Mahi Mahi – Wed Jul 2; Welland Canal to Erie PA.

Quick Post today 😃

The wind gods cooperated nicely today.

Our 67 mile ride across the eastern quarter of Lake Erie was wonderful, waiting one day to depart Canada was a great decision.

The water was so calm, we let “Otto” drive almost all the way. “Otto” is what we lovingly call our auto-pilot steering system.

Today’s ride will be about 1/4 of the east end of Lake Erie, into Erie Pennsylvania.

In the photo below, you can see our route today & the other blue dots showing our future ports : Ashtabula Oh, Cleveland Oh, Vermilion Oh, Monroe Mi – then the Detroit River up to Lake St Clair and Miller Marina.

During the 7.5 hour drive, I took opportunity to call my Uncle Wayne and wish him a happy 85th birthday. Uncle Wayne was very active in life & played softball until he was about 70 years old. He is still a spry old guy, but only golf now, no softball.

We arrived at Wolverine Marina in Erie Pa about 2:30pm.

I was surprised to find out how much was going on in this small port. There are MANY restaurants, bars, pubs in close walking distance. And the harbor is very nice.

When we checked in with harbormaster Theresa, she suggested Oliver’s Rooftop, so that is where we are going tonight. More to come after dinner 👋.

So, Oliver’s was indeed a good as Theresa had suggested. Usually the rooftop restaurants have great views, but marginal food. Not in this case, the food was very good.

Oliver’s restaurant was named after the famed Lake Erie Commander Oliver Perry, who created the phrase “don’t give up the ship”. Do you remember from the Annapolis Naval Academy.

The views at Oliver’s were very nice, we could see the Mahi down in the marina.

After dinner, we went for a walk. Lots of nice riverfront bars & restaurants.

During our walk we saw a high tower, that just had to be explored. After a small payment of $6 each, we were again at elevated height in Erie Pa (thanks for the ticket Jerry & Deena).

the Mahi is down there on the upper right

Ok, last item for today. It was a bittersweet day for me having so much fun on the Mahi.

But during our cruise, I received a text from my buddy Dave Sylver. He sent me a “Boat Trader.Com” link to a nice looking Viking Double Cabin.

OMG – it was my old boat, that was also Dave/Michelle Sylver’s old boat !!!

Dave and Michelle sold their 43 Viking to us after their Great Loop in 2014/2015, and purchased a 50ft Viking that they lived on for 7-8 years. Jonell and I did The Loop in 2017/2018.

So “JUST US / GETTIN’ LOOPED” was a Platinum Looper Boat !!!

We sold her in 2019, the year before the covid price hikes 🤨, with the plan to move on to a Class-A motor home and do all the National parks out west.

It’s a long story, but the motor home never happened & I regret selling Gettin’ Looped every day/month/year since then. She was the perfect boat. I now know how Dave & Michelle felt when Jonell & I sold Gettin’Looped. It was a very sad day for all 4 of us.

Thank God for friends like Jerry & Deena who keep my water living dream bubbling. We may re-enter the big boat market in the future when Nellie’s dad passes & we can take off for a year again.

But for now, it’s sponging off friends & reminicing of photos from Gettin’ Looped

That’s all for today folks, hope you enjoyed the blog post.

Mike, Deena, & Jerry