July 22-August 30, 2018
As we exit the Erie Canal, we make a left turn and head up the Niagara River. Making a right turn would send us over the Niagara Falls! It’s a busy Sunday on the water, and the wind is increasing. We start to get a little uneasy with all the wake and waves, since our mast is still strapped on the top of our boat. We fight the current for a few miles, and then finally enter the Black Rock Canal, which allows us to bypass the strongest of the current. One last lock raises us about five final feet. We exit the canal, and are released into the beautiful blue waters of our first Great Lake, Lake Erie! There is something so familiar about being back on the Great Lakes, even though our adventure is still quite a ways from over! We make our way towards Buffalo, NY, where we have our mast put back on. We catch up with our friends from Wander, and we wait for a nice day to head out on the lake.
We get our break, or so we thought. We head out early, boating along the southern (US) shore of the lake. We make it as far Dunkirk, NY before the wind and waves pick up, and we decide to head in for harbor. Dunkirk is a small, small town, with not much to do. We spent 4 nights in this tiny town, the best part of which was a surprise concert in the rain on Thursday night. The weather finally breaks, and we make a run for it.
We didn’t get very far before the wind and waves picked up again, much higher than forecasted. We duck in and hide at the even smaller town of Barcelona. After checking the weather again later that afternoon, we decide to make a run for it that evening, aiming for Erie, PA. The wind and waves had calmed down, and were supposed to remain that way all night. We had a beautiful sunset sail before dark set in. As the sun sank below the horizon, the wind picked up. Luckily the wind was coming off the land, so there weren’t huge waves, but Rilee was not happy with our crazy idea to run at night. As we approached the harbor at Erie around midnight, several boats appeared on radar. Apparently we weren’t the only crazy ones making a night run. We were happy to get tied up for the night and get some much needed sleep.
Lake Erie kept us in Erie for another 4 nights. Erie was our only stop in Pennsylvania, and a fun town with a pier, restaurants, and a museum. My parents drove out for a short visit too! The lake finally let up, and we were able to make it to Ohio, stopping for a night in Geneva at the state park. We would have gladly stayed another night here, but as the weather would have it, it was a good day to move so we headed on to Cleveland.
As we entered the harbor at Cleveland, we noticed a sailboat motoring near the rocks. That’s when we noticed a mast from the other side of the rock wall, outside the harbor. Then we heard a mayday call on the radio about a boat on the rocks. We motored up to the other sailboat, and learned they had called mayday because they thought the sailboat outside of the harbor was on the rocks, and they were unable to make contact with anyone on the boat (not exactly a cause for a mayday call in my book, but anyways). They had to get back in for some time constraint, so we said we would motor back out around the harbor rock wall to see if there was someone in distress on the boat, while we attempted to hail the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard responded to our call, and reached the vessel just after we did. We were unable make contact with anyone on the boat either, but the boat was anchored, from the stern, in a very dangerous place. The companionway doors were left open, and the swim ladder was in the water. Something seemed off, but we never did see anyone in the water or on the rocks. The Coast Guard boarded the boat and there was no one aboard. We never did find out what happened to the boat, we think about it often and hope the story turned out okay in the end.
After all of the heart racing events of the afternoon, we head back in to Cleveland harbor and make our way to the fuel dock. At the fuel dock, we have a bit of a fender bender when the boat next to us at the fuel dock forgot to untie a stern line before reversing, causing their boat to pivot into ours, leaving a small boo-boo. Hey, accidents happen, we exchange info with the Cleveland cop and go on about our day. Good thing tempers were cool, because we ended up being dock neighbors for the night!
The next day we make our way to Vermillion. We had driven by this exit several times on our way to visit Chad’s sister and brother-in-law, but we had never stopped. We loved the adorable neighborhood surrounding the yacht club we stopped at, and there was a charming downtown as well. We also got to visit with Craic, who had recently crossed their wake, when we passed their boat on the water taxi we took to town!
Although it would be fun to stay longer and visit, we are ready to hit the islands, Lake Erie style! We stop at Middle Bass Island, where we spend the next few days exploring. We took the ferry over to Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island, where we explored by golf cart, just like I had done many years ago as a teenager. It’s funny how some things look so different over time, yet some things remain exactly the same. Both Chad and I have felt that way many times as we explored places on this adventure that we had visited as kids. On the ferry ride home, we made new friends and were invited over to their cottage for dinner. They were eager to hear all the details about our trip.
Lake Erie was finally kind enough to allow a passage across the lake, back to our home state of Michigan! Our first stop is for a quick night’s rest in LaSalle. The next morning, we are delayed by the start of some kind of junior sailing championship. We don’t have a long day ahead of us, we stop in Wyandotte for the night to stage for our trip up the Detroit River. We spend a wonderful evening catching up with my Aunt Margie, Uncle Tom, Aunt Barbara, and Uncle Ken. It’s so great to see family I haven’t seen in many months! It’s fun to learn we docked our boat where my Uncle Ken used to keep his boat.
We leave early the next morning for our trip up the Detroit River. We know there will be some current against us, so we aren’t sure how long of a trip we will have to Lake St. Clair. It’s an interesting trip through downtown, so much very active industry surrounds downtown Detroit. We pass the old Boblo Island ferry dock. Chad and I share fond childhood stories from the now abandoned amusement park. Chad had read about the JW Westcott II, the only boat in the country that has its own zip code. The Westcott will deliver mail to any boat that passes by. Chad saw the boat on the banks of the Detroit River, and hailed them on the radio, asking if he could get a hat or something. To my surprise, two super nice guys jumped in the mail boat and delivered Chad a hat. They were just as excited to give Chad the hat as he was to get it. We all took pictures of the fun occasion. We motored on through downtown, and passed by Belle Isle, before finally exiting into Lake St. Clair.
On a beautiful Friday afternoon, the lake is already busy with boats everywhere. We make our way to Harrison Township, where we meet our friends from back home in Howell, Jeff and Lori. We hide out at their marina for the weekend, catching up. For the first time in a long time, we get to be passengers while we cruise up the Clinton River on their boat, Attitude Adjustment. Jeff and Lori join us on their boat for part of our trip up the St. Clair River. Heading through the absolutely stunning waters of the St. Clair Flats, we stop in the charming town of Saint Clair. After a fun afternoon at the brewery and dinner on the river, we head out the next day to Port Huron, where we also meet up again with our friends on Wander. After a fun evening of storytelling over pizza, Jeff and Lori head home the next morning, and we head on to tackle the dreaded current of the St. Clair River.
We know the current will be the strongest at the Bluewater Bridge, just before the river meets Lake Huron, so we heed local advice and get as close to the Canadian shore as we can. At first it didn’t seem too bad, but we could see the rapid current on the other side of the river. Then, all of a sudden, it felt like we weren’t making forward motion at all. It seemed the sunbathers on the beach were stopped next to us. I couldn’t watch, and Chad told me later that at our slowest, we were only moving forward at ¾ of a knot at one point. Yikes!
We stopped for the night in Lexington, then headed on the next day to Harbor Beach. We spent 4 nights here waiting out weather, and were joined by our friends on Wander. Caba kept us well fed with her delicious cooking! We all departed at our first chance for Harrisville. Knowing the weather was going to turn bad again, we came up with a plan to get up super early in the morning and make a run for it. But even before dawn’s early light the next morning, the waves still weren’t great so we decided to go back to bed and wait it out a little longer. A few hours later, we decided to go for it, and made it to Alpena before the weather turned on us. We spent 3 nights checking out the town. We went to the shipwreck museum, sampled wine, and took in a movie on a rainy afternoon. It is amazing how many shipwrecks there are in Anchor Bay. It is apparently amazing diving on the wrecks, as many are in shallow water and can even be seen just snorkeling!
We head north, and the water just keeps getting clearer and clearer! We stop at Presque Isle and take the courtesy bikes to check out both the Old and “new” lighthouse. As soon as we stop pedaling we are attacked by flies, so we pedal as fast as we can to get back to the boat before dusk. These flies bite and they hurt! Our next stop is Rogers City, where we find another museum and a meat store (Chad is happy!).
I have to say that the clearest water I have seen outside of the keys is in Hammond Bay! This is such a remote stop in the middle of nowhere, and Chad and I were the only boaters there. We watched a beautiful sunset from the cockpit, before we disappeared below before the bugs carried us off into the night.
The next day, we head across the Straits of Mackinac to Mackinac Island. It has been years since I have been to the island, though Chad was there just last year as he and Scott brought our boat home from Bayfield, WI where we bought it. This is my first overnight trip, and I’m pretty excited. Something about growing up in Michigan, the island is a special place for many of us. Aside from all of the touristy things to do on the main street, a bike ride around the island is absolutely beautiful. We rented a horse and carriage and got to tour the island on our own (don’t worry, our horse Ace was the slowest guy around!). After realizing the weather would keep us here for a few days, Chad’s sister and brother-in-law took the ferry over to spend the day with us. We had so much fun on the horse and carriage we decided to do it again with them, and we got Ace again! We toured the Grand Hotel and their beautiful historic carriages, still in use today.
Alas, we depart Mackinac Island, and head under the Mackinac Bridge. So fun to look up as you pass under the giant bridge! As we head under the bridge and enter Lake Michigan, we are in very familiar waters. We’re in the home stretch as we begin to wrap up our Great Loop adventure!
