Clearing the US Border

Every time I see her, my heart skips a beat. 

Of course I meant Serena, but Vita is quickly starting to cause the same feelings. See is so beautiful, and just the perfect little cruising home. Some times I wonder what the hell I ever did to be this lucky. However;

Bump bump, toss toss, flip, wrench, bang, ouch. Yep, that pretty much sums up life on a sailboat. Okay, there are some really good things too. But when your world constantly moves around, and everything you own is crammed into only a few small square feet, it makes for some banged up toes, sore muscles, and very tired people.

Yesterday was very nice, we took the day off, but by the end of it, it felt like we had been working all day. We were tired and sore, and my back is really upset with me for two 40 min dinghy rides in two days. We did not accomplish the things we had hoped, although we did address some little issues, tidied and cleaned a little. It was unfortunate that we had to leave. I think we could have spent a month in that anchorage. Swimming, fishing, relaxing, dinghying to town to shop. But, in a few short months that anchorage will be covered in ice, and probably won’t be as nice for swimming.

One of the little tasks we did yesterday was to check the batteries and the tanks. Its supposed to be a Sunday routine; we were close. The house batteries have come back marvelously. They now test as well as the starting battery. They are really enjoying the slow charge of the solar panels, and they are full by lunch everyday. Unfortunately the black water tank was full. (That’s where the toilet water goes). That meant a run to Gananoque to get it pumped out before we headed to Cape Vincent, our next stop, and the point at which we check in with US customs. I pulled a silly and closed the lid on the head (toilet) during the pumpout, which caused the tank to implode a couple of inches. Normally this could be a very bad thing because it can crush the tank, but no, it had to be a bad thing by creating a leak in the pump out fitting. Oh goodie, just what I needed. I had complained in an earlier post that a previous owner had gooped up the same hose for the tank because he/she was too lazy to fix it properly. So, now the hose is gooped up again, and somewhere along the way there is going to be a new tank put in there. The truth is, we are usually not any better than those people we complain about, but we rarely get an opportunity to prove it too ourselves. I’m sorry previous owner….

Customs. It is so hard to not say something bad about customs. And we had a pretty easy go of it. The lady was hard on us for not being prepared, and we deserved that I suppose, but then she turned into an absolutely wonderful person, smiley, chipper, happy even. I always have a hard time with grumpy customs people, but to be honest, I know that they are holding one of the most thankless jobs going, short of the police of course. I mean, 80% of the people coming through the border are trying to get away with something. Kind of like customer service at Walmart or Zellers.

So for those cruisers behind us.

1. Get a cruising permit before you leave Canada, by applying for in online. You need to be out of the country for three weeks, between permits, which can be issued for up to 12 months.

2. Get a nexus pass. Otherwise you have to check in at every port of call. The boat is good on the cruising permit, people are not.

3. If your boat is over 30’, get a US customs sticker for the boat as well, apply online.

4. If you are unsure about anything, call homeland security, and don't ever try to tell a customs official that you were misinformed by the person on the phone, because I guarantee you that in their eyes, its impossible. The customer is always wrong. 

These are things I learned today.

We also learned that if you throw bread out of your cockpit, something will be there to eat it. Last night was 100 Canada geese, today, mamma duck and her 6 babies, plus the ever watchful white shit-hawk(seagull).

And finally, there is no such thing as a small job on a small sailboat, because every time you need to do something, you have to tear apart every locker to find the pieces.

I still wouldn’t give it up for all the tea in Boston.