Kelly's Island, OH & Put In Bay, OH 07/13/2021 - 07/18/2021

Tuesday - Thursday  07/13 - 07/15/2021

Day Miles: 54

Total Miles:  6252

Travel Days:  122

Total Days:  260

Friday - Sunday 07/16 - 07/18/2021

Day Miles: 9

Total Miles:  6261

Travel Days:  123 

Total Days:  263

Tuesday

We had an extra day built into our schedule in case of bad weather.  We decided to use it and go to Kelly's Island on Tuesday instead of Wednesday.  We left out of Cleveland early as the wind and waves were predicted to be bad, getting worse as the day went on.  We figured if it was too bad to get to Kelly's we could cut the trip short and go into Vermillion if needed.  Waves were not bad so on to Kelly's.  I did stop about 10 miles before Kelly's and tried a few casts for Walleye.  Waves were building into the 2-4 foot range so did not try it long before it was too rough.  By the time we got into Kelly's it was blowing pretty strong.  We got in and tied up at our slip.  Around dinner time the rains came.  Blowing 50mph winds that actually blew the snaps off the canvas.  It did subside but not until it soaked both of us.  By early evening the rain had stopped and we walked into town to have Brandy Alexanders at the Village Pump.  They were as good as remembered.

Boat tied up after the rain storm

Wednesday

We did some chores in the morning and then rented a golf cart for the day.  Since we were at the marina we got it for 24 hours.  On a sad note, our ice maker would not make ice.  I spent some time on the phone with their tech support and after 3 calls determined that it was a bad motor on the board.  They are going to ship me a new one, at 50% off.  Remember the unit is just over a year old.  We have become dependent on it as we have not had to buy ice at all during the trip.  Also, the door switch on the dryer shorted out and I cannot figure out how to repair it.  Anyway, we picked the cart up around noon and went to the Casino for a Bloody Mary and Mimosa.  

After drinks we walked the small town and then rode out to see the Glacier Grooves.  We saw the grooves and also an old stone processing plant.

After the Grooves we went to the West Bar for drinks and a late lunch.  The chicken kabob was good, the beer was cold and the view was great.

Back in town, we saw another Looper that we had met before and arranged to have dinner with them.  We had a nice Perch dinner at Captains Quarters.  Since they had not seen the Grooves or been to the Island before, we drove them to see the Grooves and then a nightcap at the West Bar.  We were treated to a nice sunset.  Oh it did drizzle rain also.

Thursday

Since we had the cart for a few more hours this morning we went back to Captains Quarters for breakfast.  The hangover skillet did not disappoint.  We went back to the boat, turned in the cart and cleaned the boat for Don and Tony who were coming to PIB (Put In Bay) on Friday.  Yes it rained again.  Lucy was enjoying the non-travel day.  We put out a basket and she immediately thought it was for her.

Friday

Short ride on Friday over to PIB.  We tried to get into the marina at PIB but they were booked for the weekend.  We could have stayed at the public dock but did not really want people rafting off and it can get kind of crazy.  Instead we stayed on Middle Bass Island that has a water taxi that takes you to the bay for $7.  We docked at Middle Bass late morning and endured our 11th straight day of rain.  Don and Tony arrived around 2:00 and the rain had stopped.  We had a few beers and cigar and then caught the taxi over to PIB.  We visited the usual spots, Beer Barrel, Round House, and had pizza at Frosty's.  After dinner we went to the Keys for drinks and a shot.

The Keys Bar

Round House Bar

We caught the water taxi back to MB and had a cigar and bourbon on the bridge.  It was nice that the rain held off.

Saturday

We cooked up bacon, eggs and hash browns for breakfast on the boat.  After cleaning up we walked down to the General Store on MB to check it out.  We caught the 1:30 taxi back to PIB.  We had a few drinks at the Beer Barrel.  It was Jeep Invasion weekend, so we watched the Jeep parade.  Had to be over 100 jeeps, some of them had a lot of money put into them.  Don't know how we did not get pictures.  After the parade we rented a golf cart to go to Joe's Bar.  We had a cigar there, with a few beers, and Marcia had $7 hot dog and Tony had a $12 brat.  Don't think it was worth it.  We returned the cart and then went to the Boardwalk for, you guessed it a beer.  They also had Lobster Bisque so we had to try that also.  

Leaving on the water taxi

Back at MB we walked to the General Store for dinner.  Dinner was good, service was not.  We also ran into so people that I know from Catawba Moorings from when Mark Kalb docked his boat there.  We did hitch a ride on a golf cart both ways which saved us the walk.  Back at the boat we had another cigar and turned in after a long day.

Sunday

We said goodbye to Don and Tony at 10:15 as they caught the ferry to go back home.  We had a short break  before we caught the 12:30 taxi back to the bay.  Mark and Debbie Kalb were visiting and we planned to meet them there.  They had a golf cart and we went to The Goat for a bloody Mary and lunch.  We drove around a bit and then went to Joe's for a cigar.  Back on the strip we had a few drinks at the Fish Bowl and people watched.  We caught the 6:00 taxi back to MB, exhausted after a busy weekend.  It was really great seeing Don, Tony, Mark and Debbie again.  We turned in early to prepare for a a longer, 85 mile run to MacRay Harbor on Lake St. Clair in the morning.  

Really almost caught up on the blog now.

Dunkirk NY, Erie PA, Geneva OH & Cleveland OH 07/08/2021 - 07/12/2021

Thursday  07/08/2021

Day Miles: 36

Total Miles:  6044

Travel Days:  118

Total Days:  253

Friday & Saturday  07/09 & 07/10/2021

Day Miles: 47

Total Miles:  6091

Travel Days:  119

Total Days:  255

Sunday  07/11/2021

Day Miles: 61

Total Miles:  6152

Travel Days:  120

Total Days:  256

Monday  07/12/2021

Day Miles: 46

Total Miles:  6198

Travel Days:  121

Total Days:  257

Thursday

Going to try to make up some time on the blog with shorter posts.  We left Buffalo early Thursday morning, mainly to get off the fuel dock and to get moving.  We arrived in Dunkirk just as the rain was begin to fall pretty hard.  We waited until it slowed and then got tied up on the dock wall.  I washed the back of the boat in between the rain while Marcia worked on putting the inside of the boat back together.  The rain did hold off long enough for us to take a walk through the 1 block downtown.  We were both exhausted so just ate dinner on the boat and turned in early.

Friday

We left Dunkirk early and headed to Erie Pennsylvania.  Finally out of NY!  We arrived around lunchtime and friends Rick and Rhonda were there to catch our lines.  We made plans to have happy hour and dinner later.  We cleaned on the boat some more and after getting cleaned up we had happy hour on R&R.  We walked over to the new roof top bar for dinner, but the wait was over an hour and a half so we decided to go Smugglers Wharf.  Dinner was good and it was fun catching up with both of them again.

Entrance to the Erie Basin

Dinner with R&R

Saturday

We decided to take a break and walk up into town Saturday afternoon.  Erie was nice but not much going on.  We went back to the rooftop bar to have an afternoon drink.  Place was still crowded but we managed to have a drink and take in the view.

By the time we got back to the marina, several other looper boats had arrived, a few who we had met before.  Dinner on the boat and then a short docktails.  

Sunday

We departed Sunday morning and moved to Geneva on the Lake.  Again rain!  Everyday rain, 6 days straight now.  We arrived at Geneva and docked in the rain.  The rain finally stopped around dinner time and we caught a taxi to go into town for dinner.  We ate a great little Italian place called Piero's Pasta House.  Dinner was very good and prepared right behind the counter.  I had the special which was a shrimp and muscles, and Marcia said she had the best Lobster Ravioli ever.

After dinner we walked through town and then took the walking path along the lake that took us back to the boat.  The rain did hold off so we did not get wet on the walk back to the boat.

Monday

Early start Monday as the weather was predicted to be bad again with higher winds and rain.  We made it into Cleveland and docked, yep you guessed it, in the rain.  After settling in, there was a short break in the rain so we decided to use our folding wagon and walk about 1 mile to the grocery store.  Not a very big store but it had some of the essentials, like beer, water and chips.  By the time we left the store we got caught in a short drizzle of rain.  The walk back felt longer, maybe because the cart was full, the humidity was up or I was tired.  Maybe all of the above.  We did say hi to a couple of other looper boats but I was good and stuck to my AFD.  (Alcohol Free Day).  Will catch you up on Kelly's Island and Put In Bay next post.

Cleveland Skyline.  We did have to call Jim Sutliff to let him know.

Past this place on the way to the store and thought of Liz Bedway :)

For those that did not notice from the stats about, we have now crossed the 6,000 mile mark on our Great Loop Adventure.  
 

 

Welland Canal, Niagara Falls, Buffalo 07/07/2021

Wednesday  07/07/2021

Day Miles: 67

Total Miles:  6008

Travel Days:  117

Total Days:  252

This post is mainly about our experience trying to get our boat through the Welland Canal.  So with Canada's border still closed, we are unable to do our originally planned trip which was to do the Trent Severn to Georgian Bay to the North Canal to Mackinaw.   The Erie Canal will take you all the way to Buffalo, but only if you can get under a 15 foot fixed bridge.  No way that is happening for us.  We are 19 foot high on our best day.  The Welland Canal is the other option that connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.  Unfortunately the Canadians will not let you bring the boat through yourself so you are forced to hire a Captain and crew to do it.  We will be able to take Lake Erie to the Detroit River, to Lake St. Claire to St Claire river to Lake Huron to Mackinaw.  All in the US.  

SO - we contacted Captain #one about a month and half before we thought we would get to the Welland Canal.  He said that it should not be an issue and we just need to contact him 10-14 days beforehand.  We emailed him 16 days beforehand and he requested all of our boat information.  After a few days, he emailed back that the earliest he could get us through would be July 7th.  We agreed to that and planned on it.  A few day later he sent another email that he could get us through the week of July 11th, maybe.  Onto captain number 2.  He said he could take the boat through on July 7th.  Plan was to pick the boat up in Wilson and we would meet him in Buffalo.  He did not have a car so we would need to rent one.  Also because he may not get back to very late in the evening, we decided to get a hotel room.  After some thought we planned to get a room for the Tuesday and Wednesday night.  We needed a place to keep , the cat Lucy and we planned to visit Niagara Falls on Wednesday.  Two days before he was to pick up the boat he said that we would need to take his car to Buffalo so he had a way to get back to Wilson.  Change rental car plan and make new plan.  He was to meet us on Tuesday evening to go through the boat and he would sleep on the boat and leave Wednesday morning.  On Tuesday we get a call that he did not need us to take the car and that he would not be sleeping on the boat.  Change rental car and plan again.  

We tried to get an Uber or Lyft to take us to the airport to pickup up the rental car.  No Uber's or Lyfts in the area.  Nobody around at the Marina or Restaurant that we could pay to take us.  We called a Gold Looper who kept their boat at the marina.  They graciously offered to take us to the airport.  We pick up the rental car, went grocery shopping and then back to the boat.  We loaded up the cat, clothes and valuables and drove to the Buffalo Hotel.  I drove back to the boat so that I could meet the captain at 5:30 in the morning.  

It was pouring rain in the morning when the captain showed up and I quickly went through the boat with him.  Needless to say that it was a stressful few days as we were not happy to turn our boat over.  He left the dock around 5:30 in the morning.

After he left, I drove to the hotel and rested for a bit.   We went to Denny's for breakfast and then to Niagara Falls.  We occasionally got updates from the captain, but he did not get through the 1st lock until noon.  We did have a good day at Niagara Falls.  

After the  Falls, we went back to the hotel and were hoping for good news from the captain.  Said he was still in the locks and instead of a 7-9 O'clock arrival it would be later.  We decided to go to dinner.  I did have to try some wings since we were in Buffalo after all.  The wings were very good.

At 10 o'clock we got a call that he was about an hour to an hour and half outside of Buffalo but through the last lock.  At 10:30 I drove to the marina to meet him.  It was cold and raining when he arrived at 11:15 and I was in shorts and tee shirt.  The boat did arrive safely although it was very dirty.  He left and I slept on the boat at the fuel dock.  Think I got to sleep around 12:30 and was up at 6:00 to drive back to the hotel to pick up Marcia and Lucy.  Since we had to return the rental car close to the hotel, we decided to do that and Uber back to the boat.  Once back at the boat we loaded and left for Dunkirk, which was about 35 miles away.

Let's just say that I hope to have to never do that again.  If I do captain someone else's boat in the future I now know what to do and what not to do.  VERY stressful couple of days.  He ran the generator non stop for 17 hours and the engines for 13 hours.  All seems to be OK.  

Sorry for the long post, but not all the days are pretty pictures, drinks and food.   We are at Kelley's Island now so will get caught up on the last few days in the next post.