Can I sail to Hawaii from California without a passport?

April 20, 2019 2:55 AM

I’m having trouble Googling this as all questions seemed to relate to passenger ships and not yachts. It looks like the Jones Act was amended to exempt yachts (assuming it was foreign flagged). I guess the question is, could I reasonably just go to Hawaii and dock at a temporary slip without a government ID?

I’m not going to do this, but the only obstacle I can think of is the harbor requiring an ID even if I paid in cash. I guess an easier example would be sailing to Mexico, use my passport then sail back and never go through customs. I’ve never been ID’d at a yacht club and it occurred to me: how do they prevent this from happening?

posted by geoff. to Law & Government (5 answers total)

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you asking whether it's legal to travel from California to Hawaii by private pleasure vessel without a passport? Or just whether you could, in all likelihood, get away with it? Or are you asking about whether you'd be required to go through customs in either direction? Or something else?
posted by bricoleur at 7:11 AM on April 20, 2019

I'm assuming you'd need some sort of government-issued ID to secure a berth in a US port, yes. Ports are high-security areas, in these days of high security at national points of entry they're not just going to say "oh, this looks fine, go ahead and dock".

>I've never been ID'd at a yacht club

That's a different question than "Can I dock at a temporary slip". Yacht clubs are private organizations with their own rules - if you belong to one, ask your club what the rules are at other clubs, and they'll either know or know who to put you in contact with at your destination club.

Either way, I don't think you could just expect to randomly show up and not to be asked for proof of ID.
posted by pdb at 7:40 AM on April 20, 2019

Best answer: per Noonsite, a (long-distance sailing information site):

"US vessels arriving from a US port on the mainland who have not stopped at a foreign port en route or have had no contact with any other vessel at sea, and who have only US citizens on board, do not need to clear Customs, but must be inspected on arrival by an agricultural inspector of the State of Hawaii. They must inform the agricultural department of their arrival."
posted by gyusan at 7:41 AM on April 20, 2019 [9 favorites]

I asked your question on a site populated in part by guys who have actually sailed to Hawaii. One of them replied with the same info as posted by gyusan. However, another posted this caution:

"Although not needed it seems common sense to have one. If something goes wrong and you end up in Canada, Mexico or any other Pacific island nation having a passport would make life much easier."
posted by SemiSalt at 6:27 AM on April 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

When I sailed to Hawaii from California, I brought but did not need my passport. SemiSalt's point is a good one. An equipment failure about 3 days out of LA will have you eyeing Mexico as the easiest shore to return to. It might be closer but more importantly the wind angle would be more favorable than trying to return to LA.
posted by Horselover Fat at 2:13 PM on April 21, 2019