How Much Does a Bahamas Private Yacht Cruising Permit Cost in 2026?

The figures below apply to private, non-commercial pleasure vessels and reflect the published schedule checked on October 26, 2026. Do not build a winter cruising budget from an old clearance receipt: the current structure offers different permit durations, with different re-entry rights. Confirm the rules for your particular ownership and operating arrangements with a qualified adviser.

For a 30-day temporary cruising permit, the charges are:

• Up to and including 30 feet: $150.
• Over 30 feet, up to and including 50 feet: $250.
• Over 50 feet, up to and including 100 feet: $350.
• Over 100 feet: $600.

For a six-month temporary cruising permit, the charges are:

• Up to and including 50 feet: $300.
• Over 50 feet, up to and including 100 feet: $750.
• Over 100 feet: $2,000.

For a 12-month temporary cruising permit, the charges are:

• Up to and including 50 feet: $500.
• Over 50 feet, up to and including 100 feet: $1,000.
• Over 100 feet: $3,000.

Use the yacht's documented particulars when preparing the application, not a rounded model description. A boat marketed as a “50” deserves a check of its registration before anyone assigns it to a fee band. Keep that document beside the application rather than relying on the sales brochure.

These are permission-to-cruise costs, not the cost of the holiday. Keep fuel, berthing and provisions on separate budget lines so that a modest government fee does not disguise a much larger trip commitment.

The published anchorage charge applies to pleasure vessels that are not docking at a marina. For a 30-day permit, it is $50 for vessels up to 30 feet, $100 for vessels over 30 feet through 100 feet, and $200 above 100 feet.

Longer-duration anchorage charges have their own bands:

• Six months: $150 up to 50 feet, $350 over 50 through 100 feet, and $1,000 above 100 feet.
• Twelve months: $200 up to 50 feet, $350 over 50 through 100 feet, and $1,500 above 100 feet.

For a mixed itinerary, ask Customs how the charge should be applied before paying. Describe the actual plan: two nights alongside in Bimini followed by ten nights at anchor is more useful than saying that the yacht has a marina reservation.

Do not assume that one paid berth settles the anchorage question for the entire voyage. Equally, do not treat the government anchorage charge as a marina booking, a reserved mooring or a promise of shore services. Budget the itinerary you intend to use, and retain the receipt with the cruising permit.

Fishing is no longer bundled into the cruising permit. The published fishing permit costs $100 for vessels up to 50 feet and $300 for vessels over 50 feet, and is valid for 30 days. A longer cruising permit does not extend the fishing permission automatically.

The practical mistake is buying a six-month cruising permit and assuming that the rods are covered until spring. Put the fishing expiry date in the captain's calendar separately. If fishing is not part of the trip, do not add it to the budget merely because older cruising arrangements included it.

The cruising permit covers departure tax for up to three people. Each additional qualifying passenger aged six or older who is not an ordinary Bahamas resident attracts a $30 charge per visit. For six qualifying people, the additional allowance is therefore $90. (laws.bahamas.gov.bs)

A tender exceeding 25 feet has a separate $500 fee for a period not exceeding 12 months. That deserves attention on yachts carrying or towing a substantial centre-console: the support boat is not necessarily absorbed into the mother yacht's permit. (laws.bahamas.gov.bs)

Prepare a short extras checklist before submitting payment:

• Will anyone fish, and for how many separate 30-day periods?
• How many qualifying people will arrive aboard?
• Is a tender longer than 25 feet coming with the yacht?
• Does the payment total include a separate processing or assistance charge?

Ask for an itemised breakdown. A single total labelled “clearance” makes it unnecessarily difficult to distinguish government charges from optional help.

Consider a privately operated 65-foot motor yacht crossing from Fort Lauderdale for a 14-day trip. Six adults arrive aboard, none is an ordinary Bahamas resident, the itinerary includes anchoring, and the owner wants permission to fish. The tender is 14 feet long.

Using the published fees, the illustrative government allowance is:

• Thirty-day cruising permit: $350.
• Thirty-day anchorage charge: $100.
• Thirty-day fishing permit: $300.
• Additional passenger departure tax: three people at $30, or $90.
• Total for those items: $840.

Without fishing, the same calculation falls to $540. Neither figure includes fuel, marina nights, provisions, insurance changes, optional clearance assistance or any other applicable charge. This is a defined subtotal, not an all-inclusive quotation.

For the owner's planning worksheet, suppose the yacht uses 500 US gallons of fuel over the trip and the chosen planning allowance is $6 per gallon. That creates a hypothetical $3,000 fuel line. Four marina nights at an assumed $4 per foot per night add another $1,040 before taxes, electricity or other services.

Those fuel and berth rates are calculation assumptions, not current supplier quotations. Replace them with the yacht's consumption records and written marina offers. Their purpose is to show proportion: fuel and a handful of marina nights can outweigh the entry formalities several times over.

A 30-day permit carries no free re-entry. A six-month permit includes one free re-entry within its validity, while a 12-month permit includes two. Leaving for Florida and returning is therefore a budget decision as well as a passage-planning decision.

For an illustrative 45-foot yacht, two separate $250 short permits total $500, compared with $300 for a six-month permit that includes one re-entry. For a 65-foot yacht, two $350 short permits total $700, compared with $750 for six months. These comparisons concern the cruising permit alone; other charges must be assessed separately.

The longer permit is not automatically the cheaper purchase. Write down the intended arrivals before selecting it, including any return to Florida for maintenance or guest changes. A single extended stay and several short visits are different purchasing problems.

There is also a two-year Frequent Digital Cruising Card offering unlimited visits. Published card prices are $1,500 up to 50 feet, $2,500 over 50 and under 100 feet, and $8,000 over 100 feet, with anchorage charged separately. Confirm boundary treatment directly if the yacht is exactly 100 feet.

For a boat making one winter visit, that card deserves scrutiny rather than an automatic tick. For repeated crossings, compare the full two-year itinerary against the shorter permits and their included re-entries.

Submitting an electronic declaration before departure does not replace arrival clearance. Visiting yachts must clear Customs and Immigration at the nearest designated port of entry; the yellow quarantine flag is flown, and only the captain may leave the boat until clearance is complete.

Prepare the file in this order:

1. 1Check the vessel registration and the identification details for everyone aboard.
2. 2Assemble passports, the Customs clearance information and an Immigration card for each person.
3. 3Include any required pet permits and declarations of firearms and ammunition.
4. 4Submit the inbound information before leaving the home port, then retain the application and payment records for arrival.

Before a 65-foot yacht departs, check its Automatic Identification System as well. Foreign pleasure vessels above 50 feet must keep AIS active while in Bahamian waters; the published non-compliance fine is $1,000. Leaving the equipment switched off at anchor is not a sensible economy.

Keep the insurance review separate from Customs clearance. Ask the insurer to confirm the intended cruising area and dates in writing before paying for a passage that the policy may not cover. Put the answer in the same trip folder, rather than leaving it in an owner's message thread.

Finally, allow for the return formalities. A private vessel arriving in the United States from a foreign port must report its arrival immediately to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Completing Bahamian paperwork does not complete the American arrival process. (help.cbp.gov)