This post is about shipping our home, Tango, back to the US. I'll hit the highpoints like why, when, how, how much, how'd it go. Photos are in the Gallery, in "Tango Delivered Fort Lauderdale"; dated 25 Apr 2022.

Where are we? - We are currently in Key West, FL, USA preparing to cross into the Bahamas. We'll explore the Bahamas until the end of May 2022. May - Oct we'll cruise up the US East Coast. In mid-Oct 2022 we'll run, FAST!!!, for warm waters and probably duck into the Caribbean for the winter.

Why? - We loved our time in New Zealand and frequently talk about crossing thru the Panama Canal then sailing the South Pacific back to NZ and our Kiwi friends. The many uncertainties about cruising logistics, Covid health concerns, and the practicalities of sailing east or west from NZ led Janet and I to retake control of our adventure again. We also wanted to visit family and friends including meeting our new grandson, Silas.

When? - We stated thinking about our options for returning to a warm-water nomadic cruising life as New Zealand's 2021 winter started in April 2021. We discussed all our options (sailing east past Australia, sailing to South America, looping up to Hawaii, leaving Tango in NZ until we could return, and selling her in NZ. By mid-May 2021 we had decided to ship Tango and paid our 25% deposit for an early Jan 2022 load date. The deposit was 85% refundable up until Nov 2021 which is also when we had to pay the remainder. We loaded Tango on 10 Jan2022 and got her back in Fort Lauderdale, FL on 4 Mar 2022. We spent about 10 days in Bahia Mar Marina reinstalling things, getting communication systems up and running, and reestablishing US boat insurance. We had to do a "quick haul" hull inspection and have a surveyor's report (no damage) to get the insurance. We left Fort Lauderdale for the overnight sail to Key West arriving just before St. Patrick's Day. They take these holidays very seriously here, lots of costumes! We've sailed to Dry Tortugas and expect to leave for the Bahama tomorrow.

How? - After studying the sail-her-home options we stated looking into the shipping options. There are 3 shipping options; Float-on/Float-off (what we chose), specialized on-deck yacht transport (crane lift), and cargo ship on-deck crane lift with mast removed. Tango isn't a fan of crane lifts. The costs were also higher than the float-on. The last option required removing and reinstalling the mast and that adds at least $25k to the projected cost). So... we drove Tango into the submerged cargo well on 10 Jan 2022. DYT's service was OUTSTANDING. Everything was easy. I sent them scaled plans of Tango's hull, categorized hazardous materials we would carry (diesel, propane), worked with their recommended customs brokers (NZ and US). DYT was always prompt, positive, and helpful.

To reduce our cost and Tango's actual overall length I removed our Hydro-Generator reducing length by about 2 ft. Our kayaks stayed on the rail. Foresails were furled tightly on the roller reefing and the main was zipped up in the new sailpack Janet finished sewing in mid Dec 2021. Battery power was disconnected from the distribution systems, including bilge pumps. Solar battery charging was left connected. Tango was made ready for ocean crossing with all the "missile hazards" secured properly. Hull discharges were all closed.

On 4 March we got aboard Yacht Express before they started flooding the cargo deck. They let us bard Tango as soon as they were done submerging. After the divers had lowered all the hull supports and were out of the water we told to start up our systems. I opened up the various thru-hull valves and Tango's generator started up pretty quickly. Starting the main diesel engine required bridging the start battery to a house bank (simple button press on Tango's cockpit control panel). With this battery boost the engine started right up. Because we were up front in the ship, we were about last to unload. I backed Tango out and we motored up to Bahia Mar Marina.

At Bahia Mar we reinstalled the Hydro-Generator, moved things back their normal in-shore locations, started getting our communication systems back on-line, started up the fridge/freezer, started up the AC (hot hot hot in Ft Lauderdale), bought some food, etc. To get our US boat insurance started up properly we had to do a "quick haul" and hull inspection with a certified surveyor (no damage found, of course). We left crazy Fort Lauderdale, where the "kids" were enjoying their first Spring Break in 2 years and arrived in Key West just in time for St. Patrick's. We then sailed down to Dry Tortugas, then relocated Tango to Boca Chica Marina at Naval Air Station, Boca Chica (1/2 the cost of Key West Bight Marina).


How Much? - Everyone asks. About $62,000. The transport cost with DYT was $55,400. We booked early and saved ourselves several thousand dollars. The quick haul in Ft. Lauderdale was $1000 for the 1/2 hour lift and $350 for the Surveyor's report. The slip in Fort Lauderdale was about $2850 for 12 days including power! That's just the cost, same at all the marinas in southern FL. Diesel fuel was about $7.50/gal! We spent about $350 topping Tango's fuel up. US boat insurance was $5800. We also rented a car for the 12 days in Ft. Lauderdale, $1550.

It's important to really understand your boating costs to make this make sense. Had we sailed Tango back to the US it would have taken about a year and at least one boatyard visit at the end of the trip. Any boatyard visit will cost an easy $50K, probably more dealing with the wear and tear from crossing the Pacific and Caribbean, into the trade winds. Panama Canal crossing is about $7500. Living expenses for a year, at least $10,000 not including boat insurance... To me the cost of our transporting Tango was a pretty even trade, maybe even the cheap alternative.

How'd it go? - It went GREAT. DYT was outstanding. We found four small issues with Tango. There are a couple of very minor hull paint scratches from the loading/unloading operations in Auckland, Brisbane AUS, Ensenada, MX, Gulfito, Costa Rico, and Ft. Lauderdale. We found the mast top VHF-FM voice radio wire antenna but the wire aerial had slip out of the jam nut somehow and disappeared. The antenna base was fine. I replaced the antenna in Key West. Tango's main engine start battery had to be replaced. It was about 7 years old and was just at the end of its life. The oddest thing was the mast-track sail-car stop had come loose and slid down the mast. This allowed about 6 of the mainsail cars to slide out of their track. We fixed that on the way to Key West. All minor stuff; repair costs less than $500.

Ending thoughts on all this. First, we miss NZ and our friends at Marsden Cove and the surrounding area. We often talk about heading back. We'll make that decision this coming Northern Hemisphere winter. We are happy to be able to visit with family and friends. Tango is a little big for the Keys and Bahamas. Too tall for the ICW and our 7ft draft is a bit squeeky in lot of the Keys and Bahama junk holes. Never had this problem in the tropics or Kiwi-land! The USA has gone crazy. People here are nuts, costs are nuts, but... it's easy to get parts and supplies and IT IS WARM :).

All is good for us. Getting here was about like a box of fluffy ducks. We just had to mind the details. We plan to head for the Bahamas tomorrow.
We got the Covid tests, health visas, customs paperwork, paid our fee's.
Tomorrow AM we'll head across the Gulf Stream and get into Alice Town lunch time on Thursday, 7 April (at least that's the plan).