The presence of so many derelict boats at the boatyard and marina is sad, so many dreams gone for naught. The 1st photo at the yard has an open companionway so it must be a mess below too.Peter figures that about 20% of the boats in the boatyard are derelict. Probably doesn’t pay the yard to destroy them.
The others are boats at the marina. Expensive to maintain at a dock when the boat itself is not usable nor worth much.
This past Friday after an inconsistent PCR test on Tuesday Bob took another test and is positive so we are now a complete set. This morning Peter and Wilma went to a local doctor and got a letter stating their test situation and that they are now symptom fee and cleared for ravel. This letter will be submitted to a Bahamian gov’t doctor requesting a travel exemption. Bob will need to do the same after 10 days on the 24th. So we are here until the 25th and leaving will depend on the weather window to cross the stream. Lucky for us, when we told the marina that we were going to stay beyond our original one day that got us into the monthly rate so we do have our slip until Feb 5th.
In the meantime we are tidying and cleaning the boat and wandering around Titusville which is quite quaint town. Since we are so close to Cape Canaveral we spent a day at the Kennedy Space Center much to everyone’s delight. We also went manatee watching at a special viewing platform in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Turns out it was on Haulover Canal which is where we passed through on our boat on our was south in late 2017. That was a busy Sunday and it was awkward navigating the canal with so many fishing boats buzzing about and then having to call for the lift bridge to be raised. This time was calm itself including only one manatee sighting.
The satellite view shows Westland Boatyard on the far right, where Finnish Line was trucked to and launched. The long docks are Titusville Municipal Marina, Finnish Line is the blue dot. The first leg of Finnish Line’s 4 month sojourn began with a 680 foot (.11nm) trip from the boatyard to the marina on January 5th.
Ah – the well laid plans of mice and men and sailors. The three sailors and the ground crew are still in sunny warm Titusville at the Titusville Municipal Marina as unfortunately a couple of the crew tested positive for Covid. Everyone feels just fine having had minor symptoms. The crew has to wait for 12 days after their positive test before they can leave here and enter the Bahamas – lots of adminstrivia to plough through, but we have the time to do it . Last night was a bouncy one, reminiscent of Jemmetts – bow in – in a north wind, blowing in the 20s all night but nice and calm now.
Good morning from Titusville Marina in Florida. Apologies for our being remiss in getting posts going for our trip but we have been very busy and there have now been complications, read on.
A very special thanks to our friends, Linda Schmalz and Chris Walmsley for hosting a wonderful farewell dinner for us. A nice send off, indeed.
As per plan Bob and Tarja picked up Peter and Wilma at 6am on Jan 1st and we had an easy border crossing with little traffic all day. We overnighted in Stoney Creek, Virginia south of Richmond. The second night we were in Ormond Beach. That left only an hour to get to the boat location at Westland Boatyard in Titusville. We stayed safe by always masking when near others which we limited but taking our own lunches and ordering dinner in. Hilton check-ins and check-outs are now all online with a digital key delivered to one’s phone to open the room door.
We arrived at Westland just before 9am, found the boat and quickly set to work getting the boat ready for its early afternoon launch. Having accomplished that our next big job was to prepare the mast for raising on Wednesday morning. BUT we couldn’t find key pieces like the backstay but after a lot of searching it turned up in another plastic tub in a different part of the boat. Well, at least it got the adrenaline flowing!
The logistics are quite an ordeal. Because our boat was trucked here vs. arriving under its own power, we can not obtain the usual cruising permit. Instead, we must report to US customs and Border Patrol to receive a Leaving Permit that is only good for 72 hours. Thus, we can’t get that until we get our Bahamian Health Visa which we can’t get until we get the currently required COVID PCR test. At 6:15am we left to line up for the tests in Cocoa Beach near Cape Canaveral. Arriving at 7am we lined up and had our tests about 9:30 with the results about a half hour later. Unfortunately, some crew tested positive, not picked up in the US but due to close contact at home shortly before we left. We found out the second day on the road that several people back in Kingston had tested positive. So Finnish Line crew can’t land in the Bahamas for 14 days. Not great news but everyone feels ok, the few minor Covid symptoms are pretty much gone. Tarja didn’t get tested yet, but she feels fine. Meanwhile, we are working on getting the boat ready, inside and outside, for the crossing in less frantic timelines which is not a bad thing. After all, we are on a boat in January so how bad can it be? And tonight (Jan 6th), we’ll be watching a rocket launch – Titusville is really close to Cape Canaveral!
Tarja – aka ’the ground crew’ (thanks Linda Schmalz) is staying here until the boat leaves to head off. She’ll get her Covid test the day she leaves to drive home.
We are in touch with the Bahamian Heath people to help figure out what the new protocol is for entering the Bahamas. Things are changing fast – one can now enter with a Rapid Antigen Test. This just changed yesterday and is significantly cheaper than the USD 200 we had to pay yesterday.
In the meantime, we are juggling moving slips at Titusville Marina as this is a busy time of year. Because we don’t yet have the Leaving Permit we must remain in this area. We may have to anchor out a few times while we wait for slips to become available.
A note to boaters about mast stepping here. Westland Boatyard does not offer mast services other than storing. We brought in a rigger who was really great. In fact, due to getting our tests that morning, Bob was not here for mast up, a first for his life with this boat. The riggers did a great job BUT they do not own a boom truck nor does the boatyard. So they brought in a 30T crane (four hour minimum) to do the deed. Final bill, USD 890! Everything else at Westland was great and there are so many boats on the hard with masts up that they don’t feel the need to have such a service. But it sure was a kick in our USD reserves. :-/
The Adventure Begins – Finnish Line 2.0 shipped out Monday morning December 3rd on its way to Titusville FL. On January 3rd Peter, Wilma, Tarja and Bob will catch up with the boat to begin a winter cruise of the Bahamas. They will cross into the Abacos, head to Eleuthera to visit Brad Strawbridge before heading down the more remote Bahamian islands to the Turks and Caicos. They will return to the Bahamas at Great Inagua before heading up the Exumas and over to Bimini by April. They hope to post articles of their progress along the way.
A beautiful if chilly morning as we leave Oswego.Ramble On passes tug pushing a barge.
Home! Sunny and 4C at 6am – brrrrr. There was frost on the dock and condensation on the walls of the forward cabin – serves us right for breathing during the night. The boats were off the dock at 7, Chris pushed Finnish Line off the dock and we were on our way. It was very calm in the marina but once we got into the lake it was quire rolly for the first few hours. No staying below except for a few minutes. Bob did not start the morning in his cold weather foulies but had to put them on, along with his winter mitts and hat as he was turning into an icicle standing behind the wheel. The rolling got less and less and winds which were 11 knots on the lake when we left were going down.
Brrrrr – this was at 8:54 am.
We saw a sailboat in the distance when we got closer to the Boat Channel and it turned out to be Rick & Laura on Signature coming to welcome us home. When we got to Kingston Harbour we saw Rob and Kate out for a Sunday sail. Ramble on and Finnish Line greeted them and then the final sail to KYC. Lots of help at the dock for both Ramble On and Finnish Line when we arrived. An early dinner with Peter Cohrs, Ze & Peter, Tristan, Rick and Laura was a great end to the final day of the East Coast Loop.
‘Mommy, it’s over” ?
Signature & Ramble on turning into the Boat Channel
Ramble On goes firstThe able helpersIt’s a bird, it’s a plane.
It was a very windy noisy night and one of the straps holding the mast stand in place started vibrating around 4am, like having an alarm clock going off every few minutes. The original plan with Bernie the mast guy was to start putting the masts back up at 7:30 but it was way too windy to do that. The winds were forecast to reduce by early afternoon so he said he’d do his best to get the masts up in the afternoon. We bundled up and walked to the Oswego Bakery & Tea shop for breakfast.
Finnish Line starts
The winds did reduce to around 10 knots by 1pm. The mast up process started with Ramble On and by 3:30 both masts were up. We were glad that Bernie, with 30 years experience doing this, was still working at the marina – he is a cool, calm guy. He did our mast down and up when Finnish Line went to the Bahamas in 2017/18. The rest of the afternoon was spent putting back the bits and pieces, like the boom & halyards, and storing the mast stands. We had a great final trip dinner at Bistro 197.
Linda making sure Bernie doesn’t fall in.Almost there
Linda and the super boat hook.The very lively puppy.
Off the dock shortly after 7 am with the hopes that we’d make Oswego by noon. It was a full foulie and hat day. At lock 3, Chris kept calling the lock master but no reply. Finally the lock master from lock 2 radioed Chris as he’d heard Chris calling. He said he’d drive over to lock 3 to figure out why there was no answer so there’s be a 20 minute delay. Turns out the lock master had been doing some work on the other side of the lock and hadn’t heard the call. He did apologize but that did lose us some time.
Very nice house as we got close to Oswego
We needn’t have worried. We made good time, the current was now helping us as we were moving in the high 6 knot range the whole morning. When we got to last lock there was a lot of police, ambulance, fire truck activity on the other side of the lock where the water was moving fast. There were two small fishing boats and a marine police boat in the fast moving water, we could sort of see the police boat was trying to retrieve something/someone from the water. As we were about to exit the lock we could see the marine police boat tearing along and someone was being given CPR. The lock master said two people had been in the water, he didn’t know whether they were from the fishing boats or someone who had fallen in from the bank. It was a very sobering thing to see.
We’re now settled in at the marina. Both boats are prepped for the masts to go back up but it won’t happen until tomorrow morning. We can relax for a few hours this afternoon, going out for dinner tonight.
Coming out of the last lock. That’s Lake Ontario in the distance.
Finally we started the down locks today. Going west/north it’s 20 up locks, 10 down. It was still warm overnight but when we stopped for the day it was 10C.
No big waits at any of the locks and it was pretty relaxing doing the down locks.
One of the locks today had some wildlife along for the ride, a water snake and a frog. The poor frog was trying to either climb or cling to the wall. The snake went swimming right by it. I suspect the snake made it, the frog didn’t.
Heading out to cross Lake Oneida
We did only three locks today but also crossed Lake Oneida which takes around three hours. There was no downpour but it drizzled on and off all day. There were still a couple of sailboats, masts down, going east, surprising as the weather will be getting colder and colder before they hit warm weather again.
West end of Lake Oneida, Ramble On heading into Brewerton under I81
The Lake Oneida crossing went ok, waves were quite small, as forecast. Once we got to Brewerton at the west end of the lake, the Oneida River was lined with cottages big and small. Some are probably permanent but we figure most are summer homes. We entered the Oswego Canal and made it as far as the south side of the first lock on the canal. There was just enough room on the dock for Ramble On and we rafted to her. It was a much happier rafting experience than we had on the Hudson when we had to part company in the bouncing winds and waves.
Nice houses on the Oneida River in BrewertonA patient heron
much to everyone’s delight. We also went manatee watching at a special viewing platform in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Turns out it was on Haulover Canal which is where we passed through on our boat on our was south in late 2017. That was a busy Sunday and it was awkward navigating the canal with so many fishing boats buzzing about and then having to call for the lift bridge to be raised. This time was calm itself including only one manatee sighting.
on the far right, where Finnish Line was trucked to and launched. The long docks are Titusville Municipal Marina, Finnish Line is the blue dot. The first leg of Finnish Line’s 4 month sojourn began with a 680 foot (.11nm) trip from the boatyard to the marina on January 5th.
. Last night was a bouncy one, reminiscent of Jemmetts – bow in – in a north wind, blowing in the 20s all night but nice and calm now.
3rd on its way to Titusville FL. On January 3rd Peter, Wilma, Tarja and Bob will catch up with the boat to begin a winter cruise of the Bahamas. They will cross into the Abacos, head to Eleuthera to visit Brad Strawbridge before heading down the more remote Bahamian islands to the Turks and Caicos. They will return to the Bahamas at Great Inagua before heading up the Exumas and over to Bimini by April. They hope to post articles of their progress along the way.
