GL: Help

[Skipper Bob]

Dadi and Denise,

I cannot answer any of your questions concerning doing the Great Circle Loop as a foreign national.  Frankly as fast as our current immigration laws are changing I am not sure anyone can tell you in advance.  I suspect you will get something like a 6 month cruising permit.  I don't know if you can get one for a year, but perhaps you can request an extension.  I suggest you limit your questions on this matter to the Immigration Authorities once you arrive.  Anything anyone else may tell you will likely be wrong or viewed as wrong by the Immigration Authorities.

As for your scheduling.  The ideal time to start the Great Circle Loop from Florida is from about April 1 to April 15.  The most ideal schedule places you at the entrance to the New York Canal System about mid June.  Thus, if you are arriving in Fort Lauderdale in mid June, you are about 2 months behind the pack.  You will have to move fairly fast to catch up and start south from Chicago about Labor Day.  Boats do vary from this schedule, but usually at a cost in weather comfort.  

Most boaters doing the loop that find themselves in the northern area in the winter put their boat in storage and return home for the winter.  Then they return to their boat and finish the loop the following year.  I don't know if that fits your schedule or plans or not.  It is possible to live on your boat in the north and some boaters live aboard in Toronto through the winter.  This is not for me, but you may be one of those hardy souls that would enjoy that. 

I am not sure what the ramifications would be of your traveling on a visa in this country and trying to winter over in Canada.  You will also have the problem of clearing customs into Canada and then returning to the US once you get west near Lake Huron.  So your plate is full.  If you have any specific questions feel free to contact me directly off line.

Bob
 



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