Beaufort, NC to Lake Worth, FL - Have I left the USA?

[SVRocinante]

Good day all

Apologies for what might be a silly question, but here goes:

Sailing from Beaufort, NC to Lake Worth FL takes us outside the U.S. Territorial Sea (12nm), outside the U.S. Contiguous Zone (24nm) but inside the U.S. Economic Zone (200nm).

As a Documented, U.S. flagged vessel, am I required to check in and out of the country?

Thanks,

[john61ct]

Are you a US citizen?

[SVRocinante]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Are you a US citizen?

Not quite sure how that comes into play, but yes.

[a64pilot]

You have not left the USA I don’t believe or there are thousands of fishermen that do every week.

[Paul L]

Nope, you can sail a few thousand miles from Hawaii to Washington and still not be required to clear customs.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Nope, you can sail a few thousand miles from Hawaii to Washington and still not be required to clear customs.

It would be a good few thousand though as you'd need to go via Cape Horn or NW Passage rather than the Panama Canal.
As a foreign flagged vessel if you sail directly from Puerto Rico to the US east coast, even if you pass through the Territorial Waters of other Countries (DR/Haiti/T&Cs/Bahamas) provided that you don't stop at any of them all you need do on arrival is telephone the Coast Guard/Homeland Security to advise that you've moved.

[john61ct]

I was just thinking foreigners might need to be a bit more "obviously not hiding anything" in their movements, timing, presentation.

Especially coming & going in the southerly directions.

Not legalistically, just from a pragmatic POV

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by john61ct

I was just thinking foreigners might need to be a bit more "obviously not hiding anything" in their movements, timing, presentation...

Given what a hassle it is to get the B1/B2 visa (you can't sail in using an ESTA) we were staggered by how lax the USA was on both entry and exit. As noted earlier, on our first visit we came up from PR and did nothing beyond make a single phone call once we'd arrived in Wrightsville Beach, NC. We could easily have picked-up a dozen Haitians along he way.

Even when we arrived a second time entering from 'abroad' (we'd sailed from the Bahamas) we arrived into Miami, dropped anchor off the back of Miami Beach, perhaps 500' from the shore in mid-afternoon and telephoned Homeland Security. They noted down passport/boat registration numbers over the phone and required us (not the boat) to present ourselves at their office 'within 24 hours'; once again we could've offloaded a cargo of drugs or immigrants.

When it comes to leaving there's no requirement to do anything whatsoever, just pick-up your anchor and sail away; the difficulty with this of course is when you make your next landfall (unless you're still 'local' - Bahamas, BVI, Cuba) as the Customs/Immigration Officers there want to see departure papers from your previous port and can't believe that the US doesn't issue any.

On reflection, why am I so surprised? Sailing in/around Europe's just as lax.

[john61ct]

And these days who knows what other "resources" they have going capable of tracking you and your boat.

Which likely are not brought to bear unless you somehow become a "person of interest".

[Tornadosailing]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

It would be a good few thousand though as you'd need to go via Cape Horn or NW Passage rather than the Panama Canal.

Umm.... There's a state called Washington. No transiting the canal or rounding the horn necessary from Hawaii.

[PatMc57]

Am pretty sure the poster means Washington..the State...not Washington, DC

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

It would be a good few thousand though as you'd need to go via Cape Horn or NW Passage rather than the Panama Canal.
....

Geographicly challenged? Think Pacific Northwest. The usual landfall for passages from Hawaii, as it is usually necessary to head north from Hawaii to go over the Pacific high.

[BlackHeron]

Washington DC?

Lolz-o-mercy. I got a chuckle out of that one.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Geographicly challenged? Think Pacific Northwest...

Yes, sorry, I did miss the lack of the 'DC'
To be correctly labelled as 'Geographically Challenged'by Muricans really is embarrassing and the only defence I can offer is that with the USA we Limeys invariably think of Washington as the place with lots of white-domey buildings, a marble phallus, good museums and the guy with the dodgy haircut. Whereas Washington sans DC has us thinking of the 'real' Washington in Geordieland where people watch football without shirts in sub-zero temperatures, drink headache inducing chemical-laced beer and say "Why aye man,"

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

Yes, sorry, I did miss the lack of the 'DC'
To be correctly labelled as 'Geographically Challenged'by Muricans really is embarrassing and the only defence I can offer is that with the USA we Limeys invariably think of Washington as the place with lots of white-domey buildings, a marble phallus, good museums and the guy with the dodgy haircut. Whereas Washington sans DC has us thinking of the 'real' Washington in Geordieland where people watch football without shirts in sub-zero temperatures, drink headache inducing chemical-laced beer and say "Why aye man,"

A thought for you, the Pacific Northwest is in the north east Pacific ocean. The one without the DC is pretty mellow compared to the DC version with the disaster we call gov'munt.