Question for the long-distance cruisers

[RickG]

We've been using SBI for our mailing address - you'll see 411 Walnut Street as a lot of people's mailing address. I have them trash junk mail and not gotten a piece of mail there in two months. They can sign for registered/certified mail, but not service of process.

We originally registered our boat in Maryland and paid sales tax there. Then after 6+ monthes we moved the boat to Florida to register; no Florida sales tax if you paid sales tax elsewhere more than 6 months ago. Our physical street address on our drivers license is our USCG documentation number at SBI's address. The Clay County, Florida DMV knows how to deal with cruisers. Make certain you bring proof of payment of sales tax if you register there. The Boat Galley has good articles on this as does SBI.

https://theboatgalley.com/why-florida-residency/
https://theboatgalley.com/establishi...brendans-isle/

https://www.sbimailservice.com/cruisers-home-port/

Taxes are not different than in the past - tax documents are electronic or sent to the SBI address. We usually do our own taxes and file electronically. Being Florida residents is nice as there is not state income tax.

For phones, we use AT&T so far. We had a myislandwifi.com mifi in the Bahamas and AT&T wifi calling. In the US, PR, and US VI we use an otrmobile.com unlimited mifi over the AT&T network. myislandwifi is looking to extend their network through the Caribbean; otherwise, we will get local SIM cards.

For emergencies we have a Garmin Inreach. My eldest daughter receives our float plans and can contact us in case of emergency.

Once you have the mail service setup you can get started on making your changes. The only things we really need a mail drop for is official communication that is not online yet - voter registration, passport renewal, credit card renewals, etc.

Cheers, RickG

[Mike Banks]

Satellite phone and satellite computer link, printer etc and pre-arranged digital signature is the only deep ocean instant way of dealing with legal documents, at least, the only way of which I am aware unless you want to give power of attorney to someone ashore..

For simple communications, radio will usually suffice--but you will need to get a short wave radio operator's certificate--not a big deal--but it is an examination and requires a little study and practice.

[wingssail]

We've been doing this for over 23 years.

Originally Posted by MB750

Either if you are seasonal where you head out for a few months, then fly somewhere to work to fill the kitty, or are full-time, this question is for you.

How do you deal with the fluff from the everyday life you left behind?

Specifically, the following:

Important mail, or just mail in generalWe use an inexpensive mail-box company in Seattle which holds our mail until we direct them to forward it to us. We did not wish to use a family member, not wanting to bother them or worry about change of address if they moved (they have). This is the same reason why we have never left stuff in storage in anybody's attic. We've never lost any mail but there is a delay when we don't request a package often enough. Documentation renewal notices always seem to arrive too late, etc. Another issue with this is that many official entities such as driver's license agencies and voter's registrations now have address checker software which objects to an address where thousands of people receive mail but it is a small building. They want to know where you really live. Some explanations usually resolve this. We do not have any service which goes through our mail and handles important stuff. We did not want to pay for that.

Taxes (having them done annually) we do them on the boat and mail them in. There is always someone going to the US who will take "flat stamped mail". Or it can be FedEx'd.

Phone servicesThis one is interesting. We have a Skype number which is local to our permanent home address in Seattle. It is forwarded to whatever cell phone we happen to be using in whatever country we're in. Family and businesses always can reach us (unless on passage) using the same, local, US phone number they have for many years. There have been times when we kept a cell number even when we were not in that country (Hong Kong) just because it could roam to everywhere, and we, in turn, forwarded that to a local cell phone when we got one. So calls to our Seattle skype number forwarded to Hong Kong, which forwarded the call to us, but it worked, always. All this setting up of forwarding numbers is done online.

Permanent addressSee item 1

Official communications (like possible legal matters)See item 1

Other urgent matters not mentioned abovetelephone or email

I'm a total noob with all this so please bear with me. One day I'd like to sail away from it all but the planner in me keeps nagging me about the what-ifs.

We're all new at this one time. We have purposely avoided the "what- ifs" and in 23 years (more years if you include the years when we lived onboard in Seattle and handled things much the same way) we've not been burned. Tax information requests, etc, which we receive late can usually be explained or you pay a small fine.

Thank you.

[RickG]

Another consideration for many is receiving prescriptions. We are on mail order and get a 3-month supply. We get these delivered early enough that we can have them forwarded.

Carolyn has an article on theboatgalley.com on prescriptions.

https://theboatgalley.com/cruising-a...eid=64ff000517

Cheers, RickG

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by RickG

Another consideration for many is receiving prescriptions. We are on mail order and get a 3-month supply. We get these delivered early enough that we can have them forwarded.
Cheers, RickG

We buy medicines and drugs locally, and with a local Dr's prescription if needed. They are very cheap in third world countries.

I would be dubious about having medicines and drugs forwarded.

[barnakiel]

It will all depend on your definition of "long-distance cruiser".


In our specific case:


important mail, or just mail in general


email in public libraries



Taxes (having them done annually)


no taxes (no income, no taxes)



Phone services

anchor where there are no mobile services



Permanent address

no permanent address



Official communications (like possible legal matters)

no taxes, no address, no legal matters, no ringing phones,



Other urgent matters not mentioned above


doctors, you want a thorough medical insurance that includes air evac


The older you are, the more important the health insurance. If you are over 50, do not leave your home without.


fitness


To limit medical expenses, you want to become and remain as fit as viable given your present state of things.



divorcing


To be long distance cruising, you want to make sure all divorce matters will be dealt promptly with. Ocean passages are timed with seasons, if you are in court dealing with your money matters (the most important part of any divorce), then you are out of cruising for a time and often for ever. The most common arrangement is he keeps the boat she keeps the money. Have it in writing, in advance of selling the house.



pets and wind generators


You want to keep your cute feline on YOUR boat at all times. You want to brake Air X and Air Breeze generators when anchored closer than half a mile from any other cruiser.


In summary, long-distance cruising is fun, if you take care to carefully cut off the dock lines and not duplicate your land life style while on the water.


ymmv


Cheers,
b.

[MB750]

Great info everybody, thank you very much for the insight. It's good to see there's options for what looks like all types of cruisers out there.

[SlyMcFLy]

Hi from Panama.

We use a mail forwarding service

Google Voice for phone. Purchase SIM cards for every country we visit

TurboTax online I filed my taxes from an anchorage in Costa Rica

We’ve had 4G LTE cell phone service and data everywhere cruising 15 miles off the coast of Guatemala browsing Facebook so it’s not like you are on the dark side of the moon

[Subtandard]

Be careful that while trying to get away from it all, you don't bring it all with you.

[belizesailor]

As you can see from the responses, it depends on the individual's situation. We cruise seasonally and travel a lot. I spent most my career travelling near full time so am very accustomed to not having a fixed office, which made cruising an easy transition. Im a USA citizen, but living abroad since 2005.

Address/mail: same USA PMB service for ages, they toss the junk and forward me the important stuff (fortunately not much these days, but still some). I can contact them to watch for any esp important items or other exceptions. Good service.

Phone: Ive had the same USA Skype number for ages with voice mail. I use this number as my primary contact, regardelss of where Im located, and for all registrations/filings. I buy a local SIM in each country w a data plan and use Skype for all international calls. I forward my Skype number to my local number.

I learned early on that maintaining a USA address and phone number is useful when dealng w USA officials and many business who are not used to international business. This way I dont need to bother explaining that Im not in the USA.

Taxes: pro done and filed (a bit complicated so beyond my skill to do).

Signatures/Notaries: another logistics issue you may have to deal with. Validated signatures have become easier due to services like DocuSign (online verified document signatures). Notary services are available at any USA consulate.

[pufferfish]

If you can get Internet connection periodically, it is reasonably easy
All our banks etc have been switched to electronic communications only
our taxes we do mostly online (Australia).
We rent a PO Box that a friend clears once a fortnight and kindly scans important mail for us.
Phone is easy - VoIP allows you landline numbers wherever you want them to be, if required

[hpeer]

Important mail, or just mail in general
SBI

Taxes (having them done annually)
We have a small business property, with complicated taxes.
We have them done by a professional. Its still a pain as he sends us a "questionnaire" we have to fill out which is extensive. Then we have to mail the documents back and forth for signatures. Thankfully my Wife handles this mess.

Phone services
We are part time Carribean, part time Canada, pass through USA.
We use Verizion with an unlimited USA/Canada/Mexico plan. Pricey but we most always have phone service. Outside this area Verizion will connect for $10/day.
Obviously we restrict that usage as much as possible, but its there when needed.

Permanent address
We have a extreamly basic hunting cabin to maintain our official residence. We used to live in Philadelphia, the cabin is in Gods Country. So that's where we are registered to vote and when on Obama care my Wife had to use doctors in that local area. PITA. That restriction has gone away now that she is on Medicare.

Official communications (like possible legal matters)
SBI. ONCE I needed something notarized, which meant a trip to the USA consulate in Grenada. Here in Newfoundland there is no consulate so a notarization would require a trip to Halifax, that's 2 days long drive and a long ferry ride for us.

Other urgent matters not mentioned above
We have purchased international health coverage. Gold plan for 2 seniors, no questions is $4,000/year. its good everywhere except USA and there we have Medicare. That way we don't have to worry about flying back to the states for health care, not that it has come up, but it might. Broken arm, heart attack, whatever.

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by hpeer

We have purchased international health coverage. Gold plan for 2 seniors, no questions is $4,000/year. its good everywhere except USA and there we have Medicare.

From what insurer?

Reco on good agents?

[SV MAKAI]

Not all prescriptions can be obtained locally or inexpensively.

For example, I have a kidney transplant and the medications I take are very special, expensive and must be taken on time, twice a day. Missing even a single dose can mean game over.

So, how to get them while crusing is a huge issue.

Fortunately a solution exist.
It's a mail forwarding service that will sign for receipt and forward your prescriptions to you any place you tell them too.

And they take care of customs paperwork for you too.

The price is reasonable as well.

Name of the company is personal mail international.

[JanetGroene]

My book How to Live Aboard a Boat ( Hearst) is outdated and out of print but copies are probably available cheap on Amazon. One angle often not covered is jury duty. Depending on how they choose names from the roles, you may never get called but some jurisdictions will NOT take no for an answer. It's something to consider in choosing a home base where you will vote or get a driver's license or mail.