Canada-eh!

We made it!  A small weather window opened this morning, and we were at Kingston by noon.  The weather went to heck around 3:00, so a good thing we left early.  From Oswego to Kingston is 47 NM across Lake Ontario.  We had 2-4 ft seas so not bad.  The temperature has not gone above 65 the past few days, and we are running the heater at night!  The Canadians think we are wusses…

Canadian Customs have phones at designated marinas, and we used one to check in.  No problems, except I had to register Mr. Remington for $25.  They took AMEX over the phone.  Also the amount of wine I had on board raised an eyebrow, but I explained it was for the Loop, not just Canada, so no problem.  All in all a good experience.

Kingston is the freshwater sailing capital of Canada, and has a large boating presence.  It is also the gateway to the Thousand Islands.  As the oldest community in Canada, it began as a 17^th century trading post.  It is home to Canada’s military collage, and saw action in the Iroquois War, the Seven Year War between France and England, and the War of 1812.  Fort Henry is next to the marina, and we take a tour tomorrow.  Right now the wind is howling at 30 knots, and it is raining.  Fortunately there are many restaurants and pubs right next to us, so we are eating and drinking through this bout of weather.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day, so we do the history tour then.

 

PS-before we left Oswego, we toured Ft Ontario which guarded Oswego from a British attack.  What was really interesting is that it was a camp for about a thousand Jewish refuges during WWII, the only refuges accepted by the US during the war.  While they were happy to be out of Europe, how we treated them was less than admirable.  They were confined to the camp, and denied citizenship, until after the war, when several prominent Americans, including Eleanor Roosevelt, took up their cause and President Truman intervened.  Many of the refuges thereafter became prominent Americans themselves.  An emotional story, I never had heard.  

Windmill farm.

Flying the Q flag until we clear customs.  Only the master can get off the boat, and then only to check in until clearing.  

Hoisting the Canadian Flag after clearing customs.  Boat flag etiquette is set forth in Chapman's Guide to Seamanship.  The Q (yellow)flag must be flown before clearing customs and then the host's country's flag is to be flown from the right rigger.