Shipping from Florida to Canada and back

[AnnapolisJoy]

2020 will be an exciting year for us. Cruising the east US coast. Culminating with the plan to have Joy shipped via the Panama Canal from Florida to Canada. We have begun contacting shippers and have a good idea of cost and time enroute. Questions now are where will we end up on the other end. It appears that the shippers can drop our boat in Victoria or Vancouver. My guess is Vancouver would be best due to airport access and the wide number of marinas to choose from. Joy is a Fleming 55, 16' beam and a 5' draft. Joy will be in Canada and Alaska to two the three years and then we plan to either ship her back or pilot her back ourselves We have even discussed having a hired captain bring her down to San Diego where we would then solo the rest of the way. We are very experienced here on the east coast cruising from Key West to Halifax regulary.

Has anyone had experience with this voyage?

Does anyone have any recommendations for our new port of call.

 

[BandB]

2020 will be an exciting year for us. Cruising the east US coast. Culminating with the plan to have Joy shipped via the Panama Canal from Florida to Canada. We have begun contacting shippers and have a good idea of cost and time enroute. Questions now are where will we end up on the other end. It appears that the shippers can drop our boat in Victoria or Vancouver. My guess is Vancouver would be best due to airport access and the wide number of marinas to choose from. Joy is a Fleming 55, 16' beam and a 5' draft. Joy will be in Canada and Alaska to two the three years and then we plan to either ship her back or pilot her back ourselves We have even discussed having a hired captain bring her down to San Diego where we would then solo the rest of the way. We are very experienced here on the east coast cruising from Key West to Halifax regulary.

Has anyone had experience with this voyage?

Does anyone have any recommendations for our new port of call.

Great plan and we've made the voyage. Trip of a lifetime, although we look forward to doing it again. Absolutely you must experience it yourselves one way, either East to West or West to East.

As to shipping, I love the DYT system with the float on, but I don't think they're doing that route regularly now, only going as far as Golfito. Therefore, I recommend Seven Star. They've been at it the longest, own the most boats themselves and they will come closer to on schedule with no issues than the others. Most of the time the route you're talking involves a stop and some loading and unloading along the way and that can be very problematic with some shippers. Seven Star uses both Victoria and Vancouver and I wouldn't worry about which one.

Now, you might talk to Fleming. Some builders have special arrangements with shippers and even have some cradles. Stands work, maybe as well, but cradles sure are nice.

As the trip back, don't skip the west coast unless you've done it often. To me, the ideal trip is The Big U (yes, there's a book on kindle and I'd recommend it. If you have trouble finding it, message me and I'll give you a link). It is from Alaska to Montreal at it's ultimate. We loved the entire experience through Mexico and Central America including the canal. That's truly a trip you can do straight or in blocks taking years. We experienced it all on the way home. We had locations we thought from researching would be nice but were better than we imagined. Then we had an area that we expected nothing out of and met the nicest people who treated us like royalty.

Your boat is nearly perfect for that trip.

 

[Portage_Bay]

From experience I second using Seven Star. They are part of the Splieltoff Group. https://www.spliethoffgroup.com/ and as such you aren't likely to suffer from some of the horror stories to be heard including the shipper going out of business.

You may not get a float on / float off ship. Do prepare your boat to experience heavy sea spray. Make sure everything is buttoned up tight, all loose stuff secured. Just as if you were expecting heavy weather on her own bottom.

Be flexible, their schedules are not set. If you can't wait with the boat at load out and wait for the boat at unload hire a capt experienced in the process. If you are late for load out you'll miss the sailing and still pay the full amount. If you're late for unload who knows what will happen?

 

[BandB]

From experience I second using Seven Star. They are part of the Splieltoff Group. https://www.spliethoffgroup.com/ and as such you aren't likely to suffer from some of the horror stories to be heard including the shipper going out of business.

You may not get a float on / float off ship. Do prepare your boat to experience heavy sea spray. Make sure everything is buttoned up tight, all loose stuff secured. Just as if you were expecting heavy weather on her own bottom.

Be flexible, their schedules are not set. If you can't wait with the boat at load out and wait for the boat at unload hire a capt experienced in the process. If you are late for load out you'll miss the sailing and still pay the full amount. If you're late for unload who knows what will happen?

They have many captains in all their ports who they regularly use to move boats for customers. I'd recommend using one of them even if there as they simply have the process down and the communications.

 

[NComfort]

If you choose to offload in Victoria there are a number of marinas in the Sidney area that are a short 10 minute drive from the airport with far less traffic to contend with than Vancouver. From Victoria you can fly to Seattle and connect on from there.



Before you choose either Vancouver or Victoria check with marinas for moorage availability. That may make the decision for you.


You are coming to the most beautiful cruising grounds that are hard to leave.

 

[Greg S]

X 2 for Sidney. If it is a 10 minute cab ride from the airport to the marina it's because the driver is taking the scenic route.

 

[AnnapolisJoy]

Many thanks

Thank you all for your replies and guidance. As we get closer I'll post more questions and experience.

Best,

John and Diane
MV Joy

 

[rsn48]

If you are shipping with one of those sinkable jobbies, then you might be dropped off where I used to live. I will leave my old address for you to insert into google earth and you can check it out.

The company uses Deep Cove frequently as it is in a protected area. You can stay in Deep Cove for two weeks then have to move on. And across from Deep Cove is Bedwell Bay, I'm not sure if they have restrictions or not. But you can anchor in Bedwell Bay, dinghy over to Deep Cove, then bus to downtown.

My old address: 4534 Cove Cliff Road, North Vancouver, BC. Just zoom out with google earth. Also follow Indian Arm down to the end, another great area to anchor, but isolated from the city. Most American visitors usually want moorage or anchorage in the areas in and around downtown Vancouver for the shopping experience. Indian Arm is the poor man's Desolation Sound. Most who go to Deep Cove, Bedwell Bay and to the end of the Arm are locals.