Saturday, July 14 & Sunday, July 15

Arrived back at the boat Friday night at 11:30 p.m. after a delay at the airport because of  a thunderstorm and then a quick stop at the grocery store.  Slept in a little on Saturday and started our voyage north on Lake St. Claire by 10:00 a.m.

Captain Dave enjoying the voyage out on Lake St. Claire (which connects the Detroit River from Lake Erie to the St. Claire River to Lake Huron).

Check out the color of the water in Lake St. Claire {wondered if we got off course and were in the Caribbean? :)}

As we were leaving the lake and entering the St. Claire River, we were greeted by this large Coast Guard boat.

Entering the St. Claire River.

The St. Claire River was full of homes on the U.S. side, but it was pretty natural on the Canadian side as this picture shows.

There's a bridge to cross from the U.S. into Canada in Detroit (the Ambassador Bridge on a previous page), and then there isn't one until you enter Lake Huron.  So on the St. Claire River, we saw two ferry boats transporting people and their vehicles.

To our boating friends:  we thought this reminded us of "Goose Poop Island" :)

Approaching Lake Huron.

As we cruise under the bridge to enter Lake Huron, we see this in front of us:

And behind us:

Okay, the speed boat isn't exactly what I wanted to capture.  But, there were people jumping off the pier and floating down stream to the bridge.  However, two people passed the bridge and were continuing downstream on floaties in a VERY turbulent and congested area!!!  Dave called the freighter to notify the captain!

After the bridge area, a lighthouse greeted us as we entered Lake Huron.

Just as we were getting ready to pull into port for the night at Port Sanilac, Michigan, we saw over one hundred sail boats.  When I talked with the dockmaster, he confirmed what I had read.  This was the Port Huron to Mackinac Race; Lake Huron's mid-season extravaganza. 

Great, right?  Only problem, Mackinaw Island Harbor is closed to the public as that's where all the sailboats will be for the next few days!  We quickly called Mackinaw City (on the mainland) and found that they will have room for us Monday night.  So much for the island fudge :(  Thanks to Sally, we still have a little fudge leftover in the freezer from Put-In-Bay!!!

Sunday, July 15, turned out to be a bonus day of cruising, as the forecast was a good chance of thunderstorms.  We wanted to get to Alpena in Thunder Bay, Michigan, but about 3 hours before we were to that point, the Coast Guard gave a mariner warning to seek shelter, as storms were over Lake Michigan and heading to the southern part of Lake Huron.  We were about three-fourth's the way crossing Saginaw Bay (which to the south makes the "thumb" of Michigan"), when we got the warning.  The seas were rough simply because of the large bay waters joining with Lake Huron.  We certainly didn't want to be in even rougher waters!!!  Even though we thought it was early to end our day of cruising, we played it safe, not knowing what might come of the warning.  We made it to the very beginning of Thunder Bay, Michigan, to a small port called Harrisville.  While a few thunderheads popped up here and there, there never was a storm where we ended up staying!  :)

Captain Dave is already asleep, and that's where I'm headed now, as we are beginning our Monday with a bright and early start of 5:30 a.m. to make up for our loss of time today!  Mackinaw City, here we come!!!

Monday, July 9

Chef Dan treated us to bacon and eggs this morning . . . yummy!  We left the beautiful island of Put-In-Bay at 11:00 a.m. to travel the last 25 miles of Lake Erie and then 25 miles up the Detroit River.  We saw huge freighters coming and going through the entryway of Lake Erie, as we exited to the Detroit River.

A beautiful lighthouse greeted us as we entered Detroit River.

As we traveled under the "Ambassador Bridge", we could see Detroit to our left.

The largest and most beautiful of all the buildings was the General Motors building.

To our left was Detroit, Michigan, USA, and to our right was Ontario, Canada.

Our final destination was Grosse Point (thinking of you, La, La!), Michigan on Lake St. Claire.  This is a very large lake that connects to the St. Claire River and then to Lake Huron.

We finished the night with another treat from Chef Dan, his famous Lucky Dog Ribs . . . smoked for a whole day!!!  YUM :)

Just a note to thank all of you who have been following our journey.  There have been a little over 1500 pageviews . . . who knew this would be such an exciting adventure to share?!  Thank you for taking interest.  I especially want to thank the many of you that are thinking of us and praying for our safe travels; it surely means a lot!  Timewise, we are at our half-way point in our journey, so tomorrow we are heading home to regroup and then we'll be back to the boat this Friday night.  Look for a new post this Saturday, July 14, when we start to make our way north on Lake Huron.  Until then, have a wonderful week, everyone!!!  

Sunday, July 8

Left the quaint town of Vermilion at 10:30 a.m. because we were waiting for the seas of Lake Erie to calm.  We were eager to get to the islands of Erie, yet a little apprehensive of the large waves.  By 10:00, the seas started to calm a little (winds 10-15 knots and 4-5 foot waves) and Captain Dave said we could travel into the waves going a little distance out of our way{that's called "tacking" in sailing terms :)} and then when we got closer to the islands, hopefully the waves would be more gentle.  It was quite the fun ride crashing into those large waves!!!  We made sure everything was put away so that nothing would fall, and Sally and I camped out in the pilot house reading :)  It really was okay for the most part, but when we turned and started to roll with the waves (even though the winds had calmed to under 10 knots and the seas were rough), I got a little uneasy feeling!  After a little bit, we all got used to it, and before you knew it, we saw the beautiful Erie Islands on the western edge of Lake Erie.  The first was Kelley's Island.  While it sure sounded like a fun place to hang, we were told Put-in-Bay was the place to go!  The local boaters were right on . . . it was like a northern Key West :)

As we pulled closer to Put-In-Bay, we could see this tower.  It turned out to be the "Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial".  The memorial honors all who fought and died during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 and the War of 1812.  During this inland battle, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry captured the entire British squadron and raised the now famous "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag onboard the U.S. Brig Niagara.  This naval battle helped turn a war toward the founding of a lasting peace that today enables close cooperation between the United States and Canada on environmental and other important challenges facing both nations along our mutural border.

Turns out that the monument had been closed for the past three years for renovation and recently opened July 3!  We walked two flights of stairs and then took an elevator up 352 feet to the top of this 3rd highest monument (2nd St. Louis Arch, 1st Washington Monument).

After that, we decided to check out the island the same way that the rest of the islanders get around.

The island was full of all sorts of things to do, like swinging :)  Monkey Bar, anyone? :)

Okay, so it wasn't the Monkey, it was just as good though:

. . . as who doesn't like a good Mojito on a tropical, summer day? :)

We also needed to make sure we did plenty of rehydrating!

And of course, shopping!  Well 2 of the 4 shopped.  It seems Dave and Dan had to check out some history, like the world's longest bar (405' 10")!!!

We also saw an island parade with plenty of unique cars including this anfibius car (of course I was more interested in the 3 Mustangs that went by . . . why didn't my camera capture that?!?)!

As a teacher, I had to check out the school.  It turns out there's a K-12 school on this island with an average of 3 in a graduating class!!!

We ended the night with a beautiful dinner at the Boardwalk overlooking the "bay" of Put-In-Bay.  Of course no good meal is complete without a good "candy" smoke :)  {When's the last time you saw these?  We found them at a candy store, remembering them from when we were little . . . I thought they were outlawed :) !!!}

" . . . down by the boardwalk" :)

Saturday, July 7

We left Geneva State Park at 7:30 a.m.  Sally got up a little earlier and was able to capture this beautiful sunrise picture over the marina.

 

WHEW . . . I guess we didn't know what hot was!  102 degrees today and even Lake Erie was having a hard time cooling us off!  While the lake felt good when we all took a swim, there were parts of the lake that were 80 degrees!!!  Hard to believe when it's such a large lake.  In fact, when we were crossing it yesterday, there were times when we couldn't see land!  A few interesting facts about Lake Erie and Lake Ontario that might interest you:  Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes in surface area, but is still the 14th largest lake in the world.  It's 175 miles long and 46 miles wide with depths ranging from 100 to 800 feet!!!  Lake Ontario is about the sme size as Lake Erie, but it contains almost FOUR times the water volume.  When looking at water volume, Lake Erie is the smallest.  The deepest sounding in Lake Erie is 210 feet, but the average depth is only 62 feet {so wonder why we weren't getting a cool breeze :)}, making Lake Erie the shallowest of the Great Lakes.  Lake Erie is 241 miles long and 56 miles across.  So, there's your geography lesson for the day :)

Trying to cool off in Lake Erie :)

We were going to stay in Cleveland, Ohio, but in talking with some local boaters at Geneva State Park, they recommended Vermilion, Ohio.  It is the most quaint little town!  There are many canals like in Florida, with the most adorable homes; all white, with beautiful window boxes, and meticulous lawns.

We stayed the night at the Vermilion Yacht Club.  After Dave and Dan were walking around the yard with beers, they were kindly told that this is a dry marina!  Boating and no drinking?  What's wrong with this picture? :)  Actually, there's no drinking on the grounds, but you can drink on your boat.



Pictures from July 5

THE WELLAND CANAL EXPERIENCE

 (July 5th in Pictures)

Dave calls the canal master to see when we can go through the canal.

Waiting for freighter number one to exit lock one in the canal.

Another freighter leaves the canal . . . could it be our turn soon?

Crew is ready to go . . . beautiful orange life jackets and all :)

Lock master begins to throw (literally!) lines down to Coast Guard boat.

Another freighter.  This one is leaving Lock 2.

Deckhand, Kelly, holds the boat tight to the wall of Lock 4, because of the GREAT amount of turbulent waters in the lock!

 

 

Lock 4 doors are higher than the lock!  Lock 4, 5, and 6 are the "Flight Locks", where one lock feeds water to the next.

Check out the height of everything compared to me!

 

Here's the turbulent water I was referring to!!!

Lock 4 door opens and low and behold . . . Lock 5!!!

Ready to enter Lock 5

The Coast Guard exits Lock 7 as we follow behind.

We're through the Welland Canal and now, the next morning (Friday, July 6), we're leaving Ontario, Canada, to cross diagonally across Lake Erie.  Tonight's stop is Geneva State Park on the south side of Lake Erie.