Week 6: July 11-July 17

Thursday we entered Lake Erie and planned to travel to Dunkirk.  When we left Buffalo, we saw a number of the University of Buffalo women’s crew team practicing.  As we traveled along, we noticed a number of walls that highlighted their achievements through the years.  I guess when you practice in rough water, you develop great skills.

This was not a pleasant ride – wind and waves – that we learned is not that unusual for Erie. Peter declared it “his” Worst Day on the Water, EVER!  Arrived at the marina, Holiday Harbor (formerly known as Chadwick Bay).  The marina had recently been sold so there was much construction and noise. We connected again with Selah Way who we initially met in Fairport. They were on the city dock and were considering moving elsewhere. The weather for the next few days wasn’t going to cooperate so we walked over to the Dunkirk Yacht Club to inquire about moving there for the next day or two until the weather was better to travel to Erie, Pa.

The yacht club could not have been more inviting. They found space for all three boats even though their water level was 28″ higher than usual. In addition, they immediately invited us to their share-a-dish get together that evening. Peter had an extra burgee from our club and presented it to their commodore who in turn gave him one of their burgees. The two days we spent in Dunkirk were very pleasant even though the weather wasn’t.

We left Dunkirk and planned to travel to Erie and stay for one night. Bahama Voyager decided to anchor out that night but we made reservations at the Presque Isle Yacht Club, a recommendation from a number of members from the Dunkirk Yacht Club. Once again the Erie was windy with rolling waves, another rocky ride. Our boat continues to be bringing up the rear. It will be nice to finally get the leaking shaft fixed permanently. The plan to do this is to wait until we enter the Detroit River since there are marinas that are accustomed to working on larger boats.

When we arrived at the entrance to the harbor, we saw Bahama Voyager outside the entrance with the Coast Guard.  He was boarded in a somewhat routine stop – we learned that they do 2-3 a day when we were boarded on our way to Shady Harbor.  It was not quite routine since they had lost power in both their engines and were drifting so the Coast Guard was curious as to what was going on.  Fortunately, one engine started again so we stayed close until they were released by the Coast Guard.  The engines were on and off again as they traveled to the anchorage – we offered to tow but they were able to move to an anchorage and were secure.  We then continued into the harbor to dock at Presque Isle Yacht Club.  Selah Away was already docked and left the marina to have dinner and spend the night with some old friends.

Presque Isle Yacht Club is a busy, active club.  There were a number of members who met us at the dock until they determined the best place for us to spend the night.  As with many clubs/marinas we have seen along this journey, they are experiencing high water and in places, the water is over the docks.  They moved us to the inside, near the clubhouse and we had a secure dock for the night.  I took advantage of the washing machine and caught up on laundry.  The club had undergone some recent renovations and I must say that they had the nicest restrooms and showers since the beginning of the trip.  The members were friendly, offered Peter a car to use if we needed it, etc.  Peter thanked him for his gracious offer and was told that members offer this to transients all the time.  

On Monday, we left Erie and weren’t sure where we would stop.  We looked at multiple options – I believe we had 5 or 6 earmarked – Conneaut, Ashtabula, Geneva, Fairport, Mentor – all dependent on the weather.  We started the day with good water, little wind and it looked like this would be a good day.  A few of the next days didn’t look promising so we wanted to make the most of the only day we had on Lake Erie that was nice so far.  Whenever we came close to one of the earmarked spots, we decided to continue.  Selah Away left about 1 1/2 hours after we did because of their visit with friends and didn’t think they could catch up.  We finally decided to continue onto Cleveland – an 82 mile trip taking us 12 hours.  Selah Away stayed in Mentor for the evening with plans to connect with us on Tuesday.  Finding a place to stay proved a challenge since most yacht clubs are closed on Mondays and a few other marinas did not have any slips.  However, Lakeside Yacht Club finally agreed to let us dock even though they were closed.  They advised that we would not have any assistance and I told them we were OK with that as long as they would provide the slip numbers we could use.  We were finally settled at 8:19pm, a very long day.

Tuesday was a recovery day.  Weather was not wonderful anyway so Peter took advantage of their pool and hot tub.  This is a large upscale yacht club with a restaurant, banquet hall, large bar, etc.  Reminded me more of a country club than the yacht clubs we have experienced.  We decided to spend another day since it was supposed to rain and we went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Center. We really enjoyed the Hall of Fame and their celebration of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock.  Word of advice – if it says “center” instead of “museum” it is designed as a hands-on experience for children.  When Peter visited the Science Center years ago on a business trip, it was a museum, things have changed.  There were many day camp groups visiting and lots of scientific activities for the children.  However, they did have a good exhibit on the Apollo Moon Landing’s 50th anniversary.

We will leave Cleveland tomorrow, again with a few possibilities but no reservations.