Can a boat clear customs in Puerto de Vita?

Can a boat clear customs in Puerto de Vita?

Question: Puerto de Vita has a marina and guarda, but can a boat clear customs there? (Traveling from The Bahamas)

Answer: Marina Internacional Puerto de Vita, located on the northeast coast of Cuba in Holguín Province, is one of three international marinas coming under the Cuban tourist agency Gaviota. The other two are Marina María La Gorda, located on the west coast of Pinar del Río Province, and Marina Varadero, located in Matanzas Province.

All three marinas listed above provide both immigration and customs services.

For additional information on any of these three marinas, contact Gaviota’s Director of Promotion, Carlos A. Benítez Meriño, who is based in Havana. He is the person responsible for responding to any questions about any of Gaviota’s three marinas. His contact information follows:

Email   geren_prom@gaviota.cu
Telephone (53 7) 869-5774

As for Marina Internacional Puerto de Vita, by land it is reached by the Carretera de Guardalavaca, km. 38, Rafael Freyre, Holguín. By sea it is located at Latitude 21°05’48”N, Longitude 75°57’36”W, with the entrance to the bay signalled by a 30 metre-high lighthouse. The marina, which can be contacted on VHF 13 or 16 (24 hours), has 38 slips with a depth of 2.5 to 3 metres. Services include water, electricity (110/220 V, 60 Hz), ship chandlery, fuel (diesel and gasoline), restaurant, lodging, phone and Internet, laundry, pharmacy and medical services, trash, nautical hardware store, car hire and taxi, etc. There is also an anchorage with water taxi service, and some minor repairs are possible. Puerto de Vita also has the distinction of offering protection from hurricanes.

The telephone numbers provided for Puerto de Vita by Gaviota’s offices in Havana and Varadero are (53 24) 430436 or (53 24) 430445, but it is difficult getting through. You’d be better off contacting the Director of Promotion indicated above.

If you would like to read an account of a small cruiser which made the trip from The Bahamas to Puerto de Vita, see www.boatus.com/cruising/littlegidding/200404-15.asp (BoatUS Cruising Logs). Although dating from April 2004, the account is interesting and informative about docking in Puerto de Vita as well as about local immigration and customs services.