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Mark Tilden
4/30/2026 9:43 PM
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HI Richard:
Yep....this thread did (as often happens) go a bit "astray". Oh well.
Just a couple of specific comments to your questions: We don't have diesel heat, but I think I will need to look into adding that for the West Coast. We also don't have rigging for flopper stoppers which I think would be helpful in the West Coast swell. Maybe West Coasters can comment on that.
You will definitely want diesel heat. You can get along with reverse cycle, but it gets less and less effective as the water gets colder. Up in Alaska, it will run nearly all the time to try to suck a little bit of heat out of the already cold water. Diesel heat is just "cozy". :-)
You only need flopper stoppers in Mexico and perhaps some anchorages in California (what few there are). By the time you get to Washington, and then on to BC and Alaska, there are thousands (that is not an exaggeration) of flat calm, well protected anchorages. We've cruised the area for 20+ years and never had flopper stoppers/stabilization at rest. I agree with Jack that the East Coast anchorages are plentiful, but you have to be comfortable touching the bottom at low tide. It's just mud bottom in the Chesapeake anyway.
We have nearly unlimited anchorages--but we have a bit of the opposite extreme. In BC and Alaska, you will regularly anchor in 50+ feet of water. On occasion, you'll need to anchor in nearly 100 feet. You need at least 400 feet of chain.
Mark
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Jack Burgess
4/30/2026 5:19 PM
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Not jinxed Richard - HIJACKED!
Yeah, there is some muddy bottom on the Chesapeake Bay. Better have an anchor wash down system. And lots of water that looks like open water that isn’t. But you are correct, it is all soft. Only damage typically done is to one’s ego. And there are literally hundreds if not thousands of anchorages just on the Chesapeake and its tributaries. On our little Yeocomico River just behind where we live on the Potomac, I can count more than 25 protected anchorages in beautiful settings.
Jack :)
Jack Burgess, Shangri-La 6047
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Richard Nye
4/30/2026 4:25 PM
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This thread is jinxed somehow. 18 posts and only 10 are on the original thread (this makes 11).
Marya - I agree California doesn't have much to offer EXCEPT the Channel Islands of which Catalina is my favorite. The diving is spectacular, and the hiking is great too. Nothing like having a buffalo milk on the deck in Two Harbors looking out over the ocean after spearfishing in the kelp.
Our highlights on the East Coast were Maine and the Bahamas. Too bad they are so far apart. But there are many little towns and big cities along the way. Another highlight was spending a month at the Capital Yacht Club in D.C. We walked to all the museums, buildings and monuments. Another was anchoring in Boston Harbor on a holiday weekend overlooking the city lights at night. Oh, and anchoring under Lady Liberty's feet looking out at lower Manhattan with a Manhattan in hand.
We don't have diesel heat, but I think I will need to look into adding that for the West Coast. We also don't have rigging for flopper stoppers which I think would be helpful in the West Coast swell. Maybe West Coasters can comment on that.
I agree with Jack that the East Coast anchorages are plentiful, but you have to be comfortable touching the bottom at low tide. It's just mud bottom in the Chesapeake anyway. We bought the boat in Urbanna, VA and returned there annually for the Oyster Festival and to see old friends (Greg & Glenda, Barry & Robin). I think we paid around $500/mo for the slip, water and power included. It was a short walk into the quaint Chesapeake town of 500.
I always thought it was very cool that we could go into nice vacation areas and anchor for free (well, after you buy an expensive boat and pay to fuel it and maintain it). A small B&B in Maine is $500/night. I was less enthusiastic when the slips cost more than a decent hotel room.
Richard Nye Untethered, 57-22 https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/
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Treasurer
4/30/2026 12:24 PM
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Richard and others, All of the Douglass’ guides are the “bibles” of cruising the west coast. I have never been down the Pacific below the strait of Juan de Fuca (San Diego to Seattle), but constantly have the others at hand: -Exploring the South Coast of British Columbia -Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia -Exploring Southeast Alaska -Exploring the West Coast of Vancouver Island They may in some cases be out of date for some marinas, contact numbers, local information, etc., but as far as anchorages they are priceless. Unfortunately, Don has passed away, and future updates will not happen, but they are still and will always be invaluable if you are going to cruise here. We are local to WA so don’t know about taxes and such. We don’t have issues with rules about anchoring. There are many small and wonderful towns/settlements, etc. to explore and most are very welcoming. Exploring Puget Sound is wonderful as well, although more crowded near the big cities. Moorage rates here north are not outrageous, we grumble when it’s over $2.75 a foot in some of the more popular and larger marinas. Jenni, Indigo Moon 5376
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Richard Nye
4/30/2026 8:28 AM
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Somehow this thread got off track. When Joseph Cain posted to it, it started another parallel thread, and this one migrated to the customs topic. Trying to get the train back on the tracks.
Have any of you seen this book? I bought it before buying my boat in Virginia. I expected to buy a boat on the West Coast. The book looks very helpful although I haven't looked through it in detail.
My main concern with the West Coast is all the rules, laws, formality and taxes. We've grown accustom to the freedom of anchoring where and when I want, the small towns and simple life on the East Coast. The two things that impressed me the most about the Bahamas was 1. the sense of freedom you get here (freedom from ridiculous rules, freedom to anchor where you want, etc.), and 2. how wonderful the Bahamian people are.
I've lived in Southern CA since 1993. With more people, comes more rules. I feel like I'm always looking behind my back because I may be breaking some law I don't even know exists. The other thread about Customs and Boarder Crossings triggered me. In the Bahamas I go to the most pristine beach you can imagine, and there are no other footsteps. In the U.S. (and Canada) the first thing you see is a long sign that says, "No dogs, No littering, No alcohol, No campfires, No, No No....".
It looks like going from Newport Beach, CA to Anacortes is about 1200NM. Very doable. Maybe our plan should be to winter down in CA from, say, Nov - Apr and then cruise up to PNW and Alaska in the summers. I'd also like to explore going up the Columbia River.
Richard Nye Untethered, 57-22 https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/
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Dean Klein
4/29/2026 7:12 PM
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Hi All, we cleared US Customs two days ago from Canada ( West Coast Prawndezvous)) and was uneventful. They only asked how many days we’d been in Canada (6) and said , “Welcome back”.
We did update our CBP Roam app ( as Indigo Moon recommended) and all went well.
In all experiences the agents have been friendly and professional.
Smooth sailing everyone,
Dean and Theresa Klein
SaltHeart 6203
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Dan Moore
4/29/2026 12:38 PM
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Being in aviation we deal with customs routinely. With that experience I can say that by and large customs agents are professional and good at their jobs. But there are the occasional ones whose wife yelled at them going out the door or who are just having a bad day and you are the unlucky recipient of that stress.
We’ve had agents that couldn’t be nicer and really don’t care about the random stuff the passengers somehow brought on board that absolutely shouldn’t be there and we’ve had ones who yell and threaten us with jail time because William and Will can’t be the same person even though everything else absolutely matches and William’s is 6 years old, has a more than valid passport, and cannot be a terrorist.
Do your best to follow the rules, be humble, and generally it’s a non-event. Not a relaxing event though.
Dan and Bethany Moore Blue Phoenix - 2008 Selene 59-17
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Cristina Deniel
4/29/2026 12:33 PM
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Agree, Mexico shouldn't be missed. Spent six fantastic years years cruising Sea of Cortez and the Mainland down to Bara de Navidad without experiencing a single negative incident. We're enjoying the PNW , but truely miss Mexico.
Michael Dunham
OPTIONS 58-30
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Jack Burgess
4/28/2026 2:29 PM
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From our home on the Chesapeake Bay, we departed aboard Shangri-La, 5388, for southern latitudes in November of ‘21. Although we flew home during hurricane season annually for around five or six months, Shangri-La never left the Eastern Caribbean until her return in April ‘25, being stored on the hard in Chagauramas, Trinidad during the rainy season. During our last year or two in the EC we visited 27 different countries, enjoyed many different cultures and people, spoke and ate French, Spanish, and a little British, toured, fished, hiked and biked above ground and swam and dove beautiful underwater sites innumerable times. We celebrated local holidays from Carnival in Trinidad and Martinique to Christmas in Saint Martin and Tobago, to Montserrat, which actually celebrates Saint Patrick’s Day, and Easter in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. I can’t imagine having better access to more diversity than our home base on the East Coast has provided. With Shangri-La OE 6047 being completed at present and arriving later this summer, we plan to go south again in the fall, visiting some favorite places in the EC before maybe crossing to the Western Caribbean to explore Central America, Sea of Cortez, and South America as far south as Ecuador. Or maybe we will cross the pond and see Europe.
In our travels on the East Coast and in the EC we almost always anchored out in calm and protected anchorages, which are plentiful and readily available (except Florida). Customs and Immigration in the EC was always manageable, if genuinely maddening from time to time, usually because it was time for the local officials to enjoy a drink, a meal, a vacation or a siesta. In some locales now, clearing in and out is almost automatic with online systems providing convenient and easy services. And some places (think the French islands) they just don’t care. Once when I sheepishly cleared into Martinique three or four days late, having arrived and partied until visiting C&I was going to be easy, the official scoffed and said “No worry Monsieur. You are in France now; no one is coming for you.”
We hope our travels going west (or maybe east) will provide experiences as rich and rewarding as those we have enjoyed from our home on the East Coast. From our perspective, I believe most of the benefits we receive from our cruising experiences, and otherwise, depend on our outlook and mindset going in.
I do know one thing for sure - Nobody ever made me toss good eggs overboard!
Jack ;)
Jack Burgess, Shangri-La 6047
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Ron Sernau
4/28/2026 1:26 PM
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Maybe some day I will make it to the PNW (as it is just breathtaking) but in the meantime I have plenty to explore from Maine to the Bahamas on the East Coast. Go Knicks by the way.
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Mark Tilden
4/28/2026 1:12 PM
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Hey Richard:
These are great questions. Maybe we need to do a seminar at the East Coast Rendezvous in the fall about cruising the West Coast of North and Central America! (And maybe a similar seminar at the West Coast Rendezvous on East Coast cruising!)?
Of course there are challenges. It always seems like the challenges you are unfamiliar with are more daunting than the ones you are familiar with. Yes, fuel is more expensive over here. Yes, we have some navigational challenges (river bars, etc..). There are fewer marinas that can take our size of boats---but that's mostly because there are fewer people as well!
The rewards of cruising the west (and, in particular, the Pacific Northwest) are--in my humble opinion--SO worth the challenges.
As to the border crossing: it's really not as big a deal as the recent thread might have suggested. We've been going back and forth across the Canadian border for over 20 years by boat and with RARE exception, it's been a completely painless process. We're planning to do a seminar at the West Coast Rendezvous to help a number of newer boaters (as well as refresh some of us "oldies") to make sure that the process remains painless.
DO CRUISE THIS WAY!
Mark Tilden Selene 60 "Koinonia"
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Greg Geissunger
4/28/2026 12:50 PM
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Richard, Being Canadian, we did not find bringing our boat from the East Coast to the West Coast particularly difficult.
Once you are back in Canada, many of the concerns you mentioned are much less of an issue. Canadian marinas are generally less expensive than many of the high-demand U.S. West Coast areas, and living aboard has never been a problem for us. Also, the “property tax on the boat” issue does not apply in Canada the same way it can in some U.S. jurisdictions.
That said, the West Coast is definitely different from the East Coast. There are fewer easy marina options, fewer all-weather anchorages in some stretches, and the season can feel shorter. But once you get into B.C. and the PNW, the cruising grounds are exceptional, and for a full-time cruiser it can still work very well with some planning.
For us, the Canadian side has been very manageable. The key is understanding that it is not the same style of cruising as Florida/Bahamas/East Coast. It is more seasonal, more remote in places, and you need to plan fuel, weather windows, and winter moorage more carefully. But it is certainly not impossible, and in many ways it is a great cruising lifestyle.
Greg Geissinger
Pacific Rim A Group Of Companies
Unit 178 - Building 800 15355 - 24th Ave V4A 2H9
South Surrey, BC Tel: 604-328-1455
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Richard Nye
4/28/2026 12:17 PM
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OK, I'm not trying to spark a civil war here...really. But the notion of cruising from the East Coast to the West Coast has me thinking about all of the restrictions on the West Coast. The recent threads about Customs and boarder crossings has me comparing that to going to the Bahamas. The Bahamas rules are very simple and for the most part common sense. I never had to throw my eggs overboard when crossing the Gulf Stream, in either direction. And I've never paid more than $3.50/gallon for any significant volume of diesel. I paid less sales tax on my 57 Selene than I would pay on an average used car in CA. And I've never been required to pay property tax on my boat.
The East Coast has more marinas, coves, safe harbors and anchorages than you can count, and the costs are pretty reasonable once you get north of Stuart, FL. My first boat was docked in Newport Beach, CA (at the time I think it was the most expensive harbor along the whole eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean). The West Coast anchorages are pretty limited until you get to the PNW, and then the season is pretty short. Where would a full time cruiser go during the late Fall to early Spring months?
I am strongly considering cruising to the West Coast and stopping in Costa Rica, the Sea of Cortez, Channel Islands, then north to the PNW and Alaska. But I'm afraid of the costs of transient dockage, taxes, restrictions on living aboard when at the dock, etc. So please, help me understand how I can continue our gypsy lifestyle while cruising on the West Coast.
Richard Nye Untethered, 57-22 https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/
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