When we left the U.S. to go cruising in the Western Caribbean, I was in a panic. Everything I read said I had to have a crew list in Spanish and despite speaking a bit of Spanish before we started, I did not want to do the translation myself – I figured I’d accidentally do something that would offend the officials in the country we’re trying to check in to and we’d never get checked in.
I found this Crew List format in both Spanish and English and it’s worked for us all the way from Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Cartagena, Columbia and back. So if you’re like me and not wanting to screw up your crew list, start with these formats. Also, note that we list ourselves as “Co-Captains” — I read somewhere that if something happened to one of us, the other would not be allowed to take the boat out of the country. I have no idea if it would really work, but it hasn’t been questioned yet. I will say that when we have to sign the paperwork in another country, there is no provision for co-captains so David signs as the captain and I sign as crew. So who knows!
Before we leave to go anywhere, I make sure I have about 10 copies of the appropriate crew list printed out and in Winterlude’s “Official Binder” — along with copies of our Documentation papers and copies of our Passports. Speaking of passports – some countries seem to want color copies – we have both B&W and color aboard. Both passports – open to the photo page are xeroxed onto one sheet for simplicity.
PDF Sample Crew List In English
PDF Sample Crew List in Spanish
I noted that you listed crew as co-captains. Why is that?
Not sure if it’s true in all countries but somewhere we checked in said that if one of us was incapacitated, if I’m listed as crew I have no authority to move the boat or do anything if David’s the captain. I have no idea if anything did happen if the country we happened to be in would honor that crew list, but we decided it didn’t hurt to list ourselves that way. Alot of countries don’t even take the crew list, they made us fill out their own forms with the same information. Who knows, but figured it couldn’t hurt. Cheers! Jan