Puerto Lucia (La Libertad) - Repair Facilities

From S/V Tappan Zee, Tom and Annie: We spent 6 months at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club from May to October 2018. Over all it was a good experience. There were plusses and minuses. On the negative side, we did not feel comfortable leaving our boat in the water as we traveled inland since the surge was bad enough to break dock lines and we saw more than 1 mooring line part on the med moorings. Also, Puerto Lucia is built on a natural oilfield and crude oil bubbles up in the marina, which smells and coats anything in the water. After two weeks, we chose to haul the boat to the yard and lived on the boat at the far end on the hard, away from the working side of the yard.
Stewart Yacht Services, which works in the yard, is a great asset both for advice and boat projects. We had our non-skid replaced and some expert carpentry done at very reasonable cost. However, import duty in Ecuador is 100% on many items so obtaining supplies can be a challenge. The yard staff was helpful and friendly as were the employees of the Yacht Club Complex. The Club is surprisingly large with several high rise condos and separate exercise building and multiple, but shalloe, swimming pools and we felt perfectly safe day and night on site. Safety off site was good during the day and we took cabs at night. We were pickpocketed on a bus once.
A note on visas because there is little written instruction available. Our experience was when we checked in our visa stamp (called a Tripulante Maritimo) was identified by a ship’s image and was linked to the vessel and was valid as long as the vessel was legal (1 year). When we flew to Peru and back to Ecuador our ship-based visa was canceled at the border and we ere given a 90 day tourist visa (a T-3 visa) with an airplane image on the stamp. We did not understand the cancellation until we were informed by a lawyer’s office, but if we had overstayed the 90 day limit there is a hefty fine. One can apply for a tourist visa extension but it has to be done prior to expiration.
On a related topic, the employees at the marina yard office managing our stay were friendly, but there were language issues and a lack of documented procedures that allowed for a certain flexibility in prices and requirements between boats for visas, official visit costs, etc. When we asked questions in both English and Spanish we were told “There is no problem”. For example, only upon presenting an email obtained previously with quoted yard costs were we able to avoid a liveaboard fee not included in our quote. The quote was honored. We were happywe had it in writing.
The weather in May when we arrived was sunny but by mid-June until we left in October it was rare to see the sun as the cold Humboldt Current cooled the Pacific and the shore. Temperatures were around 20 celcius and humidity was 85%. However, there was no rain, serious wind, or storms. For the first time we had mold issues on board with the high humidity. Residents told us in October that the weather would soon change and tourist season would arrive.
Access to shopping is great with a mall within a 10-minute walk and easy and affordable buses and cabs. La Libertad has a wonderful market with fish, vegetables, and meats. There are frequent buses to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s 2nd largest city and main commercial port where we had our anchor regalvanized, Viking liferaft repacked, and dive tank pressure certified. Guayaquil is also where the main airport is. The mountain city of Cuenca is charming with a thriving community including expats.

I stayed at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club for a week at the end of September 2016 to have some repairs done and refuel before going on to Easter island (Rapa Nui). My Echomax antenna broke off and I lost the VHF antenna, while sailing from Panama to Salinas. Jeremy from Stewart Yacht Services provided an excellent service for the repairs, which included in getting me a VHF antenna on short notice, making new holders for the Echomax and VHF antenna and repairing a hole in the gelcoat of the cabin roof, where the Echomax antenna struck, when breaking off. The work was done very professionally and was very reasonably priced. Jeremy also provided us with a refill for our Panamanian propane gas tank. As my previous experience with repair services in Mallorca, Martinique and Panama have been disappointing, Stewart Yacht Services did excellent work overall.
The fees at the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club are rather expensive but the staff is very helpful. The Internet service is rather slow and has some peculiarities like being unable to send e-mails, except as webmail. The Marina office has VHF contact (Channel 19) and can receive transmissions but their transmitter is not able to send out transmissions. When you are at the entrance to the Marina and call them, they will send out a launch that will guide you to the mooring ball or dock. Diesel fuel is cheap at $2.43 per gallon. The clearing fee for the agent is now $520.00 which is expensive but the officials come to the yacht for the clearing in and clearing out.

Posted on behalf of Hans-Rudolf Lehmann, SY IBIS
I have just recently arrived in Ecuador and as Ecuadorian citizen I am in the process of re-establishing myself in the country. Up to now, Ecuador has a very reduced oportunity to cruisers to stay and we are very concerned at this point to change the infrastructure for cruisers.

This is what we have achieved at this point:
1. The new city administration of Salinas has almost finished the public access to the beach in Salinas.
2. The new city administration of Salinas is very open to discuss a project for a Marina with city administration for about 48 vessels between 25 and 60 feet.
3. The new administration of Salinas in cooperation with the National office for tourism will review the procedures to document the boat for tourism and suggest the national administration a different procedure to facilitate a less expensive and more efficient way to visit the country by boating.

In the meantime we are setting 10 mooring buoys in Salinas just outside the yacht club, which can be reserved at the email lehmannhr@gmail.com at a cost of USD 15 a day, or USD 350 monthly. We also provide water service to the boat, electricity provided by 110 V generator and fuel provision to the boat. Our agent will service the boat permit with the custom office, immigration and port clearing. Communication to the e-mail lehmannhr@gmail.com
Best regards and fair winds
Hans

Posted on behalf of SV Legacy
Legacy (40') was in Puerto Lucia in May 2014. $350 a week at a floating dock . Big surge in the marina $5.02 gal of diesel, well guarded marina with sporadic Wifi ( better at the restaurant) if needed for an extended stay , haul out the boat$400 +/- 1000 a month . Agent will charge between $200 and $700 depending how you cleared the previous country. We came from the Galapagos with a zarpe to Callao, Peru, We paid $200 .The marina will not let you in if they don't get the OK from the agent (Julia Yturralde)as you are anchored in front of the marina while you do the process.

Posted on behalf of Michael Bland, SY Salamander of Hamble (UK)
We have had some experiences that differ somewhat from the articles already posted.
Agent: Mr. Roque Proano is no longer the agent at Puerto Lucia, the agent is now Julia Yturralde: juliayde@hotmail.es (Feb 2014)
Boat Yard: We had a fair amount of work done by Stewart Yacht Services and were very happy with the quality, cost and timing. The work we had done included: Bottom stripped and repainted. GRP repair, stainless steel work for solar panels and anchor roller, anchor chain galvanised, fabricate awning to cover coach roof, fabricate dingy cover. These were all completed in one month.
All work was done to a high standard and to quoted cost and time. The boatyard manager Jeremy Whalen was on hand and kept us up to date with progress. We would recommend them to anyone needing boat work done in the area.
The marina staff were friendly and efficient and we found the wifi to be good most of the time. The marina and agent fees are expensive though.