Bridgetown - Clearance
See the Barbados Formalities page for full details on clearing into and out of Barbados.
This is a Port of Entry.
Clearance here is more difficult than at Port St. Charles.
Clearance can only be done in the Deepwater Harbour north of Bridgetown.
On approach call “Signal Station Bridgetown” on VHF Channel 12 and inform the Radio Operator of your intention. You will likely be told to standby and wait for instructions. There is a great deal of cruise ship movement in this port, and might has right, so you may need to be a little pushy to get into harbor. You will need to give your dimensions, flag of origin and number of crew.
Time your arrival, if you can, for the morning to avoid unnecessary hanging around. Cruise ships enter and leave port in the afternoon, therefore an afternoon arrival may mean several hours of circling outside the port before you can be dealt with.
If arriving at night it is possible to ask permission to anchor in the Quarantine anchorage in Carlisle Bay until the morning for clearance. Crew should not go ashore until clearance is complete.
Berthing for Clearance:
If you prefer, it may be possible to request permission to anchor and take the dinghy ashore for clearance.
Most likely you will be directed into the Deepwater Harbour and unless advised to the contrary come alongside the Cross Berth, in the southern corner. Because of the large fenders set up for cruise ships, this is an unsatisfactory place to tie up a sailing boat, especially if there is any surge. If so, it may be better to launch the dinghy and for the captain to visit the various offices while the rest of the crew stay with the boat. Permission must be sought in advance to do this.
General Process:
To check in the country, take a taxi (US$10) to the main gate and the cruise ship dock. In the passenger terminal main building (where you will find many duty-free shops), visit the following offices:
1) Port Health: located on the first floor
2) Custom Boarding Officer: the office opposite
3) Immigration Boarding Officer
These offices are open 06:00-22:00 seven days a week. Clearance should only take 15 minutes.
Domestic Cruising:
Permission has to be obtained from Customs, preferably requested on arrival, if wishing to cruise or anchor along the coast away from Carlisle Bay.
Departure Clearance:
There is no need to take your yacht into the port for departure clearance. You can walk to the necessary offices.
Visit the following offices:
1) Visit first the Mooring office – Port Authority (building next to boarding officers and Port Health) to pay the harbor fees – payable in cash only.
2) Then the Custom boarding officer
3) Finally the Immigration boarding officer
If all officers are present, clearing out can be done in 20 minutes.
For further information, yacht skippers can contact the Harbour Master at 246 434 6100 (Office) or the Signal Station on VHF CH 12 or telephone number 246 434 6102.
Last updated: February 2024
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Some precision on my previous post:
Check in:
1) port health
2) Custom boarding officer
3) immigration boarding officer
all in same building
Check out:
1) get the clearance in the mooring office (building next to boarding officers and port health 50USD or 100 barbados dollars)
2) Custom boarding officer
3) immigration boarding officer
if all officers present done in 20 min if not you can expect to wait (we waited 1hour for the immigration boarding officer to be back)
When arriving in the night stay clear form the Carlisle Shore/beach until you have the entrance of the Carenage in your 60/70° as many small and big mooring buoys are in the water.
We arrived in the night and asked permission to the signal station (VHF12) to anchor in Carlisle bay and come ashore with the dinghy next day for the paper work which was granted.
To check in the country, take a taxi (10 US dollars) to the Main gate (where all cruise ships are). In the main building (where you will find many duty-free shops), go to the health office first located at the first floor and then to the Boarding officer (door office just in front). All was done in 15 min.
We did anchor few day at Carlisle Bay. Beautiful bay but noisy with all the music in the day and night at the beach. We anchored in front in the Copacabana Barbados where we could get the WIFI signal.
The Barbados yacht said to us that all mooring were privately owned therefore none was available for us.
We did go to the carenage after first bridge with the dinghy were we did secure it properly each time
Supermarkets are available (Jordan & Popular market) as well as fresh fruits and vegetables at the permanent market 10 min walking from Jordan supermarket.
Barbados Bridgetown
December 2017
There is no fuel here but one of the boat owners in our Rally organized a Diesel truck to come and fill up all the boats. He had to do 3 trips to fill up his tank but he was great. Here’s the phone number.
Tel: 425 5000 Williams
Carenage was quite dirty, lots of rubbish collects here. Unfortunately, the place is also very attractive to rats because of the amount of rubbish on the shore. We were told to put our rubbish up near the road because they collect daily from the road but only weekly from the park bins.
This place is noisy but we were really glad we stayed here. It really is in the center of Bridgetown, no trouble but we did lock up the boat and close the hatches when we left her. This was also to keep out the rats and the rain. Lots of tourists from the cruise ships and local people stopping and asking questions, it was a great time experience. $50 usd a night but we were on the Odyssey Rally so had 7 nights included. After this, we anchored in the bay.
The office is supposed to open 11- 3 pm but we found it was open at random times, but not at the weekend. Most notably when the bridge opens. You can request it to be open by contacting Barbados control on 12 or 16 – best to give them advance notice if you can.
They have adapters at the office to convert 110 electric to 220 which you can use. They will also unlock the water taps for you. Tonya, the lady in the office was very helpful.
Be aware that it is expensive in The Caribbean. The supermarkets are nearby and if you are paying by credit card they will ask for other ID. I didn’t have any but they must have thought there was a good chance that I was not a thief and they let me use my card.
You will have locals trying to be your tour guide or just asking for cash. Taxi drivers are also asking to take you places. We did get a taxi to the Mount Gay Rum factory – cost $25 BD there and $20 BD back – he came back and collected us about 2 hours later. We also went to Oisin’s fish place and I negotiated it for $30 BD there. And the same back later on. We took his phone number but we found him waiting for us.
You can walk along the beach and there are various restaurants along the way.
We took the local bus which goes from Princess Alice bus terminal and not the one by the Careenage. Bus 4 from stand 7 goes to Harrison caves for $2 BD each . Drops you at the end of the road and then it’s a 5 min walk – the bus driver will tell you when to get off if you ask him.
We also went to Celestine’s for lunch on the way back from the caves.
The anchorage was a bit rollie, but ok for a couple of nights.
Carlisle Bay is a beautiful anchorage although a rolling swell can come in even when there is no wind. We anchored in front of Copocabana for a few nights and then moved to a mooring that was in front of the Yacht Club. We asked the people in the yacht club if there was a mooring available and were given one of the owners who had his yacht in St Lucia.
Being a member of any yacht club entitles you to a week’s honorary membership at the yacht club and use of their facilities. There is a laundry across the road from the yacht club which charges BDS4.48 per pound of washing or BBD6.68 if you want it pressed as well. To the north of the yacht club is a new chandlery called MPS that carries basic stuff otherwise on the north side of the careenage there is a place called Fisherman’s corner which also carries basics.
The Careenage is quite dirty and in the middle of town so a lot of road noise. You also have to go through a bridge and make bookings in and out every time. Minimum 3 night stay at US$25 per night. Water and Electricity included. The sound war mentioned is not really a factor. It seems the harbor lights night club is the loud one and so far have had nights Sat, Monday and Wed as music nights till 3-4 in the morning. Not so bad when upwind at the yacht club but very loud when out the front of Cococabana.
Sunday nights seem to be Dee’s Bar local night with lots of locals gathering. The ‘Boatyard’ is quite popular during the day but you have to pay US$20 per person minimum to even sit at the bar. We pulled our tender up on the beach and this was not a problem with anyone. Barbados people are friendly and laid back. Great place.
Arriving Bridgetown Dec 12 2014, we heard on the VHF one yacht asking the port authority permission to anchor before check-in and proceed with dinghy for check-in. This was granted.
Ourselves we proceeded with the yacht to the customs yacht berth in the harbor. And we can confirm that this is not a good place to tie up. With swell, mooring line points hard to access and no ladder to get onto the quay, it was quite unpleasant. Hard to understand that yachts are expected to come in this way. It is easy to get some damage to the yacht, or even hurt oneself. If I should check in here again, I would also try to negotiate another way.
Hello, kiss is anchored in carlisle bay, in front of the harbourlights bar. We catch his wifi signal with no problem, we just have to take a beer to get the password.
Hi everyone, Guajira here anchored at Carlisle Bay using free WiFi signal from “CopaCabana Free Hot Spot” with no trouble at all 🙂