I woke up this morning w/ britt sharing with me her experiences on the "on the road in Mexico" facebook page (ilovebad) helping some people out with their desire to transport their pets and vehicle through the sea of cortez without needing to lock them in a crate. This is quite awesome because just a lil over 3 months ago, we were in the same situation as we had sold most things we owned (except our online business inventory--lotsa organic hemp goodies!) to venture through most of Mexico via our lil nissan juke SUV+ thule cargo box... and of course, MAX, our now 20+2lbs of tacos = 22 lbs PUG child.
our amazing mini awd adventure car + medium thule cargo box
alongside the coast of Campeche en route to Merida
During the time we were prepping for this trip, we couldn't find any information whatsoever (online) on how we could ferry Max without putting him in a crate, despite many people seemingly having taken their pets. Most of the information we saw were people resorting to the crate method via the BAJA FERRIES (actual name of the ferry), which we were not into doing.
view of our car and other freight from the dining level
if you allow it, the boat ride can be quite enchanting
After days of digging and believing something would surface--law of attraction if you will, we read about a lady taking a different ferry which allowed her dog to sleep in the car with her. The name of the ferry was TMC Ferry which we didn't even know existed because its primary purpose is to transport cargo (equipment & supplies for businesses) and not tourists, albeit you're allowed to take it should you choose to skip certain comfort like your own cabin. Additionally, the main passengers on board were truck drivers transporting heavy loads of equipment and despite all the masculine energy aboard, everyone was quite respectful and nice to us.
With that tip, we soon landed upon their website @ http://www.ferrytmc.com/ and though we didn't see much information regarding the transportation of animals, we also didn't see any restrictions so decided to go for it. And after getting all our documents together for the ferry, which is a blog of its own, we were successfully able to transport Max without any problem on the aforementioned ferry line. A couple of the crew members were really fond of Max, even going as far as inviting us into the captain's room, so it made the experience a bit more fun.
our delicious dinner on the TMC Ferry
One other thing. You can roam about freely on board which is pretty awesome cuz it allows for Max's pooping session even though we did our best to not feed him anything half a day prior so that it would limit his pooping/peeing sessions. Also, the ship is quite huge so your furry child may have a bit of privacy should emergencies become unavoidable. Max did have to go twice but it was easy to clean up after with a few disinfectant wipes handy!
16 hours of ferry time can be quite tiring
We hope this information was helpful in your efforts to get your furry child over to and/or back from the mainland of Mexico via the ferry. If you happen to have any questions or concerns regarding this process, feel free to reach out to us below.. and for more information on our TMC Ferry experience, please click here.
Best,
Daniel & Brittanny
7/1/18 update: Having been back home from our Mexico road trip this past year, we've been hard at work getting our home business back up. If you didn't already know, we've been making hemp products (blankets & underwear) since 2010 using sustainable materials & business practices that are conscious of the environment and our natural bodies' health. The below product is one of our latest release, an all-natural pet bed made from a most luxury combination of natural fibers: hemp; organic cotton; kapok; and natural latex. If you're in the market for a high quality non-toxic doggie bed that compromises nothing, then we hope you'll find this worthy of your pet's love! 10% of all profits goes to charity as well as supporting the Senior Citizens that had sewn this. You can click here to see the full product listing: https://www.ilovebad.com/collections/frontpage/products/hemp-organic-cotton-dog-bed
Thanks for posting this.