August 16
We are still waiting on Raymarine. Since we still have the
car we will go to the Ford museum in Dearborn, MI. We have a great time at the
Ford Museum. We visit the train section and marvel on how they got some of the
steam engines in the building. We realize the engines and cars are sitting on
the rails with which they were moved, but still quite an operation. The museum
has various areas show casing transportation through the ages including air,
trains, and of course the main attraction is cars.
All kinds of cars are here from the early Henry Ford cars
to todays more modern designs. Racing cars, vintage production cars like the
1957 Chevy, and my favorite area is the vintage luxury cars.
In one display we had a 1936 Cord, the styling was out of
this world even for today. Then there was a 1931 Duesenberg J Rollston
Convertible Victoria that cost $41000 when produced and is now valued at
over 10 million today and then a Lamborghini. While these vehicles were roped
off you could really get close and look. We spent over 4 hours in the museum
and only quite to take time to see their historic village located right next to
the museum. 190 acres surrounding the original town of Greenfield Village.
Way too much to describe here, but well worth the very
expensive $75 tickets.
August 23
We finally get to leave Port Clinton. We are headed down
the south shore of Lake Erie but the east winds around Catawba point are too
much for us so we head to Middle Bass Island and an anchorage that is known to
us from the old days to be good for North and East winds.
We forgot it is a weekend and all the bar warriors are
heading to Put In Bay for the day on Saturday and Sunday.
The deep channel between Put In Bay and our anchorage on
Middle bass is now a speed way for high dollar sport fish boats traveling at
full throttle to their next fishing hole. We are only 1.5 miles from the area
and the tip of our island brings the wakes directly into the boat. How does
that go, we are pointing North into the wind and the waves hit us broadside
from the south Not a nice ride, but at least it reduced after 7 pm.
August 24
Sunday the wave action east was no better and instead of
going back to the bad anchorage we pulled into Middle Bass state Marina for the
night. Did not feel like cooking so we walked a mile for a loaf of bread and
made grilled cheese sandwiches. /
August 25
80 miles today or bust.
We still had NE winds but NOAA promised only 1-3 foot waves dropping to less
than 2. Well it was okay for 2 hours and then we got relief with waves now at
2-4 foot off the port quarter. We are
now 20 miles from the US coast, 20 miles from the Canadian coast, roughly 20
miles back to dock and at least 50 to go, or more. Crew quite sick and went to
laying down on the job.
Me I wish I had a seat belt. I pushed the throttle to 9
knots, put the trims tabs on ¾ full and got a 40% smoother ride. After 2 hours
of this I wondered why we still call this fun. Just as I thought it could not
get worse, it got better and we finally hit totally calm seas for the last 2-3
hours of running. So NOAA was correct as the average for the trip was 2
foot waves or less.
We pulled into Fairport Harbor behind the north facing
break wall where we expect to anchor for the night. This is a gravel pit and
the traffic for barges and freighters is heavy. Problem is not the traffic but
the seawall. The wall has collapsed for the last 1/3 of the run to the east and
the waves from Erie are pouring in and creating a 1.5 foot swell in the rest of
the harbor. The wind is supposed to go south during the evening, but I need
calm for the crew to recover so we try to find a transient berth. We catch a
marina with a fuel dock open and we tie up for the night promising the dock
master to be gone before 7 am.
August 26
We leave at 6:30 am so the dock master will be happy.
Winds are 10 knots form the south and after 23 Nautical miles we are seeing
16-18 knots from south on our beam. We make an early decision to stop now in
Ashtabula harbor before we see 20 knot winds. We anchor and go below. I need to
check the market and while I watch I use the IPad to check weather locally.
Wind prior was 17 knots from the south and were down to 10. In another ½ hour
we were down to 5 so we pulled anchor and headed to Erie, PA. 40 more miles
with one possible pull out if the weather turned again at Conneaut 12 miles
into the trip. We had a beautiful day with the wind going to our stern at 5
knots or less, 80 degrees, and bright sun shine. These are the days you pray
for.
We hit Erie, Pa and the State Park of Presque Isle. We
anchor in what is called the duck pond about 3.5 miles inside of the sand spit
where we have total 4 sided protection from the possible thunder storms for the
evening.
The marina here is state run and is supposed to have
fuel, some groceries, ice etc. Well, forget it. We need gas for the dinghy, and
could use fuel as we last filled 30 hours ago in Port Clinton. They have
nothing now, not even ice.
August 27, 2014
No Storms last night so we got a great night’s sleep.
We try going today to Dunkirk, NY about 40 miles NE on
the lake. A little too rough for the crew so we turn around and look for fuel.
Here is a town of 120000 people at least 1000 boats and only one marina has
diesel. Many of the Yacht clubs have it but they only fill members or ILYC
members.
We go back to anchor in the same spot and will await the
am.
August 28, 2014
It blew 15-20 knots all night on the lake. We saw 10
knots in our little pond. So today is a no go.
We now have to change our plans from 2 -40 mile trips to
one 80 mile trip. We cannot count on Saturday’s weather to hold out and let us
run. We do not want to be stuck in Dunkirk, NY, for a 3 day holiday as there is
nothing there. Winds are now laying down and should turn South overnight.
August 29
Well we have a chance to move. Winds 10-12 knots out of
the south and we move at 6:30 looking at a 10-11 hour day. Our original plan
was to Dunkirk, then to Towanda, NY breaking the trip in half. The weather
forecast is dicey for Saturday and terrible Sunday, so we want to be where we
can set up for the next 10 days of the canal trip. A place to get haircuts,
groceries, etc., so on to Towanda.
We arrive in Towanda via the Niagara River. I early on
chose to follow the Canadian side of the Niagara River instead of the
designated channel which would have cost us an extra couple of miles. The next
time we or you do this spend the miles. The Channel is a concrete bulkhead on the
water side and you can only get back to it at Strawberry Island. We had a
steady current of 2 knots in our favor. But as we headed toward one of the
bridges, going too fast to read the road signs, we saw the current jump to 5-7
knots putting us at 12-15 knots heading toward those supporting columns for the
bridge. It is the Peace Bridge, and we did not hit it, but it tests your
driving skills. Finally we get back in the channel with about 2 miles to
Towanda harbor.
Charts are a bit confused here, but we finally find it.
Going in, the bridge clearance is the lowest you will see on the Erie Canal at
14.8 ft. Alice takes over the boat and I climb the outside of our aluminum
command bridge to lower 3 antennas for the next 20 miles of our trip down the
Erie. We need 14 foot of bridge clearance, with the solar panels, so those 8 foot
whip antennas have to come down.
All of Buffalo NY is here in this harbor and we see one
open space on the wall next to the sheriff’s boat. Probably why no one parked
there. We will have no electric or water but at least we are tied up. I walk
down the ¼ mile wall to see if we can fit in anywhere. I finally find a very
tight spot at 37 ft. I am using my feet to estimate distance the true distance
when the boat owner in front of us comes up and asks how many feet I need. I
tell him 40 would be nice but I could live with a true 38 and he offers to wait
for us until we move down and then move his boat forward to give us an extra 4 foot.
So we move. We now have water and electric for $20 per night, and $2 pump outs.
Major drawback is the wall we tied to is still 3 foot over the top of the boat.
We have to climb a bit to get off but we will survive.
Below is the lower Towanda Harbor with The Jackknife railroad bridge in the distance.
The bridge can open but after being built and tested in the thirties has never opened for traffic.
Towanda Harbor is a joint effort of the state, city and Federal Governments to increase the traffic through the Erie Canal by making the stops easy, cheap and interesting.
The harbor as you can see is lined with parks settings on the side with picnic tables walkways, and parking for both the boats and cars. People come in by boat and have others meet them and set up tents for the weekend and camp using the boat as base camp. Cheap docks with clean restrooms, and pleasant surroundings.
Boats at idle speed cruise up and down the harbor from sunrise to sunset. heading restaurant's or just sight seeing.
Really nice neighbors for the weekend.
We eat out that night as it is 7 pm already and neither
of us feel like cooking. Its fish fry Friday in the harbor so we prepare for
walleye etc. The restaurant we chose, with Steve’s recommendation, turned out
to be great. Food was outstanding. The Dockside restaurant is right on the
harbor wall, and if you eat there you can dock while you eat. You must allow
rafting and sometimes the boats are 4 deep.
Lots of fun watching all makes and models come to dockside.
August 30.
We do engine maintenance this morning. The alternator
belt needs tightening, fuel filters drained and checked, and oil in both
engines checked. Hope to get home prior to changing oil again.
We clean up and head to a grocery store about ½ mile
away. We spy a Supercuts along the way and we both get overdue haircuts.
We are doing the shopping slowly, walking every isle, so
even if an item missed our list, seeing it will jog the memory that we need it.
We need to stock up for a 10 day Erie Canal move. We run into Steve while
shopping and he offers to take us back as he has a car here. Great.
It is now too late to do anything else so we take a nap
and wait for cooler weather this evening to walk the town.
We walk into North Towanda and see an ad for the Riviera
Theater, home of the Wurlitzer. This it turns out is an original 1930’s theater
with organ etc. The theater charges $3 a person for old films, and brings in
live entertainment throughout the year. This fall they have lots of 50’s and
60’s stars. Unfortunately for us it is closed for the weekend.
August 31, 2014
Big rain over night and today so Alice does laundry and I
clean the inside of the boat. We are off to the carousel museum this afternoon.
We are so close to Niagara Falls you would think we can get there, but alas we
would have to wait until Tues to rent a car. We can leave Monday if we leave
now but would have to wait until Wednesday if we rent a car. We are still
deciding how bad we want to see Niagara Falls.
