Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Bringing a boat to Costa Rica
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December 12, 2006 at 12:00 am #180336michaeldayMember
Hi…We are moving to Costa Rica in approx. 5 months to retire.
We have a heritage boat here in Vancouver, Canada, meaning it was built in 1928.
We’re considering shipping it overland or boating from San Diego.
The boat weighs 14 tons, which is not a problem to ship anywhere in North America..but Costa Rican info is hard to come by.
Do you have suggestions…also even if we arrive by sea, marinas seem almost non existant and I’ve searched for the tax implications as we would want to live aboard and that seems difficult to obtain.
Any help with information would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
MichaelDecember 12, 2006 at 8:52 pm #180337AndrewKeymasterI shudder at the thought of the logistics and expenses involved in shipping a 14 ton boat overland from the USA to Costa Rica. Overland is probably not be the best way to go about it …
This will be one those ‘hard-to-get’ answers and if you plan on living aboard and keeping this boat in ‘tip-top’ condition, don’t suppose there’s anything from preventing you from sailing to Nicaragua or Panama every few months…
This might be a way of legally avoiding what would probably be significant import taxes on your boat… It’s probably considered a very valuable antique here 🙂
You might find some information at the Costa Rica Yacht Club at
You might also inquire about the new Puerto Azul development featured on this site which has started on their new marina. They do have spaces available but I don’t know for how long.
The apartments won’t be finished for some time but you can reserve a place without owning an apartment and it’s right next door to the Costa Rica Yacht Club.
The following articles may be of interest to you about that new project:
1. Puntarenas Luxury Condo Apartments & Marina Resort – Free developer video interviews.
2. Puntarenas Luxury Condo Resort & Marina – Progress is being made with the marina.
3. Costa Rica Condos – New Puntarenas project could turn this city around.
4. Puntarenas Luxury Condo Floor Plans
5. Costa Rica Living in Puntarenas
6. Puntarenas Real Estate – Video Interview with the President of the Tourism Board
7. Puntarenas Beach Photographs
8. New Luxury Condos in Puntarenas – How to choose which apartment is best for you.
9. The Beautiful and Mostly Deserted Islands in the Gulf of Nicoya
Best wishes
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comDecember 15, 2006 at 11:34 pm #180338philipbennieMemberImport tax (and to get the boat registered as Costa Rican) will cost about 50% of the assessed value. You can probably assess it quite low due to its age but it will require a good lawyer or careful work yourself to do this. (note its hard to find a lawyer with real experience of registering boats – make sure they have done a lot before.
Travelling overland will be do problem. Massive trucks travel through central america daily. However you may need a customs agent to enter the countrty as its unlikely you can convince customs that you will be taking it out again.December 15, 2006 at 11:38 pm #180339philipbennieMembercome by sea, sail down the coast, check out marinas etc and stay for three months, then leave for Panama or Nicaragua. Marinas here tend to cater for sports fishing boats. There are some good anchorages and ports you can use. Things will change dramatically in the next few years as more marinas open.
December 16, 2006 at 2:26 pm #180340mcsolasMemberMy friends (tiki adventures) tried to run a boat charter. Its tricky if you want to work the waters.. they had a heck of a time and the goverment wanted them to reflag here!
I think living on the boat, you would need to just keep your visa valid. We recently made a trip to san juan del sur harbor ( nicaragua ) and it was an amazing run. Big port, nice city there.
It seems to me that as long as your not trying to work, its not going to be a very big deal.
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