Canada

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Feb 27th, '09, 02:39

Sometime this summer I have been asked if I want to cruise north. The trip will most probably include ports of call at Bar Harbour Me, St John NB and Halifax NS.

What with Homeland Security etc, besides my drivers license, what else will I need to bring? I don't yet have a passport. Will I need one?

I'm trying not to wait till the last minute to get what I need. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
O J

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Feb 27th, '09, 06:46

OJ,

There are some alternate documents that you can use instead of a passport but it's not likely you'll have or be able to get one of those. I'd apply for a passport ASAP.

http://www.consular.canada.usembassy.go ... rement.asp

Phil Shedd · Post by **Phil Shedd** » Feb 27th, '09, 07:00

OJ

Welcome to Canada . You do not need a passport to come into Canada. However you will need some form of identification . Please see this web site for Canada Customs

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-sec ... ng.html#s1

If you make it to Saint John let me know . I would gladly show you around .

Phil

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Feb 27th, '09, 07:07

Phil Shedd wrote:OJ

Welcome to Canada . You do not need a passport to come into Canada. However you will need some form of identification . Please see this web site for Canada Customs

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-sec ... ng.html#s1

If you make it to Saint John let me know . I would gladly show you around .

Phil

That web page was last updated seven months ago and it does reflect the rules currently in effect. As of June 1, 2009 though, new rules go into effect.

Phil Shedd · Post by **Phil Shedd** » Feb 27th, '09, 07:21

Neil and OJ

Just got off the phone with CBSA . An American coming to Canada needs a birth cert and a photo ID ( driver licence ). The rules have changed more if I want to go to the states .

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/gene ... x-eng.html

Phil

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Feb 27th, '09, 07:23

Phil Shedd wrote:Neil and OJ

Just got off the phone with CBSA . An American coming to Canada needs a birth cert and a photo ID ( driver licence ). The rules have changed more if I want to go to the states .

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/gene ... x-eng.html

Phil

Thanks, Phil. Different rules depending on whether you're heading north or south, I suppose. I was thinking OJ might eventually want to work his way home.

Sandy D. · Post by **Sandy D.** » Feb 27th, '09, 07:45

OJ,

Entering Canada is not the challenge. The only documents you will need both ways is a birth cert. and a picture ID.

You should ask the skipper if they have made arrangements to join one of the " Trusted Traveler " programs. ( NEXUS ) This is a program that allows you to be " pre-cleared " to cross from the US to Canada and back with a simple phone call. Other wise you may be asked to stay on your boat until a CBP officer arrives to clear you in personally. The problem usually arises on the US side, you may wait a long time for that officer to arrive. Everyone on the vessel must posess a NEXUS card for the program to work.

Lots of folks in my area don't bother checking back into the US, I would highly discourage this.

Below is a link to the CBP website ( Customs Boarder Patrol ) It is easy to apply for a NEXUS online , give them your fifty bucks , and visit a local office for an interview

.http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/trust ... exus_prog/

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/pleas ... erview.xml

Like I said, you really need to check with your host to see what their plans are.

Hope this helps-------have fun

-Sandy

barfwinkle · Post by **barfwinkle** » Feb 27th, '09, 09:10

OJ

It would be a shame if you had to become a kanook (not that that is bad and is that spelled correctly), but who would report on the feet of snow in Oswego?

Get your passport, then there is no question.

Fair Winds and Following Lakes

SeaBelle · Post by **SeaBelle** » Feb 27th, '09, 10:00

OJ,

Last year we sailed to St. John, NB and enjoyed the hospitality of Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club (RKYC) just past the Reversing Falls. This August we're doing the southeast coast of Nova Scotia as far as Halifax. You are doing them both in one season! I don't know the current status but before last year's cruise Homeland Security postponed until 2009 the passport requirement, you just needed a government photo ID (drivers license) and birth certificate; we don't do that we just use our passports.

Some food for thought...
- I love sailing the Gulf of Maine and dodging lobster traps is the price we pay. In Canada they don't fish for lobster in the summer, no traps!!
- I've found the Canadians uniformly hospitable. When our own Phil Shedd heard I was going to St. John, he PM'd all his contact information and offered help should we need it We didn't. (Thanks again, Phil)
_ While in St. John we took a tour of the Operations Center for Fundy Traffic. Very Interesting (with a tip of the hat to laugh-in).
- Bar Harbor doesn't excite me but I guess every visitor must stop there once. Don't miss Rogue I., further up the coast. There are several great anchorages within a couple of hours of Rogue and I often miss them because I only get there about once a season.
- In transit, Matinicus is a great place to put up overnight, is outside, a pleasant place, and without services. We stop there often and once moored next to a CD30 with "just married" taped to the hull. Ah, to honeymoon with your bride and mistress

- Our last stop in NB just across the bay from Eastport, ME (where we cleared customs) was St. Andrews, a beautiful place and most hospitable. The warfinger (the guy that runs the wharf and moorings) and his minion see you coming, meet you in their skiff, lead you to your mooring, and hand you the pick-up buoy. What a welcome and introduction.
- We "experienced" some strong currents at the reversing falls and in/out of Passamaquody Bay (different routes). It treated our 30K pound boat like a floating leaf. Be sure to have access to tide tables.

Sea Hunt · Post by **Sea Hunt** » Feb 27th, '09, 10:02

OJ:

I think your question has been pretty much answered. Best advise, apply for a US passport and APPLY NOW!!!

On 01 June 2009, the rules for re-entering US via land or sea will change for re-entry (including from Canada). It is called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

As you know, I am not good with computer stuff. The below MAY be a link to the US Customs and Border Protection site that discusses WHTI in more detail:

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/tra ... ea_faq.pdf

The bottom line is that as of 01 June 2009, re-entry into US from Canada via land or sea will require a US passport, a US passport "card" (it's laminated, no pages and a little cheaper than paying for a regular passport), an enhanced driver's license (NY probably does not yet have them ready for issuance), military ID with current orders, US Merchant Marine ID.

It is easier to leave US than to re-enter. Canada has slightly less stringent "entry" requirements. However, having a valid US passport covers everything

Here is another website that discusses required travel documents, etc.:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

Strong recommendation: Immediately apply for a US passport.

Assuming your zip code is 13126, you can apply locally in Oswego, NY at clerk of court office on Bridge St. or post office on First St.

You will need to complete an application (can get it online at above website), have proof of US citizenship (a CERTIFIED birth certificate); and two (2) passport photos. The most important document (and most difficult to obtain) is proof of US citizenship complying with State Department mandates. Generally, the only thing that works is a CERTIFIED birth certificate. The other acceptable proofs of citizenship probably do not apply to your situation (naturalization document; consular proof of birth abroad, etc.)

OJ, you will want to begin this process ASAP (today, if possible), because there have been significant lag times for issuance. With summer vacations coming up (yes, even in this economy), familys are going on vacation and will need a passport (or passport renewal). The system gets clogged. If you do not have a CERTIFIED birth certificate, and depending on where you were born, this may take some time to obtain. You cannot submit passport application until you have ALL the necessary documents.

Sorry for being so long-winded. Still waiting for parts for O/B.

Jim Davis · Post by **Jim Davis** » Feb 27th, '09, 10:08

Definitely get your passport. The first time I saw a Customs, Border Patrol officer in "Full Battle Rattle" was in Bar Harbor. Hardly a known Terrorist Entry Port.

Canada is easy to get into, however a passport is the best doccument for getting back into the US.

Canadian Customs will give the skipper an entry number when he calls in, I would suggest everyone on board write it down and have it in his wallet, you will be asked for the number at different ports. Just keeps things simple.

John Vigor · Post by **John Vigor** » Feb 27th, '09, 12:32

Do as they say, OJ, get a passport. We are right on the border of Canada here in Bellingham, and people go back and forth all the time. Canadian Customs have a reputation for being more polite and less aggressive (though I suspect no less competent) than some of our own gung-ho Homeland Security staff.

We don't even have to go through Canadian Customs in our boat. We simply tie up at their unmanned dock and put through a free telephone call. They ask us some questions and take us on trust. They give us a clearance number and we fill it in on forms that we find alongside the telephone. We stick the clearance inside a window so anyone can see it, and that's that.

The problem, as noted extensively above, is getting back into the States. By law, you cannot be refused entry if you are a citizen, even if you have no papers. But you will be held in detention until you can prove you are a citizen, and you will be made to feel very sorry for causing so much fuss and bother.

So get a passport, OJ. It will take you to Bermuda, too. Land of Dark-'n-Stormies, remember? Or Rio de Janeiro. Ever been to Rio at carnival time? Man, it's a sight (or a couple of sights) for sore eyes. A good passport can do all of this for you OJ. Don't delay, get one today.

Cheers,

John V.

http://www.johnvigor.com/blog.html

barfwinkle · Post by **barfwinkle** » Feb 27th, '09, 13:48

OJ it is just WAY TOO COOL to have your passport stamped "ARRIVED BY SEA"

Fair Winds

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Feb 27th, '09, 14:54

Hi Bill,

Is "Way Too Cool" something like "Wicked Cool"? Whenever I get stuck on verbiage, I tend to ask the grandkids to translate.

There was one time recently when I feared that they had lost all respect for me. They called me "rockin" and "jiggy".

When you mention "Arrived By Sea", it has a special meaning for me.

As many of you are already aware, NYS is bisected east to west by the Erie Canal.

At the eastern side of the NYS, the state is divided by water from Canada in the north through Lake Champlain and its canal and the mighty Hudson River which empties into New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Located in New York Bay are two things that never fail to impress me and inspire me. As I sail in these waters I can't help but notice the awe inspiring Statue of Liberty. Also in the harbour is Ellis Island, the immigration center where countless thousands of immigrants first set foot on American shores after finally "Arriving By Sea".

I can't begin to imagine the emotions of these people who were arriving by sea into a strange new world that spoke a strange new language and lived with strange new customs. Each person, each family had its own personal history to relate. And now they are seamlessly assimilated into mainstream America generations later.

I have to believe that this particular scenario has been reenacted, even today, in ports in the south, the Gulf states, the west coast and the great northwest. Legal immigrants finally taking their first step on the land of the free. Emotionally unfathomable.

Arriving By Sea, most likely in steerage. Sometimes I think that the younger generations take things for granted and don't see the bigger picture of how and why things are and why they came about.

I'll get off my soapbox, now.
O J

lubeckmaine · Post by **lubeckmaine** » Feb 27th, '09, 15:22

OJ go to DTOPS site and apply for a customs decal required of any boat over 30 feet. https://dtops.cbp.dhs.gov/ Jimmy

The Cape Dory Board

Canada

Canada

Do it!!

Homeland (In)Security

Pass the port

Also

Way Too Cool

decal