Checking Out of Mexico and More Jungle Wildlife

Sunrise on Thursday, January 2

Eric was at the marina office as soon as they opened. He found out that the coffee tour and the chocolate tour are in opposite directions and needed to be done on different days. The tour guide wasn’t available today, but he was tomorrow.

The marina office said that they would drive Eric to the various official’s offices so Eric could do the check-out paperwork. Even though we weren’t leaving until Saturday, we could check out today, which would give us the flexibility to do the tour tomorrow.

We booked the chocolate tour for tomorrow and Eric immediately got started on the check-out paperwork. There were three other boats checking out today, as well. When Eric was done filling out the forms, the marina said to go back to Kosmos to wait for the others. They’d call Eric on the radio when everyone was ready, and they’d all go together.

We needed to return the car, so we rushed to the airport. The international airport in Chiapas is surprisingly nice given the small population. Being able to easily fly in and out helps makes Puerto Chiapas an attractive location to leave boats during trips back home.

Fortunately, the airport wasn’t busy. The return process was quick and there was a taxi at the taxi stand, so we didn’t have to wait for a ride back. When we returned to the marina, we were relieved to find that the others weren’t done yet, so we hadn’t held the group up. Not long after returning, Eric was summoned on the radio.

The first stop was the immigration office, which was next to the instant coffee factory. They stamped our passports as exited to Panama.

The next stop was the port captain, which was located in Puerto Madero, near the Puerto Madero sign. They stamped Kosmos’s zarpe (entry/exit form) as exited to Panama. Mexico has recently implemented a new policy. While they will let captains into the country without proof of competency, they will not let captains back out without proof of competency. A few years ago, California mandated that everyone who operates a watercraft must have a California Boater ID card, which is the equivalent of a driver’s license for boats. The port captain accepted Eric’s California Boater ID card as proof of competency.

At both offices, our paperwork was quick to process. However, between the two offices, it took about two hours in total to sort through the paperwork for all four boats. Back at the marina office, Eric made a reservation for the last of the officials to come about on Saturday at 0830 to complete the rest of the paperwork.

We had lunch at Baos yet again. They have such a big menu that we still haven’t tried everything yet! Eric got a dish called Pollo Tropical, which was a chicken breast stuffed with plantains. The breast had been sliced up like a sushi roll and was covered in a sweet and sour tamarind sauce.