Leaving the Country

[WillieC]

No, this is not a discussion about the current political climate change...
This is about what one needs to know, take with, leave behind, etc. when crossing into Canada, either by boat or towing the boat on its trailer.

Things like documents, towing insurance tips, Ports of Entry and the procedures involved. Are there items one may not cross the border with, are there others that one may want to be sure to have?

You get the idea. We are located in Washington state, on the lower Hood Canal and are contemplating an extended trip next summer up to Desolation Sound, or Princess Louiser inlet. Desert Albin Steve is relentless, I am all for it, the A25 might make it, and the Starfleet Commander is partially retired. Lots of moving parts, but preparation is essential.

Used to be, in another millennium, crossing the border by car was a wave through. Until some overzealous guard thought it might be a good idea to compare my registration with the VIN number on the cobbled together VW I drove. Details, details, but I digress. Worse yet, they charged me the alcohol import duty for the cases of 7-Up I cleverly covered up with a rug in the back seat. It was much cheaper in Bellingham than Langley where I was "studying" and we made a tidy little profit. Not anymore!

Go ahead and recommend places and 'must see' locations, but that would pretty much cover everything in BC, and there is already plenty of info on the site. Do weigh in on the 'gotchas!' that less experienced folks might overlook.

Thanks, all!

[Norseman]

Did you get an FCC Station License for the boat.?
Pretty sure it is required in Canada by foreign boats, but won’t swear to it.
Got one for my Albin 28 a few weeks ago. $220.00.
Need it for the Bahamas.

[kerrye]

I take my passport, boat, trailer, truck and registrations for both. I know Canadian customs frowns on potatoes. They made my BIL walk all the way back over the Thousand Islands bridge and deposit them in the US before letting him through.

[DesertAlbin736]

There are also limitations on the amount of alcohol beverages allowed to be brought in.

Here's a link on that subject:

https://www.thoughtco.com/bringing-alco ... ors-510144

Also:

http://caen-keepexploring.canada.travel ... s-and-duty

Ditto what Kerrye said about passports, boat, trailer, truck registrations, food restrictions. We have not yet attempted to take our boat into Canada by land, only entered by water at Sidney, BC on Vancouver Island as port of entry. Other ports of entry include Poet's Cove on South Pender Island. It is a very easy process by water. In Sidney there is a dock at the Port Sidney Marina that his a phone kiosk directly connected to Canadian customs. One simply ties up at the dock, the skipper takes passports & registration documents, a pen or pencil & note pad or piece of paper, picks up the phone which automatically dials the customs office, gives names and passport numbers of boat occupants, description & registration numbers of the boat, declares how much items, where you're from, how long you plan to stay in Canada. They will then assign you a registration/permit number that you must copy down & post somewhere on your boat. You will need that number when checking back into US customs, so don't lose it. I also note the number in our cruising log.

As far as in person inspections, we have been to the Gulf Islands twice, and never once were we stopped or even saw a uniformed official. No one asked to board our vessel & confirm how much alcohol (or tobacco, but we don't smoke anyway) we had aboard, but we always stayed on the right side of the law and didn't try to exceed the import limits. Booze is quite expensive in Canada, even allowing for the favorable currency exchange rate.

One bonus the last time we were in Sidney is that we arrived on July 1st, Canada Day, and got to see parades, fireworks, and a homemade boat race. You think Americans are patriotic, if you want to see real patriotic expression, visit Canada on July 1st sometime.

We've not yet decided our exact itinerary for next year. If we can allow time & not spend much time in the San Juans, we may trailer to Blaine, WA near the border & launch there. We can park our truck & trailer there for free for up to 60 days. Used to be able to do that at Bellingham, but from what we've heard you can't do that anymore. From there we could do an overnight stop on Sucia, then head straight for Poet's Cove on S. Pender to check in with Canadian Customs. From there continue up through the Gulf Islands to Nanaimo, then stay on the Vancouver Island side and work up to Comox or Campbell River, with possible stop on Lasqueti Island. That could take 5 days to a week or more, depending on weather. Then cross over to Desolation Sound, spend 4 or 5 days to a week there, then head back down. Minimum 3 week trip, but likely extended to 5 or 6 weeks. We're hoping our friends with their Alden 44 sloop will come along, and anyone else that's interested. Also would like to catch one of the Albineers of BC meetups, since there are more A25's and A27s there than we see in the US.

By the way, we didn't get a station license for our VHF. We were never hassled about it, even when we did a PAN-PAN call to Canadian Coast Guard during our dinghy incident.

We did however make sure our insurance covered coastal cruising in Canada, and carry BoatUS membership with Unlimited Gold on water towing & trailer assist. If we had needed towing in Canada we would have had to pay out of pocket then turn in a claim to BoatUS for reimbursement outside of TowBoat US affiliated areas. As it turned out with our dinghy incident we were towed by a large sailboat, owners of which we had met & had lunch with the day before in Pender Harbour.

[kerrye]

We listened to the transmissions of a powerboat gone aground in Collins Inlet last summer. Coast Guard forwarded a quote for a tow via the radio—$17k

[Sunsetrider]

I have been towed twice by the Canadian Coast Guard in the 1000 Islands. My favourite rescue team, since they are very pro and cost nothing. Must be a very different reality on the Pacific Coast! Canadian Coasties shown below. The female Coastie was in charge.

[DesertAlbin736]

The CCG did not have any assets available close by enough to assist us in time to prevent us being driven hard up against a rock on a steep lee shore & being wrecked. We could have dropped anchor, but the shore was so deep & steep it's doubtful it would have grabbed & set in time to prevent being bashed to pieces.

[dkirsop]

When clearing customs the protocol is only the skipper gets off the boat. Crew members may assist with docking but must then return to the boat until cleared. The skipper is required to collect passports and travel documentation from all on board and report to customs either by phone or in person at a dedicated port of entry. Once custom clearance is granted you are good to go. Be sure to get a clearance number and keep this with you as Canada Border Services do make random checks on the water. I have never been asked for my station license so no worries there.

For what it is worth I recommend heading north to Desolation Sound and the Discovery Islands rather than Princess Louisa Inlet. The inlet is very scenic but it is 60miles of fjord up and 60miles back with no services or good anchorages in between. There is much more to see and do in the Discovery Islands.

If you travel on the east side of Georgia Strait I recommend you cross the mouth of the Fraser River at or near high slack tide. The river will be in full freshet in June and water can be hazardous at low tide. I have personally experienced steep standing waves in the latter condition. The outflow travels clear across the Georgia Strait to Active Pass at that time of year. Lots of logs in the water that wash out from the river too.

I have travelled up both sides of the strait and there are pros and cons for each. The west side offers protection if you take Trincomali Passage up to Nanaimo or Gabriola island for the southern leg. The east side offers good anchorages and coves north of Sechelt for the northern leg.

When crossing the Georgia Strait avoid wind over current conditions as that is when seas can get nasty.

You can also launch at Anacortes and travel via Friday Harbour before crossing into Canada at Bedwell Harbour (Poet's Cove). Poet's Cove is nice but bring your credit card. Beaumont Marine park is next door and much more economical. Port Browning Marina is a full service marina for the slightly less wealthy and easily accessed from Bedwell Harbour through the canal at the head of the harbour. Otter Bay marina is also an option.

Be aware that once north of Powell River on the east side, or Campbell River on the west side of Georgia Strait you will be pretty much on your own with respect to breakdowns etc. At a minimum carry spare belts and hoses; prop and puller if you have one can be handy but the keel on the Albin gives pretty good prop protection.

I am planning to head up Desolation Sound way this year but have not yet set any date. Actually, bit further north through the Dent and Yaculta rapids. Less crowded and more scenic.

[DesertAlbin736]

Yes, keep us posted on your plans. Poet's can be expensive, but we've also anchored a short way north of Poet's Cove in Beaumont Marine Park. You know, where that stairway off the beach is to go hiking. We could launch at Anacortes, but for us the issue is truck & trailer parking, since we're trailering up from Arizona, a 1,500 mile drive. Besides Blaine putting us closer to the border, they have the free long term parking arrangement. By the way, if you didn't want to winterize your boat you could bring it down here for the winter & go boating to your heart's content between now and next May. Last winter we did not have one single night where the temps dropped below freezing. Came close a couple times, but not cold enough or long enough for anything to freeze. Dry climate too, no worries about mold or mildew.

Winter storage in AZ. This is all we need do.

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Princess Louisa & Chatterbox was Plan B last year. Our original plan was work up through the Gulf Islands to Nanaimo, cross the Strait to Pender Harbour, then work up the mainland shore on the inside of Texada to Lund & so on to Desolation. A number of issues conspired against us making Desolation Sound. First, we had to spend the first 10 days of the cruise in the San Juans. That was because our cruise mates in their O'Day sailboat had brought along a buddy, but he only had 10 days before he had to be back at work in Phoenix. So we dropped him off in Sidney & he took the ferry back to the US side & shuttle back to the airport. So we didn't get to Sidney until July 1st, which of course was fun with all the Canada Day celebrations.

We got up to Nanaimo OK, with a stop at Montague on Galiano. But then the raw water pump on our friend's Yanmar 2GM10 diesel sprung a leak in the shaft seal, & we ended up stuck in Nanaimo for 5 days waiting for parts to have the pump rebuilt & a weather window before we could cross over. So we didn't arrive in Garden Bay in Pender Harbour until July 10th after an overnight in Smuggler Cove. So we were running out of time, and on July 11th the weather predicted winds wouldn't be too bad in the morning & we figured we could make it to a sheltered anchorage in the vicinity of Nelson or Hardy Island before it got too nasty. That's when we lost our dinghy off Nelson Island. In addition, our friends were following us, and the rough seas broke one of the gudgeons on their transom hung rudder. We couldn't help them because we were getting towed ourselves. So that had to call a tow boat & get towed back to Pender Harbour and find someone to fabricate a temporary gudgeon out of mild steel.

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At that point we decided on Chatterbox falls as Plan B.

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As it turned out, returning to Nanaimo from Pender Harbour, seas were smooth as glass. Georgia Strait is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

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[Norseman]

No mention of an FCC Station License?
Guess most folks ignore it?

FCC Regulations
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires a Ship Station License for some vessels equipped with VHF radios, RADAR, EPIRBs and some other telecommunications equipment. As of 1996, most recreational vessels no longer need the FCC license if operating domestically. "Domestically" means not traveling to foreign ports or transmitting to foreign stations, including Canada.

[Sunsetrider]

The rules for Canada:
http://boating.ncf.ca/vhf.html

[WillieC]

Great info all! Thanks, keep it coming. I've purged the potatoes from the galley.

[DesertAlbin736]

All I can say is we were never hassled about VHF station licenses in Canada, even though we were actually talking to Canadian Coast Guard in a PAN-PAN emergency call. Take it FWIW.