I paddle a type of sea kayak that I consider to be the 'safest on the high seas'. (if interested: a SKUK 'Explorer' sea kayak) I was planning a paddling trip up the coast of Australia. At the time I was planning my trip, the sea kayak I use was not available in Australia. So I had to purchase the boat here (the US) & have it shipped to Aus. I looked into shipping it via airfreight and couldn't find any good info (and knew if I did - it would be very expensive, though faster). (The sea kayak is about 18' long and less than 2'x2' cross section.) So I could either paddle it there (just kidding, though people have paddled across the Atlantic, and from the California to Hawaii) or ship it on a slightly larger boat. I contacted Navis, and inquired about shipping my oddly shaped - and delicate item. Jo Ann was quite helpful in arranging to have it shipped - safely (this was a major concern of mine - I had images in my mind of a forklift 'spearing' the kayak, or getting crushed by a container of new cars). She had a container 'custom' built for the kayak - to be quite secure. I went by the facility - and it satisfied my worries. After completing the 'paperwork', she gave me what I would need to clear it on the other end and gave me a website where I could track the ship - which I followed: when it arrived in Sydney a week early, I was able to call the receiver and arrange things to be handled - and be ready for me when I got there. (On a previous trip, several years earlier, I had a kayak shipped, but when I got to Sydney it took about 10 days to acquire the kayak due to complications with unpacking & customs) As I'm writing this, I'm still in the US, but fully expect to arrive in Sydney (in about a week?s time) to an unpacked kayak - cleared through customs, ready to start paddling north in the Tasman Sea (I would rather deal with the sharks at sea than the sharks on land, Jo Ann with Navis helped clear the waters for me so I didn't get 'bit').
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