Davao - Clearance
***ALERT AUGUST 2025: DUE TO RECENT ISSUES WITH THE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS IN DAVAO (AND ONLY DAVAO), CRUISERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED AGAINST VISITING DAVAO AT THIS TIME. HOLIDAY OCEANVIEW MARINA, SAMAL ISLAND IS NOT ACCEPTING NEW ARRIVALS UNTIL THIS ISSUE IS RESOLVED. See this Noonsite news article for additional info.***
For full details on clearing into and out of the country see Philippines Formalities.
Clearance Procedures for Davao:
The yacht quarantine anchorage is located 50-100m off the southern Santa Ana wharf (approximately 07°04.53N, 125°37.74E). It is deep here and is a lee shore anchorage making it a little dangerous with a 0.5-1m SW swell in SW winds and rather uncomfortable.
It may be possible to anchor in shallower water closer to the southernmost jetty, but clear of busy ferry access lanes.
Notify the local Port Authority (office on the wharf). First, go to the Bureau of Quarantine where you will get a quarantine clearance for outgoing vessels. Then go to immigration to check out. They will give you the immigration port clearance. Then take everything to the Bureau of Customs where they will need all documents above to issue you the final clearance to leave.
Last updated: June 2024
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Related to following destinations: Davao, Mindanao (Southern Region), Philippines
Port Navigation
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Thank you for bringing this to our attention and alerting fellow cruisers.
An alert has been added to the Davao pages as well as the Philippines pages.
Kind regards,
Megan
Researcher / Sub-editor
noonsite.com
We have been attempting to get clearance from customs for nearly a week. Nobody there understands what is going on and they just keep suggesting we speak to an agent. Perhaps customs want an agent to explain to them what they need to do. We arrived 5 mths ago and have been working on our boat in Oceanview Marina since then. We were cleared by customs when we arrived, and given the all clear of any import taxes. There was no mention of the 15 days only that the vessel was allowed to stay before it became subject to import duty. 2 weeks ago all vessels received a notice from customs advising that we had overstayed this 15 days and were going to be assessed for import tax at 40% of the valued of our vessels. I have presented a host of documents to support work carried out on the rebuild of one of our main engines we had done by a local company. They are still making us wait pending their decision. We need to get back to Indonesia asap to renew our retirement visas which are now in jepody of expiration.
Hi Susan, we are so sorry to hear that cruisers are going through this. We hope that the issue will be resolved favorably soon!
We have posted an alert on the related pages and there is a news article with additional information (and your comment) posted as well. https://www.noonsite.com/news/philippines-davao-cruisers-advised-to-avoid-the-area/
Thank you for keeping other cruisers informed and please let us know how it gets resolved.
Kind regards,
Megan
Researcher / Sub-Editor
noonsite.com
Checking out of Davao, we anchored outside Santa Ana Wharf and notified the local Port Authority (office on the wharf). First, go to the Bureau of Quarantine where you will get a quarantine clearance for outgoing vessels. Then go to immigration to check out. They will give you the immigration port clearance. Then take everything to the Bureau of customs where they will need all documents above to issue you the final clearance to leave. Everything went smooth and took half a day.
The information regarding Ocean View Marina in Davao is not up to date. Here is the situation now:
1. There is now only one pontoon available for cruising boats. The western pontoon has been closed down to accommodate fish cages and the owner’s boats.
2. The van service has become quite unreliable lately due to the fact that it is used more and more by the condotel next door built by the same owner.
3. Their website has been taken down, so don’t bother looking for it.
4. If you really really want to stop at the Ocean View Marina, don’t use the numbers listed above. Send an email to holidaygroup.oceanviewmarina@gmail.com Subject: attention Ma’am Ruth.
5. We have been told very recently that the yard will not do haul-outs anymore. Boats still accepted, but only in the water.
SY ALYA