Fishing Bay Marina

October 15 - 22, 2016

We pulled up anchor in the bay around 10:00 am and headed over to the marina  Unfortunately, zero cell service even at the marina,  This turned out to be just the beginning of days with zero service with Roam Mobility. I guess you aren’t expected to ‘roam’ outside of major centres!  I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage for the week, a day here and there but an entire week of no service?? Thank you to whoever invented wifi! The dock-master was kind enough to let us use his personal cell to call the boarder patrol to check-in.

We had noticed a few fruit flies while anchored out but had no idea what the week would entail.  As the marina had wifi I was able to google some ideas for traps and although we caught many, they multiplied daily for the entire stay. We also noticed them at the grocery store.  The marina Paul had recommended was fantastic.  They offer a courtesy car or bikes to trek into town for groceries or supplies.  We always seem in a rush to get these chores done and move on to other projects so we opted for the car.  While we were here Brad was able to get our Wirie (wifi booster) connected and I was able to download Garmin Bluecharts (navigational software) as our current Inavx was failing us at the least opportune times and Garmin had come highly recommend by some of our new friends. 

On the Tuesday Paul and Laurie arrived and it was great to see some familiar faces.  We enjoyed a nice evening of dinner and drinks (although Laurie swears that Brad was trying to kill Paul with all the drinks, lol).  The next evening we joined Paul, Laurie and their friends Deb and Ron for a bbq at the clubhouse, another great evening and more new friends.  The following day I joined Deb and Ron in the courtesy car to hit the grocery store again, as we had been there for almost a week and needed to restock.  I am finding the produce isn’t lasting very long and we tend to hit the grocery store whenever possible (not surprisingly, I am finding most sailors will never turn down a ride to a grocery store, lol).  Brad stayed back and equalized the batteries, which takes about 8 hours and is very smelly.  He was also able to refinish our cockpit teak table, clean the fenders (massive stains and abrasions from the New York State canal system) and install our new fender bags, Laurie and Paul had brought the order from home for us (believe it or not, cheapest place to get them was at home).   We decided en route they would be very helpful for us as we planned on doing a lot of anchoring out (thus not needing fenders) and the fenders on the side of the boat tend to be a trip hazard, if they don’t need to be there.  

Another interesting note about this marina was that the sister marina next door (same owners) has been storing the Sequoia for three years.  The Sequoia was the old Presidential Yacht, from the time of FDR through JFK.  Very interesting to see it, although sad to hear that it is deteriorating on the hard while two charitable organizations fight for control over her. 

The Sequoia

The weather for the week was fantastic (especially for drying laundry outside) up until the anticipated departure day, which was soon postponed for one more day due to the expectation of very high winds and waves.  The thing I have learned about sailing is always, always triple check the weather. Check ahead as you plan your next trip and again before you depart…you can’t be in a rush because mother nature doesn’t always play along.  Safety first!  (I know you liked that one Mom).