Booking and Terms

Welcome!

Thank you for choosing Baja Charters. All our activities are All Inclusive! Our professional bi-lingual crews provide outstanding food and drink options, a chef, open bar, lay-out areas, cprivate bathrooms, fresh-water showers, towels, snorkel gear, wetsuits, an assistant snorkel boat, and typically a hostess and licensed snorkel leader. Where permitted, kayaks, and other water features are available to make your adventure a truly epic Lifetime Experience.

Company

Baja Charters & Excursions, S de RL de CV is a Mexican Limited Liability Company. Baja Charters is the company’s marketing and operating name. Baja Charters is a licensed nautical commercial charter company, and a licensed ground transportation provider.

Ground Transportation

Subject to availability, private charter and shared tour guests may choose to use the ground transportation provided by the Company to our yachts and back. Private charters include private ground transportation. Pick up and return is along the Los Cabos corridor, including MOST hotel and resort lobbies. There is NO CHARGE for this service.

Deposits and Payments

To schedule a firm booking date 90 days or more in advance, we require 50% of the total fee to book the calendar. If your expected charter or excursion date is less than 90 days before departure, 100% of the charter or excursion fee is to be paid before your cruise date is booked to the calendar. Deposits are non-refundable, but credit against future use is provided as needed. If your travel plans are changed for emergency reasons, we will reschedule for a later date.

Substitution

Shared tours are done from our spacious sailing catamaran, or our 96’ classic cruising yacht. As needed for yacht maintenance, schedule conflicts, etc., we reserve the right to use other licensed yachts to fulfill a purchased activity as circumstances may require.

Discounts

Returning guests receive a 10% discount. Guests booking shared tours that prefer to use their own ground transportation to and from the appropriate marina in La Paz, receive a US $30 discount per person. If you are booking online, and driving on your own, the discount Promo Code is 37483.

Crew Tips

Crew tips are normally a choice made by guests relative to the quality of services provided. Crew tips go directly to the captain and are split evenly after guests depart the boat. Crew tips are normally paid in cash in either pesos or dollars directly to the captain, however a credit card may be used if necessary.

When booking private groups of 20 guests or more. A minimum crew tip of 12% will be added to our standard rates unless adequate assurances are provided as to crew gratuities. 

Overnight and extended multi-day and night charters require a crew tip minimum of 12%. 

Mexican Tax

On 1 January 2014, the Mexican government increased the IVA tax (Sales Tax on all Mexico transactions) to 16%.

Cancellations and Rescheduling

You may cancel your private charter or shared tour 5 days or more prior to your activity date and reschedule within a 3-year period.

Whale Shark Activity

Swimming with whale sharks is one of life’s great outdoor experiences. However, four federal agencies have overlapping jurisdiction over whale shark activities. Without prior notice, agencies close the whale shark feeding zone for research and review, even within the established legal whale shark season. If you have booked a whale shark encounter, and federal regulators fail to open the whale shark park according to the published seasonal opening, or if regulators close the whale shark zone without notice, you are rewarded with two activities for the price of one:

 

1 We provide you with a FREE prepaid whale shark certificate to use when the park is reopened. The whale shark certificate is a cash equivalent credit with a three-year expiration. It is fully assignable. It may be used for a future whale shark activity or applied towards any of the other private charters or shared tours we provide. AND …

2 We provide you with a Sea Lions and Remote Beaches activity on the date you are scheduled. We depart the dock as normal, and visit two or three remote beaches, bays, and coves where we snorkel with tropical fish over corals, explore beaches, put out kayaks, etc. We visit the sea lion colony of San Rafaelito, and provide an onboard chef, meals, beverages, an open bar, private bathrooms and showers, towels, snorkel equipment, a separate snorkel boat with guide, and reef-friendly sunscreen.

Damages

Guest damage to yachts, boats, and/or loss of equipment will be charged to the booking guest purchaser at our wholesale replacement cost plus 20%.

Refunds

If maintenance issues, or anything within the normal control of Baja Charters, prevent you from enjoying your booked cruise date, we will provide you with an alternative date that works within your travel plans, or refund your money completely. 

Baja Charters is not responsible for the Port Captain closing the Port, government edict, or in the case of whale shark excursions, changes in bureaucratic regulations without adequate notice. However, in these situations, we provide you with an alternative date that works within your travel plans, provide an alternative excursion, and/or issue you an assignable, three-year cash certificate that may be used the same as cash for the same or any future activities aboard Baja Cat, Pacifica, or other yachts in our portfolio.