[ykmaggie]

Thanks guys for all the great responses!

It looks like we have 2 options, one is to try and get the temporary permit. My husband talked to customs, they told him it is called form E99, and is a legitimate way for Canadians to transit their US registered boat through Canadian waters.

We can't register the boat in Canada, it has to be registered in Alaska, because otherwise we would have to move it out of US waters every 90 days. Not an option. It would take us a month to sail to Prince Rupert and back.

The other option is to hire a US captain as you say, and I have one in mind that would do the trip with us

I did hear back from the MP initially, just to say he would get back to me. I emailed him because I was getting conflicting information when I called customs. The issue seems to be somewhat discretionary, and this is a fairly unique situation. Now that seems to be sorted out hopefully but we will never know until we get there with the boat. We have the form printed out

To answer the question about the sailing season here, yeah it is short - April - August. But there's no place in the world I'd rather be than Southeast Alaska on a nice summer day