Oswego, NY to Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Day 11
Travel Time: 5.5 hours
Average Speed: 8.4 knots
NM Today: 48
NM Total: 363
Locks Today: 0
Locks Total: 28

We got up early to cross Lake Ontario before the predicted bad weather hit.  We pulled away from the marina in Oswego just before 8:00.  The last view of Oswego leaving port is the lighthouse.

Lighthouse on Lake Ontario in Oswego, NY

The trip across was a rocky-rolly one - nothing too serious, just enough to rock me to sleep.  I dosed for a majority of the 5.5 hours it took to cross over to Kingston, Canada.  I woke up for important tasks like entering waypoints into the chart plotter, manning the helm so the Captain could 'hit the head', and making lunch.

We arrived in Kingston just before 2:00, tied up at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Marina and went through the required customs routines for entry into an international port.  First we put up our yellow quarantine flag that says we have not passed through customs yet.  Next we called the 800# for Canadian customs.  After the Captain had a short chat with the official over the phone, we were registered as visitors, took down our quarantine flag and hung the Canadian courtesy flag.  The courtesy flag is a small flag of the country being visited.  We still hang our US flag proudly and prominently on the stern of the boat but display the little Canadian flag nearby.

This marina has a lot of sailboats.  When we were coming in to dock, numerous one-person sailboats were returning to port - perhaps from a race or competition of some sort.  When they tacked, which was often coming in here, the boat tipped so far over, we thought it was going to lay over into the water.  Somehow they managed to always pull it back and go again.  In addition to the small sailboats, there are numerous large ones here as well.

Sailboats line the dock at Portsmouth Olympic Marina

We had some Canadian money with us that we held onto after our 2012 Triangle Cruise, but we will be here for a while so decided to visit TD Bank to get some extra.  The closest bank branch to the marina is just over 2 miles away.  Still concerned with the bad weather forecast, we decided to walk instead of potentially getting caught in the rain with our bikes.

I had read in the Skipper Bob boating books that the penitentiary is here in Kingston.  What I didn't realize was that the marina we are staying in is right next door.  In fact the first view of Kingston that we got was of an old 1700's type building.  I didn't realize I was looking at the penitentiary.

Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Marina with Penitentiary in the background

The silo-type structure in the picture is one of the four guard towers for the penitentiary - one on each corner of the property.  When we walked up to the bank (uphill almost the whole 2 miles), we went past the penitentiary, the Penitentiary Museum (across the street), and the Women's Prison (built 1930).  The complex also has an employee college.  All told it amounted to several blocks of buildings which more closely resembled the layout of a college campus than a prison system.  The Skipper Bob book for this area suggested we not pick up any hitch-hikers around here lest they be escapees.

We got to TD Bank at 4:03 and they closed at 4:00. I guess I should have hiked that 2 miles a tad faster, because instead of withdrawing money via a teller, we  had to hit the ATM.  This part of Kingston is very different from the historic downtown part where we stayed in 2012.  Here we found all modern businesses like Wendy's and Dollar General.  We passed by a Loblaw Greatfood Supermarket on our way back to the boat so I stopped in for some mayo and eggs to replenish the pantry.  We put the mayo in Clark's backpack, but I decided to hand carry the eggs.

We walked past a few restaurants and pubs, but no matter how hard I hinted, Clark didn't get the idea that we should eat out tonight.  I was pretty tired from the 2-hour walk, so I heated up leftovers and added some hotdogs and beans in there to fill it out to sufficient to fill our bellies.  Not gourmet, but it did the job.

We've decided to hang out here for two nights.  Sunday's weather is supposed to be horrid, and we both have lists of tasks we want / need to complete.  My main task will be emptying the fridge and freezer and defrosting it.  Nothing so exciting as sitting around watching a refrigerator melt and emptying the drip pan, but it has to be done.  Not sure why it's so full of frost this early on the trip.  We did do some playing around to find the right temperature, and it has been on since well before we left home, so hopefully this isn't a job I do every 2 weeks.  I don't imagine defrosting the fridge will be blog-worthy, but you never know, so I may or may not post for Sunday depending on what things of interest happen if any.

The Captain is sitting here next to me studying Skipper Bob and his charts to decide where we head next.  I asked him his main objective for the trip.  I didn't expect to get museums and statues as an answer and I didn't.  He wants to bike canal trails and kayak on rivers.  I'm certainly getting exercise and looks like I'll be getting a lot more following him around on his explorations. Kingston is our last familiar boating place on our trip until spring / summer 2016 when we reach Annapolis, Maryland, so it's all new from this point forward for quite some time.

By the way, it is now just after 9:00 p.m. and we are still waiting for that bad weather to hit.  We have some sprinkles of rain but none of the downpours that were threatened.  Maybe we should have biked to the bank!

NOTE:  Now that we are no longer in the US, we have turned off Mobile Data on our phones to reduce our usage costs. We will only be watching Facebook and posting blog entries when we have WiFi available to save our data usage for when we really need it.