Geneva on the Lake State Marina, June 22, 2015

I said last night that we would depart when I woke up. I think I was awake all night actually, just too many thoughts going through my mind for it to close down. We ended up leaving about 6:30. We arrived in Geneva at 2:30, covering the 68.5 miles in 8 hours at an average speed on the GPS of 8.4.

I started the  trip log and the odometer at zero this morning, thinking I would reset the trip log daily and keep the odometer going for the entire trip. Well, the trip log read 68.5 when we arrived (I had estimated 70) and the odometer read 95.3. How does that happen?

Big Jim Schulz drove to Vermilion to surprise us and wish us well before we left. He was there on our first ever big cruise to send us off with a bottle of champagne. Unfortunately the surprise was on Jim because we had already departed when he arrived. He called us from the Whispering Shores condo complex parking lot and said he could see steaming by. We were sorry to have missed him.

Gretchen Myers called on the way. She saw on the blog that our first stop was Geneva and offered to meet us for dinner. We accepted of course and are waiting for she and Lew to arrive.

It was a perfect first day trip. Could not have been better. The winds were light and the little seas were following. Kerry started her first nap an hour into the voyage, while I was able to sit on the bow and enjoy the breeze, scenery and sun. Perfect! Other than dodging a few fishermen, the auto pilot drove us straight to Geneva.

Following are a few pictures from the trip down:

Cleveland skyline from 7.5 miles out, in the morning mist.

Perry nuclear power plan

Fairport harbor Light House

Our perfect trip ended when the unskilled dock personnel at the Marina slammed Annie into the dock by mishandling our dock lines, causing our new big round bumper to get punctured by a dock bolt. Needless to say they did not receive a tip. My complaint to the manager got us a free night's dockage. Jim thinks I may be able to put a tire patch on the bumper and save it. The fatally wounded bumper is shown below, still trying to protect Annie.

Gretchen just called and said either there was a tornado spotted or a tornado warning in Cleveland. I put out extra dock lines and bumpers. I know that some big storms are forecast for this evening.

Jim and Jola arrived about 4:30, having left at noon. This should officially end the discussion about whether or not they would really go on this trip. A hose had come off his water heater and emptied their fresh water into the bilge. He was glad to discover that the problem was that easy to fix.  I think I found the source of a small oil leak I have. I was able to tighten a clamp a bit and I hope that solves my problem. 

Gretchen and Lew Myers and their daughter, Jennifer, arrived for dinner a little after 6:00. They went through major storms to get here while we just had a little rain and no major storms. We had a lovely dinner at the State Park Lodge. The special of 24 steamed mussels for $12 was enjoyed by all. We have cruised so much with them in the past, and we all agreed that it seemed a bit strange to be doing this trip without them. 

We are now back in the boat. No big storms so far, although they are still in the forecast, so are 5-7' seas for tomorrow morning. Anybody for 2 nights in Geneva?