tugsailor’s post makes sense to me but it spurs a followup query regarding the required license to be held by the captain of the ocean move in this example, which I think was referenced or at least alluded to in the OP.
Presumably a captain licensed for ocean routes would be required to make the ocean transit, correct? A possible exception to this being an owner/operator who despite having a license limited to inland waters could move his own vessel when the COI is “turned to the wall” since at that point he would essentially be moving a recreational vessel for no compensation. Do I understand that correctly?