US couple buying catamaran in Turkey and traveling around with our dog

[Uncle Bob]

I have to wonder just what the poor dog did to justify what you are proposing to put it through, leave it at home with a trusted and loving person/people and reconnect when you return.

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by Claudine

Oh my goodness, I am so happy to hear from someone who's experienced this because after all the reading I did yesterday, my brain melted. Sounds a lot more complicated when I first started reading through it all, but really, it's pretty straight forward.

If the pet has a good record of all vaccinations and USDA certificate (requires a titer test) you shouldn’t have any issue returning to the US after Turkey as long as the vaccinations are still current. I think the same will be true coming back to EU with a pet passport. Life could get more complicated if the US vaccinations expire when you are outside the US

[Anders]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

If the pet has a good record of all vaccinations and USDA certificate (requires a titer test) you shouldn’t have any issue returning to the US after Turkey as long as the vaccinations are still current. I think the same will be true coming back to EU with a pet passport. Life could get more complicated if the US vaccinations expire when you are outside the US

That's correct for the EU. Titers are valid for life as long as there are no gaps in the rabies vaccination record.
You can return with an EU animal health certificate but they cost a lot, are 13 pages and often filled out incorrectly causing problems at the border. Ours has been stamped and initialled 25 times! Life is a lot easier with an EU pet passport.

[Sailndive345]

Originally Posted by Claudine

Thanks for the info. She was microchipped over a year ago. We will be going to France first to visit family and plan to get an EU pet passport before going to Turkey. We would like to stay in Turkey around 90 days and then begin to travel to Greece and go west from there. We’d like to stay in the med for about a year before returning to the states. When we go back into Europe, we can just re-enter with the same EU pet passport? Will we need anything returning to the EU after 90 days in Turkey? Thank you very much!

The microchip needs to be the format that EU (and Turkey) accept: If I remember correctly, there are two different formats used in the US and the 'longer' numeric one is the one you want. We used 'Petlink' and theirs was compliant. My wife and I sailed to Fethiye, Turkey in 2018 and had to go through both EU (Portugal, Italy) and Turkey vet checks - the EU system has pretty strict requirements. One requirement I do remember is that you are required to provide a pet health cert from the US dept of Agriculture. They are particularly difficult if you sail to the EU from Turkey - not so bad, the other way around. If you already have a EU pet passport, you should be ok. (We had 3 cats and 2 dogs)

BTW, I highly recommend ECE Marina in Fethiye (Mugla province, Turkey) for longer stays - wonderful place with great weather protection: We have kept our monohull there since 2018 and plan to sail her back to the US 2023. One of the advantages of keeping the boat in Turkey was the lack of VAT for five years if you maintain marina slip. Have fun!

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

My two cents is get the titer test done in the US now. It is my understanding it is good until the rabies vaccine expires. You should be able to get a titer test done in the US in 30 days or perhaps less. Key is to use a vet who knows the process both with the titer test and USDA approval. Try to get actual lab result paperwork rather than just receipts for tests, the receipts are not generally accepted as proof of test results. In our experience, most times custom folks wave you through without going through all the paperwork, but we always have all the paperwork in order and organized just in case.

Titer test must be done in a Eu approved facility

USDA approval not needed for EU health cert but is needed for a Turkish health cert.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Sailndive345

The microchip needs to be the format that EU (and Turkey) accept: If I remember correctly, there are two different formats used in the US and the 'longer' numeric one is the one you want. We used 'Petlink' and theirs was compliant. My wife and I sailed to Fethiye, Turkey in 2018 and had to go through both EU (Portugal, Italy) and Turkey vet checks - the EU system has pretty strict requirements. One requirement I do remember is that you are required to provide a pet health cert from the US dept of Agriculture. They are particularly difficult if you sail to the EU from Turkey - not so bad, the other way around. If you already have a EU pet passport, you should be ok. (We had 3 cats and 2 dogs)



BTW, I highly recommend ECE Marina in Fethiye (Mugla province, Turkey) for longer stays - wonderful place with great weather protection: We have kept our monohull there since 2018 and plan to sail her back to the US 2023. One of the advantages of keeping the boat in Turkey was the lack of VAT for five years if you maintain marina slip. Have fun!

While the pet passport is “ sometimes “ accepted for entry into the EU. It’s not formally legally sufficient for entry from a non EU country

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

I have to wonder just what the poor dog did to justify what you are proposing to put it through, leave it at home with a trusted and loving person/people and reconnect when you return.

I agree dogs should not be on a boat.

[smj]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I agree dogs should not be on a boat.

Silly us. Our dog is entering its 19th year with the vast majority of that time living on a boat. I can guarantee the dog has enjoyed its time living on the boat much more than living in a house. Key phrases there are living on vs. living in as on the boat a much greater time is spent outside vs. inside in a house.

[KevinE]

Might be easier to immigrate to an EU country LOL. Nomad Capitalist on Youtube had some good videos on best countries to do this.

We have been thinking about cruising the med for a couple of years as well. I have come to the conclusion that there is more pain than gain. Definitely wouldn't do it with a pet...

A Canadian friend of ours has been based out of Turkey on their boat for the past 2 years. They have 90 day visa limitation but you can get a 1 year residence permit ... but this requires a signed one year contract in a marina. He also said finding DIY boat yards is very difficult or expensive as they typically charge 35 euros per day for each outside worker you you bring into the yard. He has been happy with the quality of workmanship though.

His other off the cuff comments:
Croatia is expensive and crowded
Greece - budget on 6 months to get a 1 year visa and the application has to be made from your home country.
"The regulations are burdensome and growing by the year!"

They are on a 10+ year circumnavigation and he suggested SE Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia). Similar 90 day visa limitations but some countries you only need to leave for 3-5? days for a refresh. And far less expensive than the Med...

The nomadic days of a cruising sailor are slowly (rapidly?) dwindling away.