North Coast
Cabo San Antonio – Marina Los Morros
Havana—Marina Hemingway,
Varadero—Marina Gaviota
Cayo Guillermo—Marina is depth restricted. This is an exit port only.
Puerto Vita—Marina Puerto Vita (replaced Naranjo)
Baracoa is not a port of entry
South Coast
Santiago de Cuba—Marina Santiago
Cienfuegos—Marina Cienfuegos
Cayo Largo del Sur—Marina Cayo Largo
Maria La Gorda and Manzanillo are not ports of entry
Entry Procedures
Boaters will arrive on the shores of Cuba from many different regions. The most common sailing routes are those between Cuba and: Florida, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Europeans are most like to arrive from the Eastern Caribbean.
Cuba has only seven ports of entry (PoE) and your landfall must be at one of these designated ports. To arrive in any other location—regardless of your circumstances—will result in being turned away and with the likely-hood that you will not be granted entry into Cuba when you do finally reach a designated port of entry. This may sound harsh but Cuba has a set of rules and procedures for foreign boats entering the country and these rules are strictly adhered to.
The first thing you must do when you are roughly 12 nm from the PoE is to make contact via VHF. Often 12 nm is too far away as most officials are using only a hand-held radio – contact will likely not occur until 3 nm from the coast. In most ports the harbour master will respond in English but often with a heavy accent. In all the years we have been entering Cuba we have not needed any advanced knowledge of the Spanish language. Once you have made contact, the harbour master will give you all the pertinent information for entering their port—buoyage, depth, courses, where to tie etc. After your vessel is secured the officials will come aboard. Everyone on your vessel must have a valid passport.
The entry process is relatively quick and easy. Expect it to take up to 2 hours. American’s with firearms can expect the clearance procedure to be much longer. Cuban officials will be friendly and happy to welcome you to their island. The number of officials and inspectors that will come aboard will vary from port to port and the procedure will vary slightly too. For example at Puerto Vita the Doctor will actually take everyone’s temperature, this does not happen in Varadero or Havana. For your check-in expect anywhere from two people to a dozen people including drug sniffing dogs in the larger ports. It is recommended that a member of the crew accompany any official who searches your boat.
In 2015, the entry fee was $55CUC and this is paid to the marina at your port of entry. The break down is: $20CUC for customs entry, $20CUC exit fee and $15CUC cruising permit. Once clearance of the vessel has been granted tourist visas will be issued for each member of the crew.
NOTE: Some officials will ask for a “tip or donation”. You are not in away way obliged to tip them and in many ports a handout is frowned upon by the ranking official. Tipping should never be more than 1-5 dollars.
Cruising within Cuba
If you will be doing any coastal cruising then you must have a cruising permit. The fee for the permit (despacho) was paid as part of your entrance fee.
Arriving at an out port where there is a Guarda Frontera post you will need to present the despacho for the official signature with a time/date entry. This is a quick procedure and no vessel search is required by the official. If, however, they insist upon a vessel search, then a crew member should accompany the person doing the search.