No flame from you, but from others who disagree with both of our perspective.
I will never forget the harassment that I and my family got in San Diego from a 6'3" INS agent who thought that we had sailed all the way from Canada to San Diego without clearing into the US. The huge Canadian flag painted on the hull of our boat called us to his attention.
The INS had fined 3 Canadian yachting families a total of $6000 for various infractions that same month.
Long, boring story, but eventually he returned our passports, which he had held until he decided "what to do with us" on our promise that we were leaving San Diego the next day.
I was an American citizen, travelling on an American passport, and I believe that if I also had been a Canadian, he would have made another $2000 fine.
The infraction: Foreign yachts have to "check in" to each harbor or district all along America's coasts.
We cleared into Port Angeles, Washington - all papers in order.
We checked into Morro Bay, Newport Beach and San Diego but forgot to do it in LA. There, we were guests of my cousin, an ex-mayor of Beverly Hills, and I was much more concerned with passing muster at the Del Ray Yacht Club, then with calling the Coast Guard
We sailed directly to Morro Bay, and the guy could not believe that we had not stopped in San Francisco, so he was sure that we were lying. All I could think was we were legally in the US; we were middle class tourists; we were very close to the Mexican border where illegals were streaming over; and he was getting his job satisfaction from hassling us.
I envy you. After leaving the service, one of my dreams was sailing around just for fun. It never worked out. But I'm sure the INS wanted a GPS tracking system on your boat .... just because you can't be trusted.