S/he who hesitates is…stuck in Lake Erie

So – it has been over 2 weeks since our last post, and we finally left the south side of Lake Erie.  The key word for us has been “logistics”.

We left Sandusky on a quiet morning, motoring out the bay through the marked channel, past Cedar Point and its multiple roller coaster skeletons. (Lisa to Fred – “Are you sure you don’t want to spend one day at Cedar Point?”  Fred – “Never been more sure.”)  Then we dodged all the morning fishing boats.  We set a course for Cleveland, about 40 miles up the coast.  Just as we began to relax into the rhythm of wind and waves, an orange flagged buoy appeared just off our side.  Crap – fishing nets!  Ohio regulations state that one should “go around” trap nets.  They are supposed to be clearly marked with a single orange flag at the shore end and double flag at the offshore end.  Then there are small buoys marking the trap supports in the middle.  Too late for us to turn the boat – so we gritted our teeth and crept across.  We know that in Michigan boats can cross over these nets if they avoid the buoys, since the trap is sunk deeper below the surface.  Not sure about these, but nothing seemed to be dragging behind us as we continued on our way! We spotted several more trap flags along the way, managing to steer clear.  The hardest part was distinguishing from the little white buoys (seagulls), which line up as if they are marking a net, and keep us on our toes.

Cleveland has a harbor stretching 5 miles along its waterfront.  We found a slip a the 55^th St. Marina Basin on the far eastern end and tied to the outer end of B dock.  We were promptly welcomed by the neighboring boat owner. We found a nice patio restaurant next to the marina office and enjoyed great fresh Lake Erie walleye and perch!  That evening the B dock folks hosted a live band and invited us to join in. Sunday brought round 2 of thunderstorms, and we were (again) happy to be in a sheltered spot. We spent the day calling Buffalo, NY to line up the dropping of our mast for entrance into the Erie Canal. In our past research, there used to be at least 4 places that offered this service.  Now, 2 said our mast was too big for their equipment, 1 no longer offers this service, and the final one said sure – they could see us on August 24^th – 3+ weeks away! They were the most expensive and also discouraging about having mast support cradles available. (Many people leave their structures behind when they enter or exit the Erie Canal). Rumor had it that the Canadian border was to open to vaccinated Americans on August 9, so the Welland Canal in Ontario became our “plan B”.

We departed Cleveland in rolling seas and motor-sailed east.  Raising the sails helps smooth out the ride, and the engine does a lot less work. The weather calmed as we arrived at Geneva State Park in the early afternoon.  What a lovely park and marina! The guest dock is protected from the lake by a small hill, and was empty except for us and another sailboat. There is a small store and marina office that even offered breakfast.  We were surprised to see several Amish folk coming and going in small fishing boats. There is a large population in Ashtabula County.  Across the harbor entrance was a huge beach area, and bike trails connected it all with the adjacent small vacation town – Geneva on the Lake.   We biked over the town the next day.  GOTL, as the locals call it, consists of “the strip” with many small cottages, a big lodge/resort on the lake, and a row of arcade places, restaurants and a few gift shops – not that appealing to us. We are finding that on Mondays and Tuesdays many places are closed, as was the case with the High Tide Tavern (sounded like our kind of place), so we settled for the Firehouse Restaurant and Winery, which had a lovely patio in a park-like setting overlooking the lake, and quite possibly, the worst nachos ever. We think they used Cheez Whiz.

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Erie, PA was our next stop.  The Erie Yacht Club was established in 1895 and came highly recommended so we took a slip for 3 days (2^nd night free 😊). We had arranged for a rental car (Enterprise will pick you up…) to reprovision, do laundry and possibly get covid tests in case the Canadian border opens. Our timing was not so great as we arrived just before the start of Wednesday night club races.  We managed to dodge all the boats going to and fro (who sets a starting line right in front of the harbor entrance?!) and tied to the guest dock in front of the clubhouse.  As we passed down the fairway, it was nice to hear many people holler welcome.

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What a lovely club!  The club sits at the base of a cliff, and the road out is up a steep ravine. The clubhouse has photos from its earliest days, including women sailing in their big hats and long dresses at the turn of the century. We enjoyed the guest dock, restaurant and bar. But it is still an “old-school” club – the past commodore photos consist of 100+ years of white guys. None the less, the property supports 400 slips, several buildings, a youth sailing program, and beautiful restaurant and bar.

There was another Traverse City yacht, Manitou, anchored at the state park, so the next day we picked up Liz to go grocery shopping.  So fun to see folks from home!  They were headed to Buffalo the next day to prep for the Erie Canal.  We were in a quandry about heading to Buffalo or waiting for Canada to open, so decided to stay put and see how things unfolded. We did not want to spend 2+ weeks sitting in Buffalo waiting to drop our mast, plus there was another round of thunderstorms predicted for the coming week. We made the best out of having a car, and visited the Erie waterfront and the Hagen History Center.  The center was wonderful, with a Frank Lloyd Wright display, including his cars and office from San Francisco, and a historical 19^th century brownstone mansion that was reminiscent of a lumber baron’s home in Lisa’s hometown of Muskegon, MI, but even more opulent.

We left the EYC for the Presque Isle State Park harbor, where Manitou had been.  Presque Isle is a huge peninsular park that encompasses all of Erie Bay. The harbor is a man-made lake with a small marina that is completely protected from all directions. We anchored out in the SW corner to ride out whatever weather was coming our way. Did we mention that the water here comes with a warning for dangerous algae?  It’s a bit off-putting, but it was really hot (85 degrees) and all the folks anchored out were swimming in this lake. Not seeing anything alarming floating around us, we finally jumped in too.  Such a wonderful relief – but Lisa laid awake at night worrying if we had contracted anything, with her mom’s voice echoing “if all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?”  Guess so mom.

We spent 3 days at the park.  Rain came and went. We installed 2 of our solar panels on the bimini. We walked a few of the outer beaches, and watched herons and kingfishers, geese and ducks. The outer beaches stretch for miles. Its a grittier sand than our Lake Michigan sugar sands, with life guards, short break walls, concessions and bath houses. The huge parking lots attest to their popularity.

Several thunderstorms trained through, the last one bringing 50 mph winds with the front, and one lightning strike that was way too close!  You know how you count 1000 one, etc to see how far away the strike is?  We didn’t get to 1000.  The next morning our refrigerator pump did not work. Yes, it is old, but was functioning well – so, blasted.  Now we had an ice box.  One nice surprise was a free head pump out with the purchase of diesel, so we topped off our tank. Pump outs are required in the Great Lakes, and charges vary from $5 to $20, so free was great. We were beginning to get a bit anxious about moving on, knowing at least 2 boats who had gotten their masts dropped and were already on their way down the Erie Canal while we sat in place.  It was hard to shake the mentality that somehow they were “winning”.

Good news! On Aug. 9^th, Canada announced that small boats would be allowed to enter!  Previously, entry had been announced only for land or air.  We decided to transit the Welland Canal in Ontario, tour a bit of the Canadian shore in Lake Ontario, then proceed to the Oswego, NY canal, and enter the Erie Canal from there. We headed back to the Erie Yacht Club (another twofer deal!) to arrange for our covid tests, which must be within 72 hours of entry.  Turns out that the drug stores in Erie were now out of the quick covid tests, so we rented another car and drove 45 miles to the Meadville, PA Walgreens to score the last 2 “quickie” tests available. Done, and negative. Yay! We were beginning to joke that we should just join the EYC, because it seemed we were never leaving.

Finally with a plan we were comfortable with, we left Erie. A quick stop at the very friendly Dunkirk, NY Yacht Club would set us up for the 25 mile run across Lake Erie to Port Colborne, Ontario and the transit through the Welland Canal to Lake Ontario. And we lucked out with another live musician on the dock that night!

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A s we write this, we are tied up across from the promenade in downtown Toronto, stomachs full of fantastic Japanese food, enjoying a glass of wine and watching the parade of people in the park.  And feeling more like winners!