Lake St. Clair and The St. Clair River

Lighthouse on the Detroit River

From Kean's Marina, I made a nearly 40nm run to St. Clair Boat Harbor. The first couple of miles I was still fighting the current in the Detroit River. After the river loosed its grip, I had a smooth cruise across Lake St. Clair. Well, mostly smooth.
Let me back up a bit. When I started the cruise, I was towing the dinghy. After some problems, I decided to carry it on the swim platform. That has been working just fine for the last thousand or so miles. The only problem with it back there is that my rear vision is blocked. As a result, every once in awhile I'll steer to the port side and clear my stern.
So, I'm cruising across Lake St. Clair and I decide to clear my stern. And, I got the crap scared out of me. Right up close behind me is this huge Great Lakes freighter and it making about 12 knots. At least twice my speed. I did a hard starboard turn and went past him in the opposite direction. I got beat up a little by the wake, but I tucked in behind the ship and everything smoothed out.
In the early afternoon of August 9, I entered the St. Clair river. And, again I was fighting a strong current. So much current that I throttled up to full power. When I've still got about two hours to go to my destination, suddenly the power on the engine goes to about 1/4 throttle. I wasn't sure what to do, so I throttled back to zero. The engine, at idle speed, was shaking like mad, so I shut it down. Now, I'm drifting back down the river. My first thought was that I had run out of fuel. Illogical as I had fueled up the night before. But, I checked anyway and found a nearly full tank. I was getting ready to declare an emergency, as two more freighters were headed toward me, when I thought - let me try to start the engine. It started right up and I continued, at full power, to St. Clair Boat Harbor.
Safe and sound, I filled up on fuel and tied in for the night.
In the immortal words of Scarlett O'Hara, I'll just think about this tomorrow! 

The Detroit River

Detroit River Light

The Detroit River connects Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair. I had heard that the river has a pretty swift current. So, I got up and out of Brest Bay fairly early in the morning. As you can see in the picture, the water in the lake was perfect. The light is right where the river flows out into Lake Erie.
Just as I passed the light in the picture, I was passed by a Canadian Coast Guard cutter. The crew on the foredeck waved at me as they went past.
I was forced, by the current, to run at a fairly high throttle setting. I was concerned with running out of fuel. I was especially aware because Brest Bay Marina didn't have diesel. So, I already had a day's worth of cruising sucked out of the tank. And, it seemed that the longer I cruised, the later my arrival time became on my GPS.
But, the cruise up the river was really pretty, challenging, but pretty. I passed Grosse Isle, Fighting Island, and Belle Isle, as well as a few other islands in the river.
In the end, I made it to my destination, Kean's Marina. I had fuel left in the tank when I arrived and all was right with the world. 

The Last Days of Erie

I'm reluctant to call any part of this adventure boring. Every day, I'm sailing into the relative unknown. I'm seeing new places and doing new things. That said, heading out into the lake and steering for the next marina means driving in a straight line for 5 or 6 hours. I've been 2 to 3 miles offshore, so there really isn't much to see. And, there is nothing to do except steer. So, the days are long. I'm really glad that I invested in the Sirius/XM radio. What a difference that makes!

up

After the Hall of Fame I hopped to Huron Municipal Marina. Nice place, but I got weathered in for a couple of days. Fortunately, there was a nice restaurant near-by and a Walmart that I could Uber to.
From Huron to Foxhaven Marina. Foxhaven was a quick and dirty. I hardly even left the boat. Headed out early for Brest Bay Marina.
Brest Bay was the last call for Lake Erie.
On 8 Aug I headed out of Brest Bay and up the Detroit River.

Lake Erie: The First Days

There is a fairly strong current flowing in the Niagara River, as one might imagine. I made it to Beaver Island Marina after a fairly long day of negotiating the last locks, the last few miles of the Erie Canal and the current of the Niagara. A nice enough place, I spent a quiet night.
I planned a short day to get to First Buffalo Marina. I was hoping to find a mechanic to help me with changing the coolant in the engine. I made it to the marina, but there was no mechanic available. I did score a jug of coolant and some distilled water.
I headed out the next day for Holiday Harbor. I did manage to get some shopping done, but no luck on a mechanic. Next up was Erie, PA. Nice marina, inexpensive, and nice staff. I wound up getting weathered in there for 3 days. There was no mechanic available, again, but I did manage to get a Sirius/SM radio installed. Excited! I also got some shopping done and got a haircut and a beard trim. I hate losing cruising days, but at least I got a few things done.
Next up was Ashtabula, OH. No marina available, so I anchored out for the night. I was behind a breakwater, so it was a fairly comfortable night. BTW, if you've ever ridden a single speed bike with coaster brakes, you've used an Ashtabula crank. Go ahead, look it up.
From Ashtabula on to Grand River and finally a mechanic. A very expensive mechanic, but a mechanic (and a helper) nonetheless. I was getting really worried about the cooling system. Now, that the coolant has been changed, I'm a little less worried.
And then... there was Cleveland. And... the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I pulled into the Rock and Dock Marina (apparently not related) and tied up for two nights. It had been a push to get here, so I just relaxed for the night. I did buy my Senior Discount ticket for the next day.

It's here to stay!

I slept late, got up, and had a shower. It's just a short walk to the front door. I figured I'd be good for 2 or 3 hours. So, from 10a to about 1p, I toured the exhibits. I went to the gift shop and bought myself a T-shirt and a stack of postcards. Then I had lunch and walked around for another hour. I went back to the boat and wrote out the postcards and stamped them.
Back to the Hall, I found a theater that plays the 25th anniversary concerts. I sat there and watched, enthralled, for about 2 hours. Then I decided to have dinner at the hall and re-visit the first floor, the early days.
It was amazing. I'm really glad that I decided to stop.

The Last of the Erie Canal

On my second attempt I actually made it to Spencerport without running into anything. It turned out to be a really nice little town with everything I was in need of, free dock, free showers, nice museum, good food at a near-by restaurant, and a grocery store that I could walk to. The people in the museum, volunteers, were really pleasant to chat with.

Inside a Lock

Next morning, I cast off and headed to Albion. Not quite as nice, but very pleasant nevertheless. It, too, had a free dock and free showers. I met a couple in a sailboat. They were from not too far away from Albion and out for a long cruise with their son. We chatted about boats and the wife of the couple ran into a former student of hers. He told us that there was an antique car show in town and that we should walk over. He is in the local fire department and was cooking hamburgers for a fund raiser. So, guess what we all did for dinner. The car show was fun. The couple and I continued to talk about boats and cruising. And, the hamburger from the FD was really good.
Next up was Lockport. I tied to the entry wall for Lock 34. It was not a particularly pleasant place. The wall was really rough, so I put out extra fenders. I was on the opposite side of the canal from the town, so I didn't get to see much and it rained. When I first got there, a Canadian couple helped me get tied in. We, too, talked at length about boats and cruising. Turns out that they lived not too far away and were just about to finish up the Great Loop on a boat that they had built. It was beautiful, about 35', twin engines, steel hull. A really tough looking seaworthy boat. As part of their loop they had also gone to the Bahamas.
Locks 34 and 35 are the last two locks on the Erie Canal and they are adjacent to one another. They are sometimes referred to as the "Siamese Twins". When you leave 34 you are entering 35. They have a combined lift of about 55 feet.
There were still several mile of the Erie Canal after the last locks. I continued on to the Niagara River. Everybody told me to make sure that I made a left turn onto the river.
The weather turned a little sour, but I made it to Beaver Island State Park Marina for the night. And... so endeth the Erie Canal. I enjoyed (except for that bridge) all 383 miles and 560 feet of lift. From Waterford to Tonawanda a fun trip.

Whoopsies

I've been cruising pretty hard. I feel like I still have to make up for the late start. But, I think I'm gaining. Anyway, an overnight stop at Lyons, NY and on the road (so to speak) again early. I was headed for Spencerport. But, I encountered a bridge that I thought I could clear. I couldn't. The radar mast hit the bridge and tore a section of fiberglass away from the roof. Not the roof itself, but a fiberglass plate that holds the mast, horn, and spotlight. The really nice bridge tender asked me to fill out an incident report. He told me that I wasn't the first, nor will I be the last. He gave me the number of a near-by repair facility.

Along the Erie Canal

The folks at Mid-Lakes Navigation couldn't have been nicer. The owner met me at the dock. He introduced me to a free-lance repair guy, Steve, and then took me on a tour of his facility. The repair guy said that to remove the section of fiberglass would require dismounting all the hardware. Then the glass would have to be laid out and cured, etc., etc. Be about 2 weeks and $1200. Or... or... "I could just screw it back together and put some caulk on it. That'd be about $50." I opted for the latter and he was done in an hour. The owner let me stay on the dock gratis due to emergency nature of my visit.
And, as if all that wasn't nice enough, Steve let me borrow his Mercedes so I could run to Walmart for supplies.
So, if you find yourself in western New York or in need of an idea for a vacation, stop in and visit Mid-Lakes. They have several custom built steel bottom canal boats that are for rent. The boats are beautiful and everything is included.
Next day, I cruised out and managed to make it to Spencerport without further incident.

Finishing the Erie Canal

The last eleven days have been both eventful and uneventful. It's kind of hard to describe. On the one hand cruising along on the Erie Canal is really fun. But, while the scenery is constantly changing, it really doesn't change. Parts of the canal are long straight stretches that are tree lined and pretty. Other parts are zig-zaggy, tree lined and pretty. So, lots of trees, lots of scenery, and lots of sameness. But, I enjoyed every mile.
The locks were hard work. And, I wish I could have gotten some pictures and sounds from inside the locks. Some of the locks are really huge and it's tough (the first couple of times) to look at the huge doors that are holding back tons upon tons of water and think, yeah, it'll be fine. The noise that the doors make on closing is something straight out of a horror movie.
After Lock 20, I cruised across Lake Onieda. I had no idea that that lake was so big. But, I had a smooth crossing and made it to Ess-Kay Yards. Nice place. The night I tied up there, the forecast was for thunderstorms. So, I decided to stay and get some work done on the boat. the center windshield wiper tore loose from its moorings. I had used the wipers a lot coming up the intra-coastal and didn't want to continue on without it.
Parts had to be ordered, fortunately from a near-by supplier, and the old wiper motor had to be removed. The mechanic beat on the wiper arm for about an hour before it finally let loose. Needless to say that at $95 an hour, it was an expensive removal. When the new motor arrived the following day, he got it installed and I was on my way.
I cruised to Baldwinsville, NY and tied up to a lock wall for the night. Gotta love the free walls. But, I didn't get there until late, so all I did was tie up and retire for the night.
Next morning, I looked online for a place to fuel up. The only place close only accepted cash and I didn't have any. I looked at my credit union's ATM finder and saw that there was a free ATM near where I was tied up. And... wait for it... it was located in a Duncan Donut's shop. Score! Cash and a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel before 9am. I love my life.
Next stop Lyons, NY.