"Marine services Roberto Puerto WIlliams - Inspection and certification"

To contact me:

Formalities for Sailboats at Puerto Williams

Arriving in Puerto Williams by the Beagle Channel:

- Call the Harbourmaster (Capitania de Puerto) 30 minutes before arrival (VHF CH 16, call sign "Puerto Williams Radio") and inform about your ETA

- Moor at the Micalvi ship, to one of the boat rows. If there is no space for your boat, there are a few buoys at the entrance of the bay (see city map), or drop your anchor just outside the entrance, taking care not to line up with the airport runway, whose control tower is clearly visible (see city map).

Formalities to be completed with the authorities:

1. First you have to visit the Harbourmaster (Capitania de Porto, point 6 on the city map). Take your boat document and passports. To check in to Puerto Williams you will have to fill up different forms about your boat, safety equipment etc. You will also have to pay a yearly local tax for lighthouses and beacons (about 70 USD for a 14 m boat).

2. Next you have to visit the Immigration (Control Migratorio y Seguridad Internacional, PDI - Policía De Investigaciones frontera, point 5 on the city map), appointments only at 10. 00, 15.00 and 18.00 o'clock). If you check in to Chile from abroad, all crew will have to be there with their passports.

3. Then the captain will have to go to the Customs with the ship's papers (Aduana, point 8 on the city map)

4. The Department of Agriculture (Departamento de Agricultura, pomt 10 on the city map) is the last place where you'll have to go, together with the whole crew: you will have to fill up some forms there, and in principle the officer will visit your boat afterwards to check your food.

5. If you then intend to sail around Cape Horn or into the Patagonian channels (for example up to Puerto Montt), you'll have to request a cruise permit from the Harbourmaster, indicating your ETA at the main stops along the trip. The Harbourmaster will issue either a domestic or an international sailing document (zarpe) for all yachts departing Puerto Williams.