Guatemala

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Guatemala Cruising Guide

An online cruising guide for yachts sailing to Guatemala.

Guatemala
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Flag
Capital:	Guatemala City 14°38′N, 90°30′W
Language:	Spanish
Currency:	Quetzal (GTQ)
Timezone:	UTC-6
More notes about the country
Latest News
May 2009 From Daphne Becker - Tortugal Marina: Good news for cruisers! The Guatemallan Navy/Coast Guard is patrolling Rio Dulce in the area where most vessels are concentrated, which includes the following marinas: Tortugal, Tijax, Mario's Monkey Bay, Mar Marine, Nana Juana, Catamaran, Bruno's. This 24 hour patrol began in October, 2008 and no further incidents have been reported within the patrolled area. For the time being, it is best to plan to check into Livingston early in the morning and proceed up-river to anchor or pick up a mooring near one of the marinas mentioned above. The organization of hotel and marina owners hopes that the government of Guatemala will extend this very successful program to other areas in Rio Dulce, such as the Canyon, Rio Tatin, and Livingston.

Contents 1 Guatemala Cruising Guide 1.1 Cruising the region 2 Climate & Weather 3 Charts 3.1 Special Navigation Notes 4 Approaches and Navigation 5 Local Radio Nets 6 Arrival/Departure procedures 6.1 Arrival 6.2 Departure 7 Customs and Immigration 7.1 Immigration 7.2 Customs 8 Health and Security 8.1 Health 8.2 Security 9 Regions 10 Ports & Popular Stops 10.1 Ports 10.2 Marinas & Yacht Clubs 10.3 Anchorages 11 Offshore Islands 12 Transportation 13 Routes/Passages To/From 13.1 Florida to Guatemala Passage 14 Cruiser's Friends 15 Forum Discussions 16 External Links 17 References & Publications 18 Personal Notes

Add here any background, cruising, and historical comments.

Cruising the region

Add any cruising recommendations. If not applicable delete this section.

Climate & Weather

Submit the climate & general weather details here. For very large countries remove this section and cover weather in Region ( Region Template) pages.

Sources of weather forecasting here.

Charts

Source

Chart Number - Chart Name

Chart Number - Chart Name

Source

Chart Number - Chart Name

Special Navigation Notes

Any navigation notes here.

Approaches and Navigation

Any navigation notes here. If this section does not apply remove it.

Local Radio Nets

• Rio Dulce - A boater's "round-table" net is conducted each morning at 7:30 AM on VHF 69. The net first handles any priority traffic, a mail call, services offered or needed, buy, sell or trade, along with some "commercial" announcements.

Also see World Cruiser's Nets.

Arrival/Departure procedures

Arrival

On arrival, vessels will be visited by Customs, Immigration, Local Police, Health and the Port Captain.

The Customs officer will attach a sticker (special permit) on the yacht on your arrival at the first port of entry. This must always be prominently displayed on the vessel until your departure from the region.

Departure

A zarpe (clearance) must be obtained from the Immigration officer and this must be signed by the Port Captain. Ensure that passports have exit stamps from Immigration.

Customs and Immigration

Immigration

Prior visas are not necessary by nationals of the E.U., Andorra, Argentina, Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Nicaragua, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Uruguay.

Passports must have a validity of at least six months. Prior visas are not required for citizens of most countries - a tourist visa card is purchased on entry. This CA-4 visa applies to:- Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The length of stay is normally 90 days and applies to the whole group. Only one extension will be granted. To remain in the region longer, a visit to a country outside the CA-4 area must be made and a new visa is issued on re-entry.

Customs

• Firearms, ammunition and pets MUST be declared on arrival. Firearms and ammunition will be held in custody by the police or the Port Captain until your departure from the port.
• Pets require a recent veterinary health certificate and valid proof of an anti-rabies vaccination.
• A cruising yacht is granted a 90 day stay on arrival and a 9 month extension can be arranged. After the first year it is possible to obtain another 12 month extension.

Health and Security

Health

Amoebic Dysentery is a major problem in the country. Malaria prophylaxis should be taken.

Security

Details?

Regions

Use this section to name major regions. This way this page is kept in manageable size, under 30kBytes. For an example see Australia. Remove this section if there are no Regions.

List here region pages. Use Region Template in each of these.

Ports & Popular Stops

Ports

Caribbean Coast

• Livingston (Port of entry)
  • Rio Dulce
• Puerto Barrios (Port of entry)

Pacific Coast

• * Puerto Quetzal (Port of entry)

Marinas & Yacht Clubs

Use this section only if there are few marinas not covered in pages under Ports and Islands above. Remove if not applicable.

Anchorages

List anchorages except the ones covered under Offshore Islands below. If there is more then 2 paragraphs for a given anchorage, create a dedicated page for it (Port/Stop Template).

Offshore Islands

List islands and island groups belonging to this country. If there is more then 2 paragraphs for a given island, create a dedicated page for it (Island Template and/or Island Group Template).

Transportation

List transportation to other countries, etc.

Routes/Passages To/From

List popular passages/routes, timing, etc.

Florida to Guatemala Passage

Describe the passage/route/stop-overs/timing, etc.

Cruiser's Friends

Submit details/contacts of cruiser's "friends" that can be contacted in advance or on arrival - who can offer information and assistance to our cruising "family".

Forum Discussions

List links to discussion threads on partnering forums. (see link for requirements)

• Gautemala Crime and Cruising - from the Rio Dulce

External Links

• Guatemala at the Wikipedia

References & Publications

Books, Guides, etc. Use the Reference template or not at your discretion. For example:

Rod Heikel, Greek Waters Pilot, Imray Laurie and Wilson, Cambridgeshire, ISBN 9780852889718, expands to

Rod Heikell, Greek Waters Pilot Imray, Laurie and Wilson, Cambridgeshire, ISBN 9780852889718

• Author, Title, Publisher, ISBN ISBN number
• Author, Title, Publisher, ISBN ISBN number

You may want to remove the above entries and use instead a link to the Country or Region that lists the relevant references. If so enter, after removing xx, the following:

See [[Country or Region#References_&_Publications|Coutry or Region]].

If you do not use the above link, please remove it.

Personal Notes

Personal experiences?

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This page has an outline in place but needs completing. Please contribute if you can to help it grow further. Click on Comments to suggest further content or alternatively, if you feel confident to edit this page, click on the edit tab at the top and enter your changes directly.

Contributors to this page
Names: Lighthouse, Haiqu

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