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The Biblical Job Was a Sniveling Whiner

We don’t care what anybody says, the Biblical Job didn’t suffer anywhere nearly as much as the Grand Poobah of the Baja Ha-Ha has in his endless attempts to make paperwork requirements understandable to normal human beings wanting to bring their boats to Mexico.

We love Mexico, we love the Mexican people, but despite the intention of the Mexican bureaucracy to make it as easy as possible for people taking boats to Mexico, they have achieved the exact opposite. It has been sheer insanity.

Here’s a recent example: Last Thursday we were invited to a special meeting of representatives of the Mexican IRS, Immigration, and Fisheries to supposedly clear up all misunderstandings about the paperwork required for Mexico. One of the questions that came up, and was answered several times, was this: Does everybody on a boat need a fishing license? The answer, clearly repeated several times was, "Only people who will be fishing need a license. If there are five people on the boat, but only one fishes, only one license is needed."

Then we were handed a glossy new eight-page brochure from Tourism titled Visiting Mexico by Private Boat, which lists all the paperwork requirements for entering Mexico by boat. On page 5, under Fishing Licenses, it says the following: "If you have fishing gear onboard, get at least one fishing license." It clearly does not say "get a fishing license for everybody onboard."

So yesterday we got a call from a Ha-Ha entrant who told us that when he went to the Mexican Department of Fisheries in San Diego, they insisted he needed a license for everybody who will be on his boat. We assured him that, based on the meeting in Huntington Beach, this was not correct. Just to make sure, we called our friend from the meeting, Juan Carlos Perdomo from the Mexican Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries.

Juan, who was one of the very people who told us ‘only one fisherman, only one license’, apologized and said, "I am very sorry, that’s wrong. If there is fishing gear on the boat, everybody on the boat must have a license. It’s $35 for a month." But everybody at the meeting told us only people who were going to fish needed a license. "I’m sorry."

When we asked him why the brochure they handed out, and encouraged us to hand out to everyone headed to Mexico, said just the opposite, he simply said he was sorry, it was wrong. (Cue uncontrolled screaming by the Grand Poobah and a couple of swigs of tequila.)

To be fair — and this is equally insane — when the officials handed out the brochures, and asked us to hand them out to everyone — they said they were from Tourism, and thus "not an official document." Furthermore, they said parts of it weren’t even correct.

What?!!! Why would you hand out a brochure with incorrect information? In any event, they reiterated the now-denied claim that only people who fish would need licenses. (Cue more uncontrolled screaming by the Grand Poobah and a couple of more hits of tequila.)

There is more. If you got a TIP online, as everyone was told to do, this will make you want to tear your hair out.

After we wrote our huge post-Huntington Beach report in Lectronic Latitude, Neil Shroyer of Marina de La Paz wrote us to say: "Thanks for getting the information out, I would not know of any way better to explain things than you have in the last article of ‘Lectronic Latitude."

We took this as a huge compliment, because the three people we trust to know what’s going on in Mexico with regard to boats and the law are Tere Grossman, head of the Mexican Marina Owners Association, Neil, and not far behind, is Fito Espinoza of Marina Coral in Ensenada.

But in an email we got today, Shroyer dropped the bombshell: There are two parallel but different TIPs (Temporary Import Permits)! What?!!! Where’s that bottle of tequila? We quote:

"At this time there are two basic ways to acquire a TIP, and they are running parallel to each other. One is the Banjército direct system, and the other is the Banjército by internet system. The Banjército direct system has been updated to handle the new version of Rule 4.2.5. This one issues a parallel document along with the TIP to list the mobile accessories that includes dinghy, jet ski, quads and even a helicopter. It no longer requires that you list all the other items onboard such as sonar, radar, radio, dishwasher, etc. They do not worry about that anymore. (The other document, a ‘Registro…’, is only to be filled out when you want to bring in a new part for the vessel or repair a major piece of equipment.)

"The TIP from Banjército over the internet is still operating under the old 4.2.5 Rule criteria and is a parallel document. It has a list of accessories that is no longer valid or needed. (Where’s that bottle?) It does not issue the Listado de Accesorios móviles, which is now a requirement.

"So when you get a TIP over the internet, you get the ‘old’ TIP without the new information on it like boat name, registration number, and you are getting the wrong document to list equipment.

"Any change you make to the TIP, even if it is just to correct a mistake or to change it out for a new one to get the list of mobile accessories registered, will cost $59 dollars. This should be done before Dec 31st. They said the changes would be free of charge, but so far that hasn’t been the case.

"One option is for boats to come down to Mexico without a TIP, and get it when they get to La Paz. Because of electrical problems after Odile, they are issuing them by hand now. But they will probably have the system up and running by the time the fleet arrives here mid-November. There should be no inspection of TIPs until after December 31."

We don’t know where to begin the outrage. For Neil, who almost always knows what he’s talking about, is saying: 1) Nobody needed to get a TIP online in the first place. 2) If you get an online TIP, it’s outdated, and you will have to pay to get a new one when you get to Mexico anyway. 3) Nobody had to waste time filling out ‘Belongings and Accessories’ page, which was all screwed up anyway. 4) Banjercito shouldn’t be charging for corrections to TIPs, but they are anyway.

Do you think it would have been helpful if one of the officials at the Huntington Beach meeting could have mentioned any of this? The closest they came to it was saying that if there were mistakes on a TIP, you could get them changed at Banjercito by December 31. Which, as is par for the course, was wrong.

As much as we love Mexico, we have to confess their system (actually their non-system) is the biggest mess we’ve ever seen. They have been absolute failures in giving guidance in what needs to be done and what options there are to getting it done. What printed guidance they’ve given is often wrong. The officials don’t know the rules and regulations for their own departments, and have disseminated incorrect information. You cannot trust anything that is written. You can’t trust anything officials tell you. And frankly, now we’re not even sure that Neil knows what he’s talking about, for the new TIP we got over the Internet does, unlike what said, include our boat’s name and registration (meaning, we assume, HIN and document number.)

Please excuse the Poobah, as we have to go out for a bigger jeroboam of tequila.

So what should you do? We hate to say this, but we don’t have a ‘f–kin’ clue, because we don’t think anybody in Mexico has any idea either, and nothing in writing can be believed. It is the definition of chaos.

Oh, there is one bit of good news. Yet another new set of guidelines for paperwork, Juan Carlos tells us, should be available "soon."

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