Yachting in Guadeloupe

⚠️ Clearance in the French Antilles is compulsory in both directions, whatever your flag, and going without it is prosecuted.

The Direction générale des douanes publishes that since 1 September 2024, under a prefectural order, clearance formalities apply to "tous les navires ou embarcations de plaisance à usage personnel ou professionnel, quels que soient leur nationalité et leur port d'attache" — all pleasure vessels, personal or professional, whatever their nationality and home port — arriving into French waters of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin or Saint-Barthélemy from a foreign port, foreign waters or the high seas, and again on leaving. Customs cites article 410 of the code des douanes and article L.5242-2 of the code des transports.

It is filed online at demarches-simplifiees.fr, and customs adds a practical warning: "Dans l'attente de la reconnaissance de la déclaration électronique par les autres États de la Caraïbe, les usagers devront imprimer un exemplaire au format papier de l'attestation de clearance." Print it. The neighbouring islands do not yet recognise the electronic version. Where there is no connection, the formalities can be done at a Point agréé Clearance — and both Bas-du-Fort and Rivière-Sens put a dedicated computer at the desk for exactly this. Bas-du-Fort prices it at €10.

The declaration is long, so prepare it at sea. Customs lists what must be filled in: vessel name and any previous name, registration, flag and date of flag registration, home port, year of build, activity, MMSI, type, length, tonnage, number of masts, number of engines, total power, hull material and hull colour; the owner's name and country of residence; every person aboard with date of birth, nationality and passport number; goods to declare; previous and next country of call; arrival and departure dates, times and berths; expected length of stay; and the master's signature.

On EU status, be precise. Guadeloupe "fait partie du territoire douanier de l'Union européenne mais est considérée sur le plan fiscal comme un territoire tiers." It uses the euro and it is inside the EU customs territory; it is outside it for tax, and the octroi de mer applies to goods arriving. Customs also publishes the relief a visiting owner cares about: "Votre bateau peut être dispensé des droits et taxes si vous ne résidez pas de façon habituelle dans le DOM et si vous l'utilisez pour un usage personnel." Confirm your own position with the Direction régionale des douanes de Guadeloupe, Allée Maurice-Micaux, 97100 Basse-Terre, before you plan around it.

The yard publishes its limits, down to the beam the lift will take.

Travel-lift	35 tonnes, with a lifting dock
Lift limits	59 ft (18 m) long · 16.4 ft (5 m) wide · 9.8 ft (3 m) draft
Technical zone	6,000 m², professional
Also	Slipway, hydraulic lifting trailer, storage on cradles and props, high-pressure washer, the multi-service barge MIKE BIRCH
Team	Four technicians — hull handling, engine craning, stepping and unstepping masts, dropping keels, removing and refitting rudders
Hardstanding, 32–49 ft	€0.60/ft/day for the first 10 days · €0.78 from day 11 · €1.02 from day 31
Hours	Mon–Fri 08:00–13:00 / 14:00–17:00 · Saturday published as "8h à 13h" and as "8h-12h" — confirm when you book

Sixteen feet of width is the constraint most people will hit before the tonnage. The lift takes 5 m of beam, and a 45-foot cruising catamaran is wider than that — talk to the yard before you plan a multihull haul-out around it.

⚠️ Anchoring is prohibited in the Grand Cul-de-Sac Marin. The Parc national de la Guadeloupe publishes it in one sentence: "Le mouillage forain est interdit. Seul l'amarrage aux bouées mises à disposition est autorisé." Only the buoys provided may be used. The park has installed 131 ecological moorings across 11 sites off Petit-Canal, Morne-à-l'Eau, Port-Louis and Sainte-Rose, under arrêté n°2021-552 of 15 November 2021 — white buoys for private boats, pink for tourism operators, the pink ones on a three-point buried mooring rated for a 50-tonne vessel.

The rest of the park regime is stricter than most visitors expect. Fishing and hunting are prohibited, professional and recreational; so are jet skis, drones and light aircraft without authorisation, and lighting the islets or the sea at night. Diving is authorised at Passe à Colas only, "mouillage uniquement sur la bouée mise en place par l'établissement du Parc national" and "un seul bateau au maximum sur le site pour une période donnée" — one boat on the site at a time. Buffer zones close Carénage, Christophe and Fajou to navigation, movement and stopping all year, and Îlet Blanc is closed until 31 October under the same rule, with landing prohibited between 15 April and 30 September.

Les Saintes runs an organised mooring field rather than free anchoring, and the State file gives its shape. The DEAL Guadeloupe environmental analysis for the renewal of the Terre-de-Haut ZMEL lists 80 existing moorings across four zones — 33, 24, 12 and 11 — with 19 more planned (7, 6 and 6). Buoys are banded by boat length: ≤ 12 m (40 ft), ≤ 15 m (50 ft), ≤ 18 m (60 ft), ≤ 21 m (70 ft), with heavier boats moved to the buoy matching their tonnage rather than their length, and swing circles of 15, 18, 21 and 24 m respectively. The concrete sinkers weigh 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes. Buoy rates are settled on the water — ask the field's operator when they come alongside.