Clayton NY July 29, 2015

We are in Clayton now. We were not sure we could get dockage. But finally this morning Jennifer at French Bay Marina confirmed she had room for us. My eyebrows raised when she said we would be on the end of the pier but should be fine because it was a low wind day. So, we probably have two of the worst docks possible to get. We are on the outside of a wall open to the St. Lawrence River. While the winds are not a problem, the wakes can be killers when the big ones hit. We have a gorgeous view, and a nice breeze, but . . . Jennifer said she will move us if she can.

It has been an interesting day, for sure. Last night there were four couples fishing in a pontoon boat about 10 yards from us. They were nice, not real successful, and left at dusk. So, this morning I get up and start my morning hygiene routine as normal. I peeked at Jola and Jim to see if they are far enough away that I can run around a bit in my birthday suit. I finish cleaning, dress and walk out into the main cabin and see the same fishing boat there again, but with 4 guys fishing in it. I don't know what they may have seen (well I guess I have some idea) but I am sure they are no better off because of it. They were still there as we had our morning coffee, and bacon and egg breakfast.

We have decided 9:30 was the time to leave. Jennifer wanted us here early because the docks would be hard to save. Annie was warming up when Jim called and said his engine would not start. We agreed I would motor over, raft off him and he could use Annie's power to run his little portable battery charger. We did that and in short order the engine was running again, but we had one frustrated Captain. 

The trip to Clayton from Rusho Bay was only 3 miles. After we signed in Kerry and I walked to town. I got a haircut and she bought a pretty new bathing suit. Later I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Samsung hoping to find out why her tablet will not work. I was transferred 7 times over 20 minutes, then finally disconnected. 

There are a lot of neat old boats here for the Antique Boat Show. We had planned to stay here 3 nights but the docking situation is not one we like, although it should be fine tonight when the small boat traffic subsides. Instead we made plans to stay Friday night at Cape Vincent, a place where I have never been, and will most likely go back to Rusho Bay tomorrow night. Jim may spend two nights at Cape Vincent. While it would be tolerable here, it is so much more pleasant anchored at an island. Hopefully we can stay here long enough to do the show in the morning. 

Back to Jim's batteries. He reread the manual about his charging system. He has house batteries, an engine starting battery and a windlass/thruster battery, and a switch that can connect them all temporarily. So he should be able to start his engine if any of the three are charged. His battery monitor said the house batteries were 100% charged, which is suspect after he had been anchored for 20 hours. The other day his inverter shut off which it is supposed to do when low voltage is present. So, does he have a problem? We do not know.A few minutes ago he said "I hate to tell you this, but the engine start switch may have been off when the engine would not start." He said Jola asked him if it was on. He could not remember, he said, but once it was on the engine started. I said you know this has to go into the blog. He said, "I know. I almost did not tell you."

Well, I screwed up too. For some reason I thought the Boat Show started tomorrow. It doesn't. It starts Friday. Darn. And my plan for anchoring out tomorrow night - in the dumper too. Some weather is supposed to come through starting tomorrow afternoon with small craft advisories and high winds predicted so it will be better to be at a dock. Showers and thunderstorms are possible tonight.

So, we have a new plan. We will go to Cape Vincent tomorrow morning, hopefully before the weather hits. Then we will rent a car on Friday and drive back to the Boat Show. One possible flaw in the plan could be if there are no car rental places in Cape Vincent. We talked to one local on the dock who said Cape Vincent was stuck in time. I said that was called quaint. He said it was called no car rental. We will see.

We sat out on the dock and enjoyed our cocktails. We are just like real power boaters now, moving our chairs off the boat and on to the dock. And, one of us has backed in. The sterns together prove that one of us did it. We just don't know which one it was!

Which boat is backed in? 

Dinner tonight was pizza at the Wood Boat Brewery which is right across from the Antique Boat Museum. It was very good. Jim said it was the best he ever had. Wow. The small boats have stopped running around and the seas are calm. It is a peaceful night at the dock, thankfully.