How does traveling in your own boat/yacht work in a practical sense?

Factual Questions
1

So I was sitting around speculating about renting a boat and trying to sail down the coast, visiting ports and islands and whatnot. I’m not actually ready to try this (don’t worry), but I was wondering what the practicalities of actually yachting from place to place are. For example, if I launch my own boat from Miami, can I just expect to sail right in to Key West, assuming that I have enough m4d 1337 b0471ng 5k1llz, or am I going to need to fill out forms, apply for licenses, and get harassed by various agencies? Would I need a permit (from whom)? Do I need to contact the Coast Guard, Key West Police, or just the management of whoever owns the dock I want to stop at?

I know that international boat travel (e.g. sailing from Bar Harbor to Halifax) usually requires that you contact local immigration authorities, but I’m talking about domestic travel. In other words, how similar is it to driving my own car wherever I want? I know that I can drive across the Delaware Memorial Bridge to New Jersey without checking in with any officials first. Is it the same if I want to sail to the Jersey Shore, or am I going to be on the radio requesting “Permission to enter New Jersey waters, please? My license number is blah, purpose of visit is bleh, no firearms or explosives on board, thanks.”?

Why anyone would want to sail to Key West or the Jersey Shore is out of scope for this question.

2

The United States doesn’t impose restrictions on its citizens when traveling from state to state regardless of the method of travel.

3

I know, but suppose I hop in my yacht at Virginia Beach and tootle on up to Seaside Heights. Surely I can’t just park my boat anywhere on the beach, right? Where do I get an, uh, “parking space”? Do I radio a harbormaster and ask for a docking slip referral? Do I just have to know someone who has space available? Is there an app for this?

4

Most people use the Intracoastal Waterway, a 3,000 mile long canal that skirts just inland from the Atlantic and Guof of Mexico, from Norfollk Virginia to the Mexican border at Brownsville Texas. That avoids any of the hazards (and adventures) of the high seas. You’ll have to share it with a lot of industrial barge traffic

5

Beaches and shores are either publicly owned (parks, recreational areas) or private. Private owners usually frown on trespassers. Public shores may accept landings by small boats like canoes, but not often actual cruising boats. Shoreside facilities fall into the same general categories. Private ownership, keep off. Privately owned commercial docks should welcome you. So should parks. If you’re on a day cruise, just motor/sail on up. You could call for the “harbor master, Whatever Marina” on channel 16 if it’s a big place. Otherwise, look for the fuel dock, where you should find an attendant you can ask.

When I’ve cruised more extensively, including in the Bahamas, I’ve always made advance arrangements for overnight dockage. Once upon a time, this included snail mail and sometimes, if I was lucky, a local telephone number. Today you can arrange your entire itinerary for a full summer cruise on the internet.

6

Just out of idle curiousity, are you aware that you’ve had a Pit thread going since August 5th?

7

OK, moved to a real keyboard. And I forgot that Tapatalk appends my signature automatically, and invisibly to me. Sorry about that! It wasn’t intended as snark on your thread.

I’ve cruised using everything from a canoe carrying a tent and camping gear, through 20+ foot powerboats that we docked every night and slept in a motel, cruising sailboats where we “anchored out” at night, and cruising yachts up to 55 feet that we docked every night and slept onboard in air conditioned luxury after heavy partying shoreside and back on the boat. All are fun, and each takes its own kind and level of advance planning.

Big boats need big docks, deep water, and access to big gulps of fuel. Depending on location, that can take some planning. At the opposite extreme is the canoe on a river or large lake, where campsites are pretty much any shore. I’ve also done this in the back country of Everglades National Park using canoes or small powerboats. Campsites are “primitive” (Understatement! Tiny patches of muddy dirt infested with mosquitoes, big enough for 2 tents and a camp stove and surrounded by mangrove swamp. And some are literally wooden platforms over water in the mangrove estuary.) and limited in numbers, which require reservations with the Park.

But your OP seems to be directed toward cruising in the Intracoastal Waterway and nearby offshore waters. Pretty much anyplace on the east coast of the United States (I can’t speak for the Pacific coast) that’s a piece of cake. Tons of facilities, from day use free docks to overnight “boat-tels” through full scale resorts catering to water travelers, abound. It’s hardly a “canal”, barges are common only in a few areas, and much of it is close to open ocean in level of skill (chart reading, seamanship in rough water, navigation – or at least piloting – needed for safety. Start small, with day trips in your local area. Graduate to an over-nighter, planned in advance, nearby. From there, your cruising is unlimited and you’ll have a great time!

Well, yeah, there are tons of ways to screw up on the water, ranging from merely running aground until the next tide, to serious stupid that endangers or even takes lives. But that’s true in any endeavor, and as long as you are competent to run your boat, cruising shouldn’t impose any special hardship.

8

I had a friend who paddled his kayak the full length of the United States West Coast and much much more, including internationally, and blogged the whole adventure (with lots of photos too).

He mentioned once that one does have to run some red tape at certain locations. There are restricted areas (e.g., near Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, and around Vandenburg Air Force Base). They allow recreational kayaking, but you have to clear it with the right authorities first, and there are probably restrictions about photographing, landing, etc.

9

What about actually piloting the boat/yacht.

Would somebody need some kind of formal training and maybe certification beyond a certain boat size?

10

Depends on the state. Some require a permit to operate any boat with a motor (but not for pure sail boats), some are a total free-for-all.

11

We cruised the East coast on a 35’ sailboat from NC to Maine and back. We did it as a series of day sails, except for one overnight run into Atlantic City. We had charts and carefully planned each day’s sail; we knew where we would be anchoring out, or which marina we would using. Our trip included the ICW, the ocean, several sounds and some rivers. We would stay tucked in if the weather turned bad. Once we had to anchor out unexpectedly for several extra days because the captain got the flu.

Despite our careful planning, we still had some hair-raising experiences with currents, fog, high swells, vicious choppy waves, engine failure, running aground, bees (on the river), and rude power boaters passing too close and creating big wakes <grin>.

We had sailed this boat for three years on San Francisco Bay, which more than prepared us for conditions on the East coast. In fact, we often found ourselves motoring more than we wanted due to lack of wind and the desire to reach our next port.

Other than one boarding by the Coast Guard on Long Island Sound, we never had to deal with any official, or have any special licenses or papers (our boat and dinghy were already properly registered).

12

You can very often just grab a mooring at a yacht club or public marina without a reservation. There are usually a certain number designated and marked for transients. Or as mentioned earlier, you can dock at the fuel dock and ask.

13

This Intracoastal Waterway thing. I’d never heard about it but then I’m from Kansas. Sounds very interesting.