Day 91 - Fri 26 Jun 2015
Docked - Clayton, NY

[photo: one of many dozens of wonderfully restored wooden antique boats at the museum]

We slept wonderfully last night in comfortable temperatures and awoke to a bright, sunny sky about 0600. When I stepped out on the deck, however, I saw thousands of dead bugs littering the deck as we had experienced yesterday. This time, with no hose to spray them off, I resorted to a bucket and rope to pull water out of the harbor. I can tell you that if you fail to get them off and grind them into the deck surface, it requires a scrub brush to remove the residue.

We did not run the generator quite long enough last night, so the battery bank got down to 12.1V overnight. On the previous boat, anything below 12.4V would cause the refrigerator compressor to short-cycle and be very problematic. With this boat, the refrigerator seems to work fine at that low voltage level, but I still don't like to see it dip that low. Once we start the engines and travel a few hours, of course, the alternators recharge the batteries.

The lines were off at 0725 after I listened (over the free Wi-Fi) to an archived audio from the American Great Loop Cruising Association's weekly blogcast on clearing into Canada. It was quite informative and timely. The run today was about 4.5 hours and we can truly understand why so many boaters consider these great cruising grounds. The weather was almost perfect, which played a big role as there were no waves and just a gentle breeze. The air was crisp and the visibility was excellent.

With us clearing into Canada soon, we needed to throw away, eat, or cook some of the fresh vegetables. Diane had microwaved our 4 potatoes yesterday, so this morning while I was on the flybridge, she prepared the home fries and veggie omelets. She said she was not happy with the result, but it sure tasted good to me. I am sure with some more practice she could make a fine wife someday. (grin)

We were not very close to shore much of the time, but with the binoculars we could see countless beautiful hills of grass and trees, occasionally dotted with small cottages and large mansions. Wolfe Island to the N on the Canadian side of the border boasted dozens of huge wind turbines to harness the often strong breezes for electric power generation. They were not turning at all today in the mild breeze.

Our dockage in Clayton is not the best; any wakes from the river roll in and rock the boat. The price is decent at $1.25 per foot with electric. We had bite of lunch that Diane prepared (very delicious) and then rode our bikes into and around the small town. It is nice that it is fairly compact, so we got to see a lot in a short time. We separated and came back along different routes a while later.

Diane stayed on the boat while I toured the absolutely wonderful Antique Boat Museum. With my Coast Guard Auxiliary ID card, I got in for free (one of the few perks of a volunteer job). Anyone with an appreciation for the craftsmanship of older wooden boats needs to visit here. I did rush through a bit, but it could take 4 hours to really enjoy the place adequately.

Back on Diva Di, I was disappointed to read an email that there was no room for us in Kingston at the preferred marina, owing to the upcoming Canada Day holiday on 1 Jul. I then tried a less preferred marina, and got a confirmation, so at least we have a place to stay. We got back on our bikes and rode to the grocery and liquor stores about a half mile away. We picked up 2 more bottles and will have a long list to declare when we check in tomorrow. We will see how much import duty we have to pay, if any.

We wisely skipped walking to the local brew pub just one block from the dock, and relaxed on the boat. I cooked up some salmon, broccoli, and glazed the sweet potatoes Diane had cooked earlier. It was all good. It is hard for us to get used to so much intense daylight so late at night. It is not late at 2200 (8 pm), but for it to be so bright is unusual for us.

I set up our cell phones to forward to our home phone number. The home phone is an Internet service that will convert any voice messages to email and send them to us. We will not have voice service with our phones directly, but will get messages as long as we have Internet. We plan to buy a cheap Canadian phone to get a much better data plan than anything we can get with Verizon in Canada.

Tomorrow we will head to Gananoque to clear into Canada and stay 2 nights to avoid traveling in bad weather. Then we have reservations in Kingston for 2 nights to explore that city before heading up the Rideau waterway to Ottawa. Should be a great time, eh?