August 27, 2024 US Customs entry DENIED - Oswego, NY

 Tuesday August 27, 2024  Kingston to Oswego, NY  56 miles and 8.3 hours

The Kingston farmers market is conveniently held on the square behind city hall.  One of the longest running farmers markets in Canada and it's held Tues, Thurs and Sat.   Since we were late getting to the one Saturday but noted a good selection of vendors and especially local farm produce, we wanted to hit it on Tuesday before heading out.  It's set to start at 8 AM so we got up early and were on the square at 8 only to find just 2-3 vendors and not the ones we wanted.  We needed to drop our lines by 10 for the cruising day ahead so still had time to wait and see who else arrived.  By 8:30 a few more vendors arrived but were slow putting up their tents and tables.  We decided to walk around the corner to Pan Chancho. Picked up a few scones at the bakery.  It's also a specialty store and had some small containers of maple syrup.  Martha bought one to give to our neighbor who is collecting our mail in our absence.  Headed back by the farmers market and one of the vendors was a maple syrup farmer.  Needless to say, Martha was in heaven buying several jugs of syrup for us to take home. By then a produce vendor was setting up. We grabbed a few items on display and had them pull a few items off the truck before heading back to the boat. Winds were forecast to be from the south gusting up to 20 but waves were showing only 1' with a 2 second period.  Waves on the bow, so no problem. With the long fetch across Lake Ontario the waves were a bit steeper than forecast but mostly it was the occasional windblown spray that made it feel a bit rougher.  

Light swell on the bow.  Ship headed to St. Lawrence barely visible on the horizon.  

Nice calm conditions once we got to the far side of the lake

Things settled down nicely about halfway across as we got closer to shore. Not much to see on this open water crossing.  One large ship crossing our path headed out to the St. Lawrence and a few fishermen working the 150' line.   Got a nice opportunity to run the boat up to speed and blow out the turbos.   

We would be entering back into the US at Oswego.  Procedure is to use the CPD ROAM app. Worked flawlessly when we returned during the Great Loop.  We had set up profiles, scanned our passports, entered boat info and replied to a few standard questions.  When we were a few miles off the Oswego harbor entrance we submitted our return request and waited.  Normally takes 10 minutes or so.  App said "Processing".  We waited, and waited, and waited.  After almost an hour I started heading for the harbor. 

Oswego harbor entrance light

That's when the app pinged us "REJECTED"!!  No explanation - just "REJECTED".  Martha made a few calls to CPD and the Oswego Marina for guidance. Finally determined the info on our application had errors in the passport numbers.  That was odd since those fields get auto-entered via you scanning your passport.  We tied up to the dock at Oswego Marina but did not disembark.  That's a requirement until approved. 

Our rejection notice from US Customs. 

We resubmitted another application making sure the scan filled out all info correctly.  It didn't and we had to make a few manual corrections. Once done we resubmitted and waited as the app again showed "Processing".  We were expecting the normal routine of getting a call from a Customs and Border Patrol officer requiring a video chat.  Nope.  Just a ping on the app after a few minutes wait - "APPROVED".  Relieved we headed further into the harbor and the entrance to Oswego Canal Lock 8.  They only lock until 5:00 and even then you generally need to arrive 1/2 hour before then to catch the final lockage of the day.  With our delay we were getting close to pushing that timing.  But the lockmaster was congenial and helpful.  We planned to stay against the wall between locks 7 and 8.  He recommended we go well past the bridges and tie up along the new section of wall.  Nice spot except the geese had been making the area their home and it was covered in droppings. Gross but survivable as we were just staying on the boat and not walking about.  Late arrival meant no time to go exploring Oswego. Second time through here and still haven't made it into town.  Maybe we should plan an extra day on the wall here next year when starting the Down East Loop.

Journey for August 27, 2024
Pretty straight shot across