Not a happy Marina

August 28, 2013
42 50.942 N
74 00 792 W

I visited the "impostor" boat and asked when they planned to leave, as we were effectively "hemmed in". I expected something like "I hope you did not mind being moved while you were away last night" but not a word was said. So I called the harbormaster and left a message.

The Vice Admiral at the helm 

The starboard engine did not start well. Tony and I spent another 30 minutes in the engine room tightening all the connections on fuel lines, with no obvious effect.

Nevertheless, we were underway by 9 AM. It was a beautiful morning, misty and sunny. The canal reverted to an "improved river" and the scenery was quite impressive.

Our target destination was a small marina, about 30 miles away, involving 5 locks. We arrived about 3 PM.

As I was docking the boat I heard a nasty clunk. Soon followed by another boat shuddering clunk. I was concerned that I had hit a rock or worse. No-one else heard it. We secured the boat and settled in. Tony and Lyn went for a walk.

The marina was really an RV park with a dock, but it looked well groomed and pretty. I pondered what had happened under the boat.

The log under the boat

Shortly after I discovered a log sticking out under the boat. It was about 10" thick and 15' long, totally waterlogged, too big for me to pull out. I lashed the end of the log with a line and walked up to the office and asked for help. No help arrived and when Tony arrived back we got it out from under Tide Hiker and dragged it to the shore. It had two obvious cuts where it had encountered our props. I walked up to the office and told them where the log was so they could remove it.

An hour later I saw an employee push the log back in the water. I approached and asked "What the (*&#@!(^% are you doing? The response was along the lines of "What the river delivers it can deal with". That pissed me off a little and an argument developed. I walked into the water (fully dressed) and recovered the log and tied it to a dock. The dumb SOB cut my line with a knife. I can see the situation was deteriorating, and recognized that I was 66 and he was 25 (and had a sharp knife) so I went back to the office and told his mother what he was doing!

The situation was now akin to the Israelis and the Palestinians. I rescued the log and tied it off again (now Deidre was getting mad because I was wading into the water fully clothed), went to the office and made my final offer: "Leave the log tied till we leave in the AM, then you can do what you want with it." (I did have a specific suggestion, but not suitable for publication.)

Back on the boat Tony was washing down the decks. But then "The Idiot" (the son, not Tony!) turned off the water saying "This is a marina not a boat washing facility". It got worse. Our pump out was cancelled, and I got my $5 refunded. It was time to back off. I can get my revenge on the internet. Did these people realize that I was just awarded an "Active Captain" hat in recognition of my incisive comments in the Cruising Guide?