Last year any boat approaching Belize that had an AIS transponder signal was called and told to clear with the port captain immediately. If you don't come in they send a boat out to bring you in. Some port captains charged as much as $15.00 a day in advance plus a couple hundred in port clearance fees. You couldn't visit Belize for less than almost $300.00 and all ports had different fees. The word got out to turn your transponder off. Last I heard the practice was started other places. That was 2 years ago.

Most cruisers were hanging out in Roatan because of it. Not really that bad as Roatan and the Honduran Bay Islands are much better than Belize anyway.