Stuck In Oswego

Aghh, my eyes..... Oh come on really. Its just a slightly overweight middle-aged man taking a cockpit shower. Get over it.

Stuck in Oswego; which is absolutely fine with us. Saturday we kind of took it easy, if you call walking 6 miles, grocery shopping, stripping the sails and rig, EASY. It is amazing how quickly the hours pass by in a day. I am looking forward to some relaxation, if I can ever find it. I am beginning to wonder if the reason we can't relax is because we have forgotten how to.

Well, if Oswego Yacht Club was awesome, then Oswego Marina is the bestest awesome. We moved here Saturday after talking to the attendant. It turns out there are some misconceptions about how the system works over here. Not only from our home on the other side of the lake, but right here in Oswego.

1st. - The mast crane is not by appointment, its first come first serve, and if you stay in the marina, your first, unless somebody beat you to the marina.

2nd. - Mast stepping is $2 per foot for masts under 40' and $3 per foot for masts 40' and over, so for our 39' stick, its only $78. Not the 300+ that we were afraid it was. In fact it would be cheaper than taking it down at our yacht club in Trenton, if we had to pay the $75 plus tax.

If you stay at the marina, you get free pumpouts, water, washrooms, showers, coin laundry, free wifi, a nice little store, and friendly people. For $1.50 per foot, which is really reasonable. Unless your on a tight budget.

The Marina is not privately owned, its owned by the Port Authority (NY State), so subject to the rules the state sets out. The rest of the places in Oswego, including the town wall and the Yacht Club are owned by the town of Oswego, and subject to their rules, and their rates, which are the same.

All in all, the big scare of worrying about the marina monopoly was just that, a big scare. Mind you, we are talking about government agencies, so tomorrow all the nay say'ers might be right. Oh, and don't trust the guide, grab a cell phone and call. Our guide was 11 years old, which admittedly is a little out of date, but it was no where near accurate.

Saturday we finally managed to get ahold of the Richardson's chart book for all the NY State canals. The guide book that our friends Greg and Marg let us peruse has been out of print for about 3 years, apparently. So hold on to that one guys. Right inside the front page of the chart book, it has all the customs information, and it says that cruising permits are issued for boats over 30'. Oh, well, its never worth arguing about, just go with the flow. Apparently the system is designed so that you can never get it right. Fees for the Erie Canal system are cheap, cheap, cheap. A yearly pass for a boat between 26 and 39' is $75, a ten day pass is $37.50, and a two day pass is too short to make the trip anyway. If I remember correctly, a 6 day pass in Ontario is like $135 or better. Now I know why NY State taxes are so high. We thought we had it tough, ouch, these guys are paying through the nose on income tax, and no free health care. Not to mention that the cost of everything seems to be higher than at home. Fuel is cheaper, restaurants are cheaper, alcohol is cheaper, everything else is expensive to ridiculously expensive. $6 for a case of water, plus $1.20 deposit, really!

Bad news aboard Vita. Serena is broken. She buggered up her back Satuday, from what exactly, we never know. So she will be taking it very easy for a few days. My back has started to get a little better, so as long as I don't do anything stupid.......(knock on wood)

Sunday was a bag drive, trying to get the cradles on the boat built and installed. The rig ready for taking down the mast. Then about 7:00 at night I noticed a funny smell in the head. The holding tank had sprung a leak in the fitting that I had tried to goop up. The tank was almost full, and the marina office was closed for the night. I managed to make a temporary repair, and clean up the mess.

Today we were supposed to take the mast down and leave, but with the head problem I wanted to be close to a bathroom, just in case ours was inoperable. We ended up paying for an extra day, took the mast down, and then tackled the head, after a pump out and a good flush of the tank of course.

Problem solved, all systems checked, everything tied down for the trip, we headed for showers and went out to dinner with a couple on another sailboat also headed south. Tomorrow we start the trip down the canal, after a pump out. I had to test the tank.

So far cruising has been all work and very little, to no play. I have been told though that once we get our mast up on the Hudson River, we get to start relaxing. Believe it when I see it.....

Sometimes dinner just looks so good, you need to take a picture of it. Eating nice on the boat has so far not been an issue. Not sure when I am supposed to start losing weight.