Address

[Minnewaska]

Just curious. I assume, if you live aboard full-time at a marina, you use a post office box or the marina's address, care of your vessel.

What do you use for an address if you're cruising full time and have no actual land based address? What do you fill in on immigration forms as you clear customs along the way?

[remetau]

You can use a mail forwarding service such as St. Brendan's Isle (Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle)

[sailingdog]

Or you can use a relative's or close friend's address.

[labatt]

Ditto on St. Brendan's Isle. That's who we used while cruising. They have a few advantages over friends.

1) You can sign up for their scanning service where they will scan the envelopes of every piece of mail that comes through. You can then, via a web browser, put it in a queue for when you are ready for them to ship the mail, have them throw it away, or scan the inside contents of the mail and post it as a PDF.

2) They will be fully responsible for every piece of mail that comes through, vs. friends or relatives who might get sick of dealing with your mail after a while.

3) They can file your USCG documentation on your behalf if you are out of the country.

4) They can help you set up residency in FL. This is helpful for things like voting - if you move out of your house, what's your residence and where do you vote? You can also get a driver's license once you've set up residency. Residency is a strange thing - if you don't set up a mail drop, whose jurisdiction are you under for paying taxes (ugh), voting and other areas that require residency.

[Minnewaska]

The mail forwarding is a great service. I thought mail agent addresses were essentially considered suspicious by customs agents, if they appear on your immigration forms. Could be rumor.

[QuickMick]

I use my office address, but its just me, so that might not be practical for some... dunno about using the marina but venture to guess they wouldnt want the hassle, esp. if lots of people started doing it.

[labatt]

I haven't met a marina yet that will do mail forwarding - even if you have a slip there. With regards to Customs Agents - we never had a hassle on our re-entry to the US or while we were in the Bahamas.

[CaptainForce]

I've used St. Brendan's Isle as my official and singular address for the last nine years with trips to Egypt, Barbados, Panama and Europe. It's the address listed on my driver's license, voter's registration and with the IRS. I've never encountered any question or problem with my address. Take care and joy, Aythya crew