After a month of hardcore boat work, we finally cast our lines on Tuesday, September 12. We were ready but this time leaving Toledo Beach felt very different. We kept pinching ourselves, we’re really doing this!
Our first destination was South Bass Island, home of the infamous Put-In-Bay, about 30 miles from Toledo Beach. We didn’t have much wind, so we motored. We arrived at an empty mooring field by late afternoon and had our choice of spots. We picked up our first mooring ball on the first try and quickly launched the Margaret P.. We hoisted the outboard engine, henceforth named Lamb Chop, for the first time. Our outboard lifting system, utilizing the boom and a 4-to-1 turning block, worked great, aka we didn’t drop the 100 lbs Lamb Chop into the lake. We had a celebratory dinner in the deserted Put-In-Bay and walked around a bit before heading back to the boat.
After a good night’s sleep, we set off for Cleveland. It was another mostly windless day and we arrived at Cleveland Harbor around 5 p.m. We found a sweet anchorage right in the heart of a downtown park and just outside of a shipping channel. We had a lovely evening listening to local boat chatter on the VHF radio and watching the sunset.
The next morning Lucas started to hoist the anchor chain while I finished our morning chores. Unfortunately, he discovered that almost all of our 175 feet of anchor chain was covered in thick mud. Many boats have a deck wash at the bow for occasions such as these, but of course we do not. It took us about 30 minutes to clean off the chain, one foot at a time, with our deck brush. Once we finally got the anchor up, we had a pretty uneventful motor to our next stop, Geneva-on-the-Lake. We stayed in a state marina outside this resort town. The marina staff had warned us that the town was mostly closed for the season, and they were right, not even the Dairy Queen was open. It was an interesting town to walk through though. We washed off the rest of the mud from our anchor chain adventure that morning and then went to bed.
As we were planning this leg of the trip, everyone recommended staying in Erie, PA for a night. We have both driven through Erie by car and it was frankly a place we just tried to get through as quickly as possible. Boy, was it different by boat. We arrived after another long day of motoring and were greeted by a beautiful bay and a shining cityscape. We anchored in a bay within the main bay surrounded by a state park on three sides. It was the most protected anchorage we have ever been in. We launched the Margaret P. with Lamb Chop and explored a nearby swamp until we hit too many weeds. We turned around and explored another area called Misery Bay. As we were checking out the shoreline, Lucas suspected we had ventured into shallow water. I pulled out my phone and opened Navionics, our navigation app, to double check. Sure enough, Navionics said we were on dry land. Lucas quickly started heading for open water when we heard a “PING” and the engine bucked. We hit a barely submerged rock. Thankfully the damage was only superficial and I’m sure it won’t be the last time Margaret will find the bottom. The evening ended with a chilly but fast ride back to the boat with a beautiful sunset. I think this is my favorite anchorage to date!
Our next windless hop was to Dunkirk, NY where we tied up on the city pier and enjoyed margaritas and pizza with our friends on SV Wind Gypsy. I woke up the next morning very early, I was so excited to get to Buffalo. Lucas and I have been planning this trip for a very long time. As the realist in our relationship, I would sometimes get overwhelmed with everything we had to do on the boat and in our lives, while Lucas, the dreamer, would be over there planning our passages across mighty oceans. I would say, “Lucas, I don’t know if I want to sail to __[fill in the blank, somewhere far away]__, I just want to make it to Buffalo first.” Well, that became our mantra, “We just gotta make it to Buffalo”. And now, we were almost there! We pulled out of the Dunkirk Harbor around 7:30 a.m., we were only about 30 miles away from the entrance to Buffalo Harbor.
After six days traveling across nearly 260 miles of Lake Erie, we pulled into the massive Buffalo Harbor around lunchtime. We made it to Buffalo!
Hello, this is Kitty and Gary from SunFun. You have not posted anything for a while. How are things going?
Hi Kitty, we’re doing great! We finished the canal last week and are heading through NYC now. I’ll get my post up about the Erie Canal soon 🙂 Hope you guys enjoyed your journey!!