Picnic Point State Park, NY July 17, 2015

We plan to set sail to Sugar Island at 10:00. Sugar is a small kind of off the radar island. It features several small anchorages so I hope we can find a place big enough for both of us. On our houseboat trip we spent 2 nights there.

We ordered a new table before we left home. We hoped it would be ready for this trip but the maker's wife was in a very serious accident and he could not get it done. It is almost done now. he sent us a picture yesterday. Kerry wanted something dramatic as our cabin is rather plain. Well, it looks like it is. The oval shape will work well in our cabin.

I have gotten use to the fact that we use a lot of energy while anchored. We enjoy the conveniences we have, as the refrigerator and freezer, TV, microwave, Cpap machine, etc. With the generator and solar panels it is no problem staying charged, or having hot water. We have ice all the time and even have an ice maker on board which we have not had to use. 

Jim and Jola have a problem with ice. They do not have a freezer and their ice compartment apparently is poorly insulated and will not keep around long. I think he will convert it to a freezer if he does another long cruise, which would be very nice. He does not want to use the battery power while anchored to run the ice maker which we offered him, but may take it and use it while plugged in at the dock.

We cast loose our mooring line at 10:00 as planned. The Canadians use a painted tire hooked to an anchor as their mooring buoy. Easy to spot, for sure.

Before we left we had to go through he morning ritual of washing the bugs off the boats. I am sure glad I have a wash down pump to use. Jim installed one before we left, and it was a good thing. It uses seawater. I am sure glad Annie has no teak. It's just rinse and let dry. With Excalibur I always had to get the water off the teak.

It was a short 3 mile trip to Sugar Island. As I feared, a houseboat was occupying where I had hoped we could go. Houseboat renters are told of this location and it is perfect for them. Darn. So we moved to another place on the island. We anchored but the seaweed prevented the anchor from digging again. We pulled it up, hacked the seaweed of with our machete, hose and dock pole, and did it again. Same result. We moved to the other side of the island, which also proved to be weedy, and we cleaned the anchor again. Then we moved to Prince Regent Island, but decided that the anchorage would not be favorable in the forecast winds. So, we then moved to the reliable spot of Picnic Point NY, We had to call Customs to announce our arrival in the US.

I have anchored here 3 times before. It is not my favorite anchorage and I had hoped to avoid it this trip. It is near a main thorough fare for boats and wakes are always coming by and rocking your boat. It does calm down in the evening though. I must admit we did spend some pleasant evenings anchored here with Lew and Gretchen Myers. Our 3 mile trip covered 6.7 miles and took a lot longer than expected. The good news is that our water got nice and hot and the batteries recharged. We had to anchor twice here because of the seaweed. Jim had trouble too, and got to use his machete.

Finally we both got anchored securely. Kerry made us a nice lunch, which she called a vegetable pizza.

We spent the afternoon reading and napping (one of us is still having a nap). Jim dingyed over to get a frozen chicken we were keeping for them in our freezer and sat out on Annie with me until it started to rain. We plan to grill ribs weather permitting. Tomorrow we go to Gananoque where there is a Canadian Tire. There is also a theater that puts on great plays. It would be fun to attend one.