On the Hard in Puerto Lucia

Clearance in La Libertad

The clearance here was easy, but expensive. PLYC arranged for all the officials to be here. We had 5 guys in our cockpit... 4 officials and an agent. We only had to pay $13 for 'Reception', but the agent gave us a 'bill' that we will have to pay on clearing out, for the following additional costs:

Zarpe: $43.50
Immigration: $15
Agent Fee $185

This is just for clearance from Bahia de Caraquez, and our clearance back to Bahia. Coming in from somewhere else, would cost a little more, I think. We DIDN'T have to pay a 'lights and bouys' fee, which we had already paid in Bahia (and could show a receipt for).

The agent fee is for a commercial agent to do all our in/out paperwork. (In Bahia, an agent is also required when entering or leaving, but Puerto Amistad acts as the agent and charges no fee).

I am not sure who bore the cost of getting the officials here... in Bahia you pay $60 taxi fare to taxi the officials from Manta. This fee is likely either the 'Reception' fee, or embedded in the Agent Fee.

We discussed with the Customs official, the one who has been making cruisers lives miserable here, our plans to stay at Puerto Lucia for about 2 months. This is the guy who has been using a rule not intended to apply to sailing vessels, to limit the boat stay to 6 months. (which, of course, can be extended if you jump through the right hoops). He agreed that we could stay 2 months (which would make our stay 'in country' over 6 months), and said that if we needed more time, we'd just need to write a letter explaining that we were still working on the boat. We won't know how this will all turn out until we leave, but we're not too worried about it.

Haulout

Costs to Haul Out, for our 44' Boat are as follows:

Travel Lift: $445.76 (does not include pressure wash)
Monthly Fee: $663.04 / mo (gets a little cheaper months 3+)
Liveaboard fee: $5/day
Water: Metered at $3/250 gallons
Elec: Metered at .25/Kwh

The 'Liveaboard Fee' only applies when we are actually on the boat. It seems high when added on top of Water, Electricity, and the monthly cost for the boat, but what it does is give us access to the BEAUTIFUL club facilities here.

I think dockage is the same as the 'on the hard' fee. And right now there are plenty of slips available. The prices are high for Ecuador, but the facility is first class. Is a great place to leave the boat safely.

Puerto Lucia Yacht Club

Wow, what a nice place. This is a full 'yacht club' complex, including about 10 hotel rooms, 2 restaurants, 2 pools, a sauna, 3 tennis courts, a fully-equipped gym, a computer room with internet access, a 24x7 gate guard and foot patrols. The $5/day liveaboard fee (which is NOT optional, if you are here), pays for access to all that.




There is a big mall right down the street, complete with 8-screen movie theater, food court, and a big 'Hypermart', which is somewhat like a Super Walmart... Ace Hardware, clothing store, and big grocery store in one.

We haven't yet had time to explore the town of La Libertad, but I know there is a great market there, where we can get fresh veggies and seafood for really good prices. It's a 35-cent bus ride from here, or a $1 taxi ride. And the beach town of Salinas is about the same distance in the other direction.

The Weather and Working Conditions

We have never had such a nice environment for working on the boat. Or living on the boat for that matter. The temp is a fairly constant 75F during the day, and a little cooler at night. There's usually a 10kt breeze. It is dry, no thunderstorms, or the hot muggy weather that's in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia right now.

Stewart Yacht Services

Run by Canadian ex-pat, George Stewart, and his Ecuadorian wife, Marisol, Stewart Yacht Services is a do-all yacht services company that works out of PLYC. He comes highly recommended by other cruisers. We have George and his guys stripping Soggy Paws down to bare fiberglass, addressing blister issues, and then building it back up with a barrier coat and bottom paint.

So far we have found George very helpful and knowledgable, and his 'guys' very hard workers. We are paying George for good, experienced workers at the rate of $60/day, plus materials. George regularly ships stuff from the U.S. into Ecuador, and also knows all the local contacts for things like galvinizing chain, bottom paint, etc.

Immigration Issues

We were really sweating the 3-month tourist visa limitation, when we found we didn't get 'reset' on re-entry to Ecuador a few weeks ago. But since then, we know of one cruiser here at PLYC who successfully extended himself another 6 months (in Guayaquil). He documented the process for us, and we plan to follow his lead and do our own extension when the time comes.

Diesel Fuel

Getting diesel fuel has been a bit of a problem in Ecuador in the last few years. The problem is, they sell fuel to the people of Ecuador at nationally subsidized prices (the price is currently around $1/gallon ). Apparently some boats (maybe not cruisers, but fishing boats) were coming to Ecuador and filling up, and then going elsewhere and selling Ecuadorian fuel at a huge profit. So Ecuador made a law that prohibited selling fuel to foreigners. Of course, that was a great inconvenience for visiting sailboats, and there has been much said about the problem in the SSCA newsletters and online forums.

Now, 2 years later, things have settled out a little. Puerto Lucia has a permit, that they say cost them $100,000 in fees and surveys, to sell fuel to foreigners. The cost for 'foreign fuel' is around $2/gal right now. Double what the locals pay, but still substantially cheaper than surrounding countries.

Bahia WAS selling fuel under a temporary permit, for $1.50/gal when we arrived in Feb. But recently, they became 'unpermitted' (don't ask, we don't know). Tripp Martin at Puerto Amistad is working feverishly on formalizing an official permit. In the meantime, there is a 'workaround' so cruising boats coming to Bahia can get diesel when needed.

Ecuador is a great place, I can't believe there aren't more cruisers here. Even with the changing regulations and the high agent fee in Puerto Lucia, it's still a great place.