Mahi Mahi- Thu Jul 3rd; Erie Pa to Ashtubula Oh (Kister Marina)

Ok, really short/boring post today.

Ashtubula – never heard of it, where is it ?

Well, it’s about half way between Erie Pa & Cleveland Oh. That explains why we are in Ashtabula Ohio.

Today’s ride was a choppy 47 miles, the wind was out of the west & we were heading west. The cruise was not terrible, but not great.

We arrived in the Ashtabula Harbor Inlet about 1:30pm.

We waited about 10 minutes for a lift bridge that operates on the 1/2 hour, and then we proceed into Ashtabula. The downtown looked very nice, but very small.

Our marina was about a 1/2 mile from the small downtown, so we did not really get to experience what may have been the best part of Ashtabula.

After gettin’ past the lift bridge, our first order of business was to Fuel Up & get a Pump Out. The next 2 ports (Cleveland & Vermilion) will be very active on the holiday weekend, and we don’t want to mess with fuel & pump outs during all the congested holiday boat traffic.

After the fuel & pump out (at a fuel station not connected with the marina), the adventure began – the search for our slip.

We were advised over the phone (no marina office or VHF) that our slip number was 121, right on the river, between the lift bridge and the railroad bridge, with a fake palm tree that has no fronds, look for a guy in the yellow shirt. Sounds easy enough 🤔

We must have went up/ down the river 3 times looking for slip 121 @ Kister Marina.

The slip placard 121 was visible from land, but not from the water.

The slip was not really “between the 2 bridges, it was directly across from the second rusty railroad bridge.

The fake palm tree was barely visible even after we knew where it was.

And the guy in the yellow shirt was late, he was not at the slip the first time we drove by it.

And on Navionics, we were at the very end of a long series of riverside docks, some owned by Kister & some owned by Ashtabula Yacht Club.

Navionics said that “we had arrived” well before we got to our slip. Compare the Blue Pin (Navionics Marina location) to the Red Arrow (our slip).

All the woman in the marina office had to say was that – “you are in the 5TH SLIP FROM THE END, directly across from the old rusty railroad bridge” 😃.

Giving us a slip number that you can’t see from the water was useless.

For you summer/weekend boaters that come back to the same slip every night, you can probably imagine how interesting it would be to come into a different marina that you have never seen, and locate your slip assignment – every day ✔️

We use Navionics, Google Earth, and advance phone calls to understand what we are getting into, but sometimes it’s still an adventure. Some marinas will have the guy/gal waiting at the slip, that makes it easy. But in several marinas, you’re coming in & tying up on your own, after sketchy directions.

Ok, enough whining !!!

Kister Marina is another waterfront trailer park with a marina as a secondary income. We have had great luck with these locations and they are very cost efficient.

When we did find the slip and started pulling in, we were the “big dogs” in the marina and 6 local boaters instantly came to help us tie up and get our story. Kister is a very friendly place.

Unfortunately, that is all we have to report for today.

Sorry for the boring post. But we are trying to post every port that we visit, for our own use.

I plan to make Jerry & Deena a printed booklet of the trip when we get back, from all the blog posts.

Jonell & I, had hard cover books of our Great Loop in 2017/2018, printed from the WordPress blog after we completed our trip.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Cleveland, and our marina will be right next to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 😃

Thanks for reading, good night, hope you all have a great holiday tomorrow.

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Mahi Mahi