Our arrival in Marmaris was surrounded by the uncertainty of the new restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 crisis and by the stress generated by the non-stop passage from Tunisia to Turkey.
We arrived quite late in the night and after a quick realisation that we couldn’t identify the customs dock in the middle of all the lights onshore, we decided to anchor and have a rest until morning came. We anchored behind a group of sailboats that were also at anchor.
In the morning we discovered we were anchored behind a sailboat we had met in Croatia the year before, so we visited them to see if they could assist us in locating the Customs dock or provide us with the mobile or internet signal much needed to contact our agent (in most Turkish ports of entry it is necessary to use an agent, costing between 100-150€) to receive the check-in instructions.
Within minutes we had our instructions and a marked-up photo showing the exact location of the dock.
To our surprise the Customs dock was just a small floating pontoon where The Dream barely fitted, tucked in between the docks where the ferries that run between Greece and Turkey dock.
Because it was the weekend the check-in took longer than normal and we only got our transit log and documents for the pump out services the following Monday.
When the time for check out came we chose to use Marmaris as a departure point because we already knew the place, making things a bit easier. Especially because we were taking advantage of the opportunity to get a new set of white sails VAT exempt.
To do this an extra agent (not the same agent used for our and the vessel formalities) is needed to jump all the hoops with Customs before departure.
In our case because it was sails they had to be inspected before our departure and before being installed. Then on the day of departure, and just before the departure formalities were performed, the Customs inspector came to certify that the new and old sails were onboard before concluding his paperwork. Only after that, we could proceed with the normal departure formalities. This of course had a cost, in the case of our sails it was an additional 450€, but this way we didn’t pay 23% tax on top of the price of the sails.
The moment all formalities were completed we were told to depart immediately without any stops.
***In the spirit of sharing our dreams and experiences we have shared this blog post in the NOFOREIGNLAND.COM website sailors community. In this post you can find information regarding check in and out procedures with location for the Customs and Immigration