July 15

Arrived in Harrisville, found a nice beach to clean the moustache that covered Algernon’s hull from brown to pearly white, just like in the commercials. On and Off is a wonderful cleaning agent. We felt a little more respectable going into the marinas after she was cleaned. We decided to head to Presque Isle and then take False Detour passage to Drummond Island before heading into Canadian waters. We had a beautiful sail – used the spinnaker for the first time since we left Naples. Just as we were approaching Drummond Island the sails started luffing, so we leisurely packed in the spinnaker. It was still a beautiful day, blue skies. Not five minutes later, the wind really picked up, then picked up some more and before we knew it we felt one of the hulls lift off the water. Oh my! Clay quickly turned into shore and I pulled the mainsail down. At just about the same time a severe storm warning was called on the radio. Shortly thereafter, the sky turned dark and the heavens let loose. We were able to tuck in around Drummond Island and the high cliffs to avoid most of the wind. Once again we found that we were extremely fortunate. When we got in to Drummond Island they told us that there had been tornadoes, a monohull that had left Presque Isle with us had gone to the west side of Drummond and they were knocked down without sails and at last registered the wind at 55 knots. Another 42 foot trawler was capsized, fortunately no one was hurt.


We left Drummond and headed to Cockburn Island to check in with Canadian Customs. When we arrived there they had no power or phones because of the storm. We were advised to head to Meldrum Bay. Once again, no power or phones and our cell phones didn’t work either, but they did let us spend the night. Finally when we arrived at Gore Bay, they still had no power but the phones were working. Customs wanted to know why we had waited so long to check in? We found Manitoulin Island beautiful and the people very friendly. From Gore Bay we moved on to Clapperton Island where we anchored. We had a spectacular evening watching the stars – they were just vivid. In the morning we pulled anchor and headed to Mudge Bay to the little village of Kagawong. Our goal was to visit Bridal Veil Falls. After getting the boat docked we headed for the falls. After making a check, Clay went back on board to get the camera. We hiked through the woods, up, up and finally made the falls. They were beautiful. Lets take some pictures…. Clay reaches in his pocket and pulls out the cellphone… oops – “I thought I grabbed the camera!” Well, no pictures, but we enjoyed the falls. Kagawong was a tiny little bit of a village, but it was big on being friendly. They had a sail race and asked us join them in a pot luck dinner after the race. They gave us lots of great information about the best places to visit and the best anchorages.

From Kagawong we headed to Little Current. Little Current is another tiny little village, but it’s the place to reprovision before heading into the Georgian Bay or North Channel. Again we met many interesting people on the town dock, fueled and stocked up on groceries before heading out. Next stop is Killarney. We were told that you have to stop in Killarney if you go to Georgian Bay. Another tiny tiny town. The town was established in the 1800’s but didn’t have any roads into it until 1962! It’s basically a fishing village, but now is a major tourist attraction. There’s a fish house where you can watch them bringing the catch in off the dock and then go around to the front of the building (and stand in a long long line) and get the “best fish & chips” in the region. We felt that we were obliged to take part in the ritual – and they were actually very good. Killarney is on a channel between the mainland and Manitoulin Island. The docks are on the island side of the Island, so when you want to go over to the town you have to take the water taxi. You can call on the radio or you can just go out of the dock and call the taxi by name “Tinkerbell”. I met some women who said they just love to stand on the dock and call Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell. I got the impression they probably carry drinks in their hands at all times also! Then the highlight of the day is at sunset. As the sun sets, the bag pipes are played. It was definitely a tourist destination, but one shouldn’t miss out if you are in the area.

Just a short ride Northwest from Killarney we stopped at another recommended spot – Coverage Portage Cove. This was a beautiful cove with rock cliffs and beautiful clear water. I had gotten a temporary 8 day fishing license in Killarney, so I had my hook in the water catching lake perch. Orion wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. We had a delicious dinner. We spent the night anchored. In the morning we headed West again and then north, then East to Baie Fine. This is a 10 mile channel with lots of rocks. The scenery was magnificent – breathtaking. We followed the channel to the end to a spot call the Pool. We anchored here with about ten other boats, but plenty of room. We spent two nights here. We took the dingy to shore, hiked, picked wild blue berries, hiked up to another lake and went swimming, got a big bass and visited with the other boaters. We had little bluegill jumping out of the water trying to get my hook. Then a huge snapping turtle came along, a couple beaver and just about dinner time a moose came down to the water for a drink! We left Baie Fine, stopping in several little coves on the way back to Little Current. Dottie and Van left us in Little Current to go back home, so we’re on our own again. We will be leaving this afternoon to head into the North Channel for another 7-10 days and then to Mackinaw City.

July 9th We left Cleveland and headed for Put-In-Bay. The lake cooperated and we had a fairly easy day. Walked around the village and enjoyed the tourist atmosphere. Monday morning, up and out early. We got out into the open water and the wind changed, became very choppy and decided to go back to Put-In-Bay and wait for calmer waters. We extended our tour of the town, went to Crystal Cave – I’ll just say that it was cool (temp wise) down there. Forecast calls for calmer waters.

Tuesday at 6:30 we left out again headed for the Detroit River. We didn’t find it as treacherous as we had been told, but there was quite a current – unfortunately we were going against it. We found a nice marina in Harbor Hill with a pool and Jacuzzi which we took advantage of.

Wednesday left at 6:20 a.m. to cross Lake St. Clair. It was rainy but cleared with overcast skies all day. We entered St. Clair River, went through the “cut” and found a little spot to anchor overnight. The water was incredibly clear. We made sure our anchor lights were working properly because there are BIG ships going up and down the channel.

Thursday morning we got to the entrance of Lake Huron. We went up the Black River at Port Huron and stopped at Port Huron Yacht Club. You could feel the excitement in the air. The big Port Huron/Mackinaw Sailboat Race is this weekend. Fortunately we just wanted to stop to stock up on groceries and fuel and keep moving. The yacht club was generous to let us dock for several hours, but made it very clear that they did not have room for us overnight. It worked to our advantage because West Marine had a courtesy shuttle from the club to their store and/or grocery stores. It was great – John actually even helped bring our groceries back to the boat for us. The boat settled a little deeper in the water, but we will be well fed! We fueled up and fill the water tanks and took off again. The current going in to the lake was unbelievable with a big cargo ship on our tail. It’s amazing how fast these ships move. As we got out onto the lake we turned on the auto pilot and sat back and relaxed. It was a warm day and the water seemed extremely inviting. I mentioned to Clay that if he’d stop the boat I’d go for a swim. Later he told me he didn’t think I was serious, but I definitely was. The water temp was 73.4 but I know as we get further north my chances of finding anything water than that will be very slim. I settled for a nice shower at the marina when we pulled in to Port Sanilac for the evening.

Friday morning arrived, but fortunately for the crew we had to wait for the dock master to come in at 7:00 to return our clubhouse key. We were all up and had the boat ready to pull out the minute we saw him though. When we got out on to the lake it was like glass, turned on the auto pilot again and started reading our books. What a life! We got in to Port Austin at about 3:00, washed the boat down and headed in to town to adventure. We found some neat shops and one that actually had a soda fountain. Clay had a strawberry milk shake and I had chocolate malt – umm good. Our plan is to head to Harrisville and depending on the weather we will either continue north to Presque Island and then head over to the North Channel or head to the Georgian Bay from Harrisville. Internet access may not be readily available, so if we don’t update for a while, just know that we’re probably really enjoying ourselves in the North Channel and Georgian Bay. (having trouble uploading pictures, I'll keep trying though)

June 22 – 26 Enjoyed another day in Fairport visiting with family, Steve & Barb from Canandaigua. They were great hosts, fed us extremely well, took us to run errands and showed us their lovely community.



They Say it Comes in Threes

From Fairport we moved on to Albion, a sleepy little town, but we enjoy. By Monday we arrived in Tonawanda. The plan was to stay here a couple of days. We had read that everything we would want was within walking distance – groceries, drug store, laundry, even a bus that would take us either to Niagara Falls or in to Buffalo. Also this would be were we would step the mast. Well, as we pulled into town, we went past the dock that we would be staying at, noted the Walgreens and the MacDonald’s where we could catch the bus. Clay said he wanted to check out the marina where we would be stepping the mast before we got settled. We continued further West through a bridge to the marina. Upon arrival to the marina, we were getting fuel and the nice gentleman said that he was available right then and there to step our mast if we wanted. We looked at each other and said – okay! We spent the next couple of hours attaching the stays and putting everything back in order. At that point, Clay said, let’s wait until we get back to the dock to put the sails on. So the crew got on board, shoved off and headed back East towards the bridge. (#1 of 3) I (Lori) was forward on the deck when I heard this guy screaming “You can’t go under the bridge with your mast!” Panick struck, the engines went in reverse but the boat continued forward. I began to try to decide which direction I should jump if the mast started to come down. Just as the boat started it’s backward motion, we kissed the bridge with our roller furling – just a little klink of a sound. Our hearts took a few seconds to start pumping again to get the blood back to our faces! At this point, we made a quick turn and headed West into the Niagara River. We had to stop and regroup, our plans had totally fallen apart. We ended up anchoring off of Grand Island and heading for Buffalo the first thing in the morning.

Buffalo

Our first day on Lake Erie will be a memorable one. The lake was calm, almost flat and sky was overcast with scattered showers. About an hour into the cruise the engine started hesitating. All systems seemed to be functioning, oil level fine, water temp fine, but the hesitation persisted and progressed. (#2 of 3) Clay checked the fuel filter – we evidently had gotten some bad fuel. He changed the primary filter and started the engine again. The hesitation continued, so Clay rechecked the primary, clean fuel and then decided to check the secondary, which was clogged. We had a spare so he changed it and tightened it. The engine ran beautifully, so we continued our trip to Dunkirk. (#3 of 3) As we progressed to Dunkirk we could smell diesel fuel and surmised we had spilled some, gotten on ourselves or were just overly sensitive… wrong! Clay had over tightened the filter housing nut and rolled the o-ring which allowed fuel to drip into the engine compartment at a considerable rate. Unfortunately, as the engine compartment filled, it followed the path of least resistance and ended up in the bilge and bunk areas. Needless to say this was a huge mess. Immediately we began pumping and sponging up 4 ½ to 5 gallons of $3.00 per gallon diesel fuel. Much to the dismay of Clay’s frugal heart, the fuel could not be reused. It was placed in what ever capped container we could find and a 3 gallon pail. When we arrived in Dunkirk, Clay marched off to the Fire Department for assistance in disposing of the fuel. They eagerly put him in contact with the Hazardous Waste Disposal person who showed up the following day. The fire department was glad Clay did not call this in on the phone as they would have to respond in mass and make out reports to the EPA, Coast Guard, Great Lakes Fisheries, etc. The spill was contained, so it was not a threat to the environment, only to those who had to deal with it, us. We found a local marina that would accept the our waste fuel and engine oil. We purchased two gallon containers of vinegar to help cut the smell, which it did after the fuel was removed in the areas affected, scrubbed with soap and water. This was not one of our better days, although no one was hurt, our pride was substantially diminished. There are moments when the aroma of old diesel fuel still haunt the boat, bringing an immediate visual observation of the aforementioned filters.


From Dunkirk we moved on to Barcelona – the port Lori has been anxiously awaiting. Barcelona is a very small little community just north of Chautauqua Lake where lots of Lori’s family live. Clay got to meet people he had heard of but never met, all within a period of 48 hours. The family lived up to it’s previous billing. Warm and friendly people who enjoy feeding out of town relatives and allowing them to clean their dirty laundry. The world should contain more of these people – actually it does and some of her relatives I haven’t met yet. I enjoyed meeting them and look forward to seeing them again in the future.



An added bonus to docking at Barcelona, was a special visit from Chris, Jen and our special little granddaughter Annabelle. We last saw her on April 1st, three months later she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on furniture so she can walk. She is a delight and it was hard to let go. We tried to convince her parents to leave her with us, but they wouldn’t bite. As much as we are enjoying our trip, we definitely miss seeing her grow up.



We bid adieu to Barcelona and headed for Erie. Presque Island looked beautiful, but we didn’t have time to explore, maybe we’ll have to come back again. We pushed on to Conneaut where we stayed on the north face of a quay. We planned to just stay the night, but unfortunately the winds picked up from the North pounding us into the dock, so at 3 am we were out moving the boat to the west side of the quay into calmer waters. We decided to stay another day, so Lori headed out on her bike to the grocery store. While she was gone Clay decided to go for it, so when Lori got back we threw the groceries on the boat and shoved off.

Again, the winds picked up and we didn’t make it too far, we only got to Geneva before we decided to stop. Geneva had a beautiful facility, I believe it was a State Park. We walked into town that evening where it was a carnival like atmosphere and had dinner at a hot dog stand. In the morning we headed out again. The lake was much calmer so we decided to try for Cleveland and we made it.

We arrived Thursday afternoon at the Edgewater Yacht Club. Lori’s brother Todd came in Friday afternoon and picked us up and took us back to Streetsboro along with our dirty clothes. Yeah Todd! We spent the afternoon doing laundry, some shopping and then had a nice dinner with Todd, Jane and Stacie. While with the Lesher’s we were able to pick up our email. We found out that over the past weekend, there was terrible flooding along the Erie Canal. They are estimating that the canal will be closed for eight weeks. There are a lot of boaters who are taking the same passage that we are that have been stranded in between locks or still on the Hudson River. Many are having to either turn around and head back south or have their boat transported. We are extremely thankful that we were well past this and feel for those who are having such grief along what is normally a beautiful passageway.











Saturday afternoon they brought us back to Cleveland and we took them out for a nice boat ride on a very still Lake Erie. We had hoped we would be able to put up the sails, but the wind would not cooperate. Stacie, Stephanie and Eric (Stacie’s beau) seemed to have a good time. Clay even let Eric steer the boat. It was hard to stay good bye, but again we’re off in the morning.