman.
I'm still confused as to the rates that are listed in your clip, it's very vague. "Set rates based on size and length of stay ranging from $150 to $4,000" covers a lot of ground. Have you seen any actual price tables? In my experience, the Bahamian Govt. is super unorganized and takes forever to nail something like this down. The recent attempt at implementing a flats fishing license has been an abject disaster resulting in mass confusion and dramatic declines in business for fishing lodges. So much so that the PM said, in print, that they were not going to enforce the law.
A few years back there was a consideration to raise the cruising fee from $300 to $400 and there was so much outrage that they backed off of it. So I can't imagine that raising it form $300 to $4,000 for the vast majority of boats, short of the very largest, would even be considered. But then again you never know.
I did some googling but couldn't find any more info on this, so let us know if you hear more.
Thanks.
Dougcole
Guru
That seems to be their standard procedure. I'll be surprised if this is put in place by 2020, if at all.
The Bahamian Govt and some private Bahamian businesses seem to have a different view on business than most US based business do. Here if we see a decline in either sales or number of customers we tend to lower prices to attract more volume. There they raise prices to try to keep revenue the same off of a smaller number of customers. It's a losing game in the end, but I guess you could say the same thing about either method.
