Vermilion OH August 17, 2015

We are back in Vermilion OH, USA. Yea! We arrived back 4 days ahead of schedule.

Today was our worst ride of the trip. We went 55 miles bouncing into 4' waves, water splashing everywhere. I had to keep both doors closed as the water was coming in on both sides. We left at 6:30 and arrived at 1:00. Jim and Jola, bless their souls, were there to take our dock lines! They arrived home today at 10:30. Here was our course across Lake Erie.

Here is what the view from Annie's front window looked like most of the trip - wet!

Since Marty does not have a Nexus pass or I-68, we were told that we have to drive to Cedar Point so she can hold her Passport up to a video phone so they can see it - no comment about that. Jim loaned us a car for the trip there.


The Nexus rep told us the video phone was located on the gas dock. When we got to Cedar Point the gas dock attendant said it was on the back of the Famous Dave's building. So we walked back there and saw the phone at the corner of the building. It is a direct connect once you pick up the receiver. Marty tried to explain to the guy what we need to do. She was having a lot of trouble, So I took the phone to clarify our situation. Kerry and I have Nexus numbers and we have a pending report but cannot get our number until they verify the Passport of Marty's, etc. Then he said I am sorry but I cannot help you - this is the Cedar Point shuttle phone! Some fellow was watching us and laughing, then he pointed out where the video phone was. And, would you believe, they did not even look at her Passport on the video phone! They just took the same information from her Passport that I gave them earlier from the boat. No comment again.

Rosemary came about 5:30 to pick us up and take us home. The four of us plus Jim and Jola had a celebrate the trip dinner at Rudy's. It was a nice way to end a super cruise.

New Day Update: When I got home I saw that my Lexus was all wet. How could that be since it was in the garage? The ceiling was not stained so there appeared there was no leak. Well, I found out this morning. A huge branch had fallen on the roof and punched a 3" hole in it. It must have just happened as the ceiling plaster is still good and unstained. My roof guys have it repaired already.

Rondeau Bay, Ontario August 16, 2015

At 7:01 AM we were steaming under the King George VI Bridge in Port Stanley on our way to Rondeau Bay in Erieau Ontario. The trip was rather uneventful except for one record we set on the way. Marty slept the entire way, point to point! She was horizontal when we said goodbye to King George and was still that way when we steamed into Rondeau Bay at noon, 5 hours later. This record will be hard to break.

We passed a sailboat washed up on the shore about 400 yards from the harbor entrance. What a waste. At least if the skipper had hit a reef it might have been named after him.

 

Rondeau is a very nice harbor now. Improvements are being made all the time. We use to come here when we belonged to the Mentor Harbor Yacht Club. It is so much nicer now. Kathy, the lady that runs it, is a jewel. They have the perfect store in Erieau - it has a Beer Store, an LCBO (liquor store) and a marina store all under one roof! What more could a cruiser need?

There was a LETS sailor (Lake Erie Tartan Sailors) here and he helped us dock. He is on a “way the wind blows” cruise. Annie proved to be a very popular boat here and numerous people came over to talk with us about her. Some looked like they had never seen a Nordic Tug before, but all were very complimentary.

Kerry and Marty made a nice tuna fish salad for lunch which we enjoyed on the upper deck.  We washed Annie after that. Would you believe that this is the first time we have washed the boat from stem to stern on this entire trip? True. The last of our frozen margaritas served as the reward for our efforts.

We will be grilling ribs and sweet corn for dinner. I am enjoying a nice cold martini as I write this blog post, one of the last ones of this voyage. No time set for our departure tomorrow, but I am sure it will be early. Jim called earlier and said he too will be back in Vermilion tomorrow, so it looks like our reunion dinner at Rudy’s is on. Rosemary said she would be able to pick us up tomorrow night.

The sunset was pretty. We watched the sun set and then the girls took a long walk. I took a short walk to the ice cream store.

We are excited to get home to visit again with family and friends. It has been a long absence. It has been a great cruise. 

Port Stanley, Ontario August 15, 2015

Sleepy little Port Dover turned into quite the party town last night. It was the Friday before the big Art in the Park Festival, and PDYC Fish Fry. People were celebrating all over, except on Annie, of course, where the Skipper was ready for bed at 9:30.

We did get past that though, and when I looked at my watch it was 5:45 - time to get moving. We left the dock at 6:25. We did not have to worry about the bridge because Annie is well under its 20+ foor height restriction. I did learn that the bridge was broken and that only one side raises. And, that side got hit by a commercial fishing boat just before we arrived. Apparently the wind blew the fishing boat into the bridge. I snapped a few more metal boat pictures as I motored out of the harbor.

The trip was pretty uneventful. I tried to average 9 knots and hit 8.8 for the trip according to my GPS. It was 71 miles per my GPS. We arrived in time to make the 2:30 bridge. The Port Stanley bridge has a height when closed of 11', so we needed to respect the opening times. Only one side of this bridge is opening too. My log on Excalibur said it was 78 miles.

I always make the same mistake every time I round Long Point. I cut the corner too close. Long Point is a spit of land that goes straight out into Lake Erie about 17 miles. So to go west you must go southeast for 17 miles before you can turn west. I rounded Long Point in 35' of water according to my chart plotter. As I was setting a waypoint for Port Stanley I glanced at my depth sounder and it said 7.7 feet! I have 2 depth sounders so I immediately checked the second and it said the same thing. I grabbed the wheel and turned sharply east, toward deeper water. This has happened to me every time I have rounded Long Point. You think I would learn or the charts would get more accurate. Next time I will do better.

The trip was long today. Kerry and Marty are veteran voyagers and know how to utilize the time on a passage.

Port Stanley is a nice port. We walked around and visited all the shops once we were settled in. No purchases! The Kettle Creek Marina is run by a lady and her husband, Fiona and John. They are most accommodating. It is located right next to the Port Stanley Sailing Squadron. They share a lot of facilities, and I am actually using the PSSS wireless.

Kerry made our left over perch into sandwiches for lunch and for appetizers at happy hour. It was so good. She made her black bean salad for dinner. We enjoyed both cocktails and dinner on Annie's upper deck. 

Annie is in need of a good wash. She really has not had one since we left Vermilion. Parts have been washed, but never the entire boat. Our plans now are to go to Rondeau Bay tomorrow and Vermilion on Monday, weather permitting. We will wash Annie tomorrow in Rondeau. We have spoken with Rosemary and have tempted her with a dinner at Rudy's if she will pick us up Monday night in Vermilion. 

Jim and Jola made it to Fairport today. I believe they are staying two nights to visit friends. They may also make it home on Monday. A reunion dinner at Rudy's could be a possibility!

Port Dover, Ontario August 14, 2015

There was no doubt we were staying another day. The wind in this protected harbor was strong and the forecast was saying not to go to Port Stanley today. I exchanged emails with Jim and he confirmed he was staying in Ashtabula today. The forecast is good for travel tomorrow. We will leave when I wake up, probably between 6 and 6:30. Kerry said not to unmake the salon bed as two people will be using it.

The photographer from Passage Maker Magazine was here today. I spoke with him as he was between boats. He had been here 7 years ago to photograph a particular boat. When he saw all the locally built steel boats he wanted to come back, but it has taken this long to get an editor who would let him do so. He is a long time sailor, turned power boater, turned single handed small boat sailor when his wife became unable to boat.

Once the ladies got up we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We took a nice bike ride, cutting it short because of a nasty blue cloud, and just making it back to Annie in time. While the ladies were sleeping in I chatted with some of the Skippers here and was filled in on local history, boats and gossip - all pretty interesting. For example, there is a converted wooden mine sweeper that was covered in fiberglass, and at one time owned by Howard Hughes, sunk in the boat grave yard across the river.

Another example, Alexis is one of the boats to be featured. It has been built by one man, John, over a 16 year period. John is super nice. His son, also John, is being married next week. It is his third try. He always chooses the same type of woman, tall and very thin.

John, on Alexis, being interviewed by Passage Maker Magazine.

I took a picture of some of the steel boats that will be featured. Here are some of those pictures, and also one picture of some boats that will not be featured. Can you tell which is which?

We had a delicious dinner at the Erie Beach Hotel. They are famous for their perch and for their salad bar. They bring 6 delicious salads to your table in addition to their renowned celery bread. This could be you whole meal. In fact, it almost was. I think we brought home 12 pieces of perch and we left absolutely stuffed. 

Jim had a very nice day in Ashtabula. I received the following email and picture from him.

"Ashtabula, an overlooked gem! Today started with breakfast on Liberty, then boat cleaning. We had a very nice lunch at Riddicks Meat Market. The original building built in the late 1800,s was "Riddicks Meat Market, much of the original interior remains. We then visited the Ashtabula Maritime Museum, very nice with an amazingly detailed model of a Hulett unloader. Then on to the shops as nice as any in the towns we have visited so far. I asked one shop keeper what the building was first built for she responded Brothel. There was a balcony where customers could view the goods. Most of the buildings had plaques outlining the buildings history. We rounded out our town outing by visiting the Goodwill store."

We will leave early tomorrow for Port Stanley. This voyage will take us about 1/2 the remaining distance to Vermilion. The members of the PDYC could not have been any more welcoming to us. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit here.

Port Dover, Ontario August 13, 2015

The two sailboats docking in front of me left this morning in time to catch the 8:00 bridge, leaving Annie all alone on the front wall.

In a short while a 70' home built steel trawler came and filled the remaining wall. It turns out that this boat, Alexis, and 4 other steel trawlers and tug boats are going to be featured in a Passage Maker Magazine article. They are coming tomorrow for pictures. I am going to try and have Annie photo bomb the shoot! There are many steel boats here, which is unusual and part of the reason for the article. They were built in Port Dover. I have seen a couple of them, and they are really in beautiful condition.

Harbor entrance as seen from the opening bridge.

I washed the wooden 4x4 fenders we used on the canals and stowed them away before enjoying BLT sandwiches for lunch. After lunch we went on a bike ride, Marty's first on this trip. I have been carrying her bike (and our 2) since the beginning of the trip, so it was nice it was finally able to be used. Her bike is a nice new Dahon, but it has always had a problem of the chain coming off when shifted into first gear. I took it to my local bike shop and had it adjusted before we left, and tested it. Well, wouldn't you know the first time she shifted it came off again! We had to walk back to the boat to get a tool to put it back on. Then we found the problem - someone had told her to pedal backwards while shifting! Once she stopped that, the problem was gone. 

We visited a nice marine store and the local Ace Hardware Store, which is also impressive. No purchases. I wanted to get some new flag clips so I could fly my Canadian Courtesy Flag but could not find the color I wanted (white). So, I just used wire ties to mount the flag to my antenna. I did tape them to the antenna to prevent this flag from being launched at sea as was my Ohio State flag.

Kip Schmidt reminded me how good the perch is at the Erie Beach Hotel. Kip has declared it the best perch on Lake Erie. On our bike ride we stopped and made a reservation for tomorrow night. We have decided to stay a third night as the winds and seas are still predicted to be very high tomorrow. Saturday looks good. We have nearly 80 miles to go to Port Stanley so we need a reasonable lake. 

There is a great junk/salvage yard here, right at the end of the channel the yacht club sits on. Jim and I went through it the last time we were here. Marty and Kerry wanted to see it, so we biked over. We met the owner's son, Doug, who allowed us to tour it as long as we were careful. There is so much stuff just rusting away. Kerry thought some of it would be great for the HGTV show, Flea Market Flip. Here are some pictures from the yard.

Jim and Jola left Erie, Pa. this morning headed for Fairport. They had a nice night in the beautiful anchorage there. The seas grew to 5' after about an hour so they have pulled into Ashtabula, and will wait out the bad weather until Saturday, as we will do. While in Erie they got to see the Niagara, which was taking a break from battling the British.

Kerry and Marty want me to make margaritas tonight, which sounds good to me. But, they are both napping. The question is, will they get up before I decide to make myself a martini? We are already 1/2  hour past the start of cocktail hour!

Now you know. In the picture above I am enjoying a margarita! I sent this picture to Jim to tease him, but he sent one back that was even better. Marty loves M + M Peanut candies almost more than anything. When she saw this picture she said, "OMG - he wins!" And then he writes and tells Kerry that he can see a Goodwill Store from his boat dock - cruel!

Jim said he lucked out today with $3.10 diesel at the Erie Yacht Club, and AYC had VYC listed as a reciprocal club , so he got free dockage. He needed that extra cash as Jola took off for the shops downtown!

Port Dover, Ontario August 12, 2015

Jim treated us all to McDonald's Sausage and Egg McMuffins this morning. We combined that delicacy with small white powered donuts and had the perfect good bye breakfast. After coffee and tea on Liberty, we departed for Buffalo at 7:00.

The trip to Buffalo was interesting because of the current running against us. It was pretty strong at times, likely 3-4 knots. We arrived at the Black Rock Lock at 8:00, and after a few minutes wait the doors opened, the lights turned green and we were let into the lock. This was only a 5' lift, but it turned out to be one of the harder locks in which to control the boat. 

We exited the lock and made our way to Buffalo, passing under the Peace bridge and right by the new Canal Place as we made our way into the open waters of Lake Erie, back home again. 

We each took pictures of each other's boat as it left the Buffalo Harbor, and as we said good by. It was a 10 mile trip from Tonawanda to Buffalo.

Marty even took a turn at the helm as I was speaking to Jim and Kerry was cleaning up fenders and lines.

Lake Erie was not too bad to us today. This is not to say it was nice, but she could have been much worse. We had 3-4' waves from the NW, hitting Annie at an angle of about 2:00. There was no rolling and not much pounding so the ride was not too bad. Kerry and Marty did some serious sleeping, logging in a good 4-5 hours. I was able to read about 1/2 of a murder mystery. I had water hitting the front window the entire way in Lake Erie, 62 miles. The total trip today was 72 miles. We arrived at 3:30 and bought fuel, 294 liters. 

I rushed the girls fueling the boat because I wanted to make the 4:00 bridge, as it only opens on the hour and half hour. I was amused when I got to the bridge and saw it has a 22' clearance. That was never enough for Excalibur, but plenty for Annie - this bridge will not be a worry for us when we leave. 

Kerry did her new procedure today as we started our voyage. She took a turkey baster and sucked the condensate water out of our forward air conditioner pan so it would not spill out if the boat rolled from side to side. It turned out that this was unnecessary, but you never know. 

We really hoped we could get a space to dock at the Port Dover Yacht Club, and we were able to do so. We got the last space available. It is so pleasant here. It reminds me of the VYC. They were having a catered fish dinner tonight so we got two pickerel dinners to go and enjoyed them on Annie's upper deck. The members are very friendly here and Annie created lots of interest and received many favorable comments. 

We are two days ahead of schedule now, but may lose one day as the forecast indicates some rough seas coming. Our next leg to Port Stanley is almost 80 miles, so we need a nice calm lake to make that trip.

Tonawanda NY Erie Canal August 11, 2015

Today was a very pleasant day. Jim's boat was checked out and declared fit to return home. He rejoined us in Tonawanda. We had a great day doing the Niagara Falls tourist thing. We visited several parks, toured the Bridal Veil Falls and rode the Maid of the Mist boat. It is much more beautiful than I remembered. Here are some pictures from today.

We learned that 50 % of the water is diverted to make hydro electricity during the day and 80% at night. Annual erosion of the falls has been significantly reduced because of this diversion. It use to average many feet per year.

Dinner was on Annie. It was our last dinner together and it was so much fun. We relived parts of this voyage and tried to remember all the places we have been and things we have done. It has been a great trip! While sitting on Annie I saw that Jim had a jug of wine on his cockpit floor. He has learned a lot on this cruise!

After dinner we enjoyed cigars, chocolate, hot tea and Sambuca. Tomorrow we will leave here at 7:00 AM. We hope to make Port Dover and Jim hopes to make Erie, PA.  All good things must come to an end, unfortunately.