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Well, this is it – our last blog post.

We’re Home !!!!

As many of you know, our original plan was to arrive home, back at Miller Marina in Lake St Clair, on Monday July 7th – to coincide with Jonell’s Birthday.

Well, it was about 1pm on Sunday during our ride from the Vermillion Municipal Docks. We were planning on staying somewhere near the base of the Detroit River & Lake Erie (Gibralter, Mi), we would have arrived about 2-3pm, and had a short ride to Lake St Clair on Monday morning.

Then Captain Luck said “we’re only about 5 hours away from Miller Marina”.
Somewhat surprisingly, both Deena & I immediately replied – “Ok, let’s do it, lets go home tonight”.
We called Jonell to confirm if she was OK with the 1-day early arrival, and more importantly – could she come with my truck & pick us up.

We arrived at Miller Marina about 6:30pm.
It was a very long 12 hour day / 95 mile ride.
The waves on Lake Erie & the current in the Detroit River limited our blazing speed to an average of 8 mph.

Unfortunately due to our 1-day early arrival, our normal greeting party of John/Cheryl Nelson & Al Oleszko were not available. But we were greeted by several other Miller Marina locals, who had heard all about the trip, and helped us get tied up.

After gettin’ tied up in Mahi’s new home at Miller Marina, we then presented Deena with her Gold Looper Burgee. Jerry is a Gold Looper, Mike is a Gold Looper, the Mahi Mahi is a Gold Looper – but the end of this trip was the completion of Deena’s 1st Official Great Loop.

For those of you who don’t know – The Great Loop is a journey around the eastern half of the United States by boat. It is usually about a 1 year long trip covering about 6000 miles, thru a series of Lakes, Rivers, and even the Gulf of America & the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The 2200 miles that we did in this trip, completed Deena’s Loop started in 2018.

Deena began her Loop with Jerry on the Mahi in August of 2018. After completing about 2/3 of The Loop, while in South Carolina – Jerry & Deena thought “why are we bringing the Mahi back to Michigan”. So they left the Mahi in South Carolina during the fall of 2019 & that launched the next 6 years of their annual pilgrimage between Little River South Carolina & Marathon Key Florida. The Mahi became their “Winter Cottage”.

The Mahi will now be their “Summer Cottage” in Lake St Clair.

Back to our arrival at Miller Marina.
Our timing was very fortuitous, there was a storm brewing. We had just given Deena the Gold Looper burgee, battened the hatches, loaded the truck, and as we were leaving for a late 7:30pm dinner – the clouds broke loose and it was pouring rain.

So that’s the way the great 7-week trip from South Carolina to Lake St Clair ended.
The trip was a very fun, very exciting, & sometimes fatiguing.
We were able to see many great sites, we met some increadibly nice people, and continued to learn more about the beloved Mahi & the wonderful waterways that connect Lake St Clair to the rest of the world.

Thanks for following our travel blog.
Your Reading & Comments, kept me motivated to write during those late nights.

I would also like to thank my bride Jonell, for allowing me to join The Lucks “Guilt-Free”, for an amazing 7 week experience. The trip definitely drummed up the ole Looping feelings from 2017/2018.

Farewell until the next voyage,
Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Mahi Mahi Trip Stats
Locations = Little River South Carolina to Miller Marina in St Clair Shores Michigan.
Distance = 2217 miles
Time = 51 Days
# of Ports = 34
# of Marinas = 26
# of Anchorages = 8
Diesel Fuel Costs = $4020 / 1082 Gallons / Ave=$3.71, High=$4.15, Low= $3.15)
Marina Costs = $4015 (Ave=$154 per night, High=$170 , Low= $42)

Port by Port Summary

1. Little River SC – May 13
2. Wrightsville Beach, NC (WB Anchorage) – May 14
3. Beaufort, NC (Beaufort Yacht Basin) – May 15
4. Gale Creek (Anchorage) -May 16
5. Bellhaven, NC (Bellhaven Marina) – May 17
6. Tuckahoe Point (Anchorage)- May 18
7. Coinjock, NC (Coinjock Marina) – May 19
8. Hampton Va (Salt Ponds Marina) – May 20/21 (High Winds)
9. Ellyson, Md (Ellyson Cove Anchorage) – May 22
10. Solomons Island, Md (Solomons Island Yacht Club) – May 23
11. Annapolis, Md (Annapolis Yach Basin) – May 24/25
12. Chesapeake City, Md (Anchorage) – May 26
13. Cape May, NJ (South Jersey Marina) – May 27/28
14. Atlantic City, NJ (Farley State Marina) – May 29/30/31
15. Manasquan, NJ (Hoffman’s Marina) – June 1
16. New York City, NY (Anchorage @ Statue of Liberty) – June 2
17. Crouton on the Hudson, NY (Half Moon Bay Marina) – June 3-8 (9/11 Mem, West Pt)
18. Marlboro, NY (Marlboro Yacht Club) – June 9/10/11 (waiting Locks 16 & 17).
19. Kingston, NY (Kingston Historical Museum) – June 9/10/11 (waiting locks 16 & 17)
20. Albany, NY (Albany Yacht Club) – June 12/13 (waiting Locks 16 & 17)
21. Schenectady, NY (Donovan’s Mohawk Harbor) – June 14
22. St Johnsville, NY (Municipal Marina)- June 15-20 (disabled-throttle part delay)
23. Ilion, NY (Village of Ilion Marina) – June 21
24. Marcy, NY (Mooring Wall @ Erie Lock #20) – June 22/23/24 (waiting on locks 20,21,22)
25. Central Square, NY (Winter Harbor Marina) – June 25
26. Oswego, NY (Oswego Marina) – June 26
27. Rochester, NY (Shumway Marina) – June 27
28. Welland Canal (Mooring Wall), Port Weller, Ont (Lake Ontario) – June 29
29. Welland Canal (Sugarloaf Marina), Port Colburn, Ont (Lake Erie) – June 30/July 1
30. Erie, Pa (Wolverine Park) – July 2
31. Ashtabula, Oh (Kister Marina) – July 3
32. Cleveland, Oh (Oasis Marina) – July 4
33. Vermillion, Oh (Municipal Docks) – July 5
34. St Clair Shores, Mi (Miller Marina)

Well it was hard to beat our visit in Cleveland, but Vermillion Oh is puttin’ in a pretty good case too.

It is really a case of big city – Cleveland vs American Pie – Vermillion.

Vermillion is such a quaint little town, and I never would have thought about staying here if it wasn’t for my old “Dodge Truck, Heavy Duty Ram” boss, Bill Rotramel.

Bill & Linda spend their summers on Catawba Island ( Put- in- Bay) about 30 miles away, and their winters in Punta Gorda Florida. I have stayed in touch with Bill due to our mutual love of boating & our mutual distain of cold weather and snow.

Bill & Linda spend the winter in Punta Gorda Florida & Jonell and I have spent the last 7 years in the Fort Myers/ Cape Coral area.

Bill Rotramel had prepped me for the local museum, the Woodstock Cafe, Chez Francois restaurant, and Rudy’s Bar & Grill. But his best recommendation was the marina – the Vermillion Municipal Docks !!!

It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but this municipal dock was one of the best slips we have had on this trip. We had heard so much about the downtown, and really wanted to see more of it, but the boat watching and people watching from the aft deck of the boat was magical. None of us wanted to leave the stern of the boat.

They’re was a plethora of nautical craft; paddle boards, jet skis, small boats, large boats, wooden boats. And everyone passing by was so friendly – waving, saying hello, seeing our St Clair Shores home port, and asking about our voyage. The “rolling boat show & people watching” was just too addicting to leave for a hot 90 degree walk in the city.

On top of the rolling boat show, the background setting was spectacular. Check out these 2 homes directly across from our slip. The landscaping was beautiful.

After about 3 hours of the “rollng boat show”, it was time to give the Mahi a quick wash down before dinner. We had a special hull cleaner delivered to the Oasis Marina at Cleveland, and this was our 1st opportunity to make the Mahi look beautiful again. Captain Luck would not allow any photos of the Mahi prior to cleaning. When you do “The Loop”, there is a somewhat badge of honor, in the brown mustash that the hull of the boat gets from the tannins in the water during The Loop.

Interestingly enough, I could not find any other images to show you, but it is a well know phenomenon for Looper Boats.

Google did show this verbiage, but no photos. –

Here is a photo of the Mahi, “after cleaning”, Captain Luck did authorize this photo.

After giving the Mahi her bath, we went into town to have dinner at the famed Rudy’s Bar & Grill. The Lake Perch was very good.

After dinner, this darn town of Vermilion – put an Ice Cream Store right on our walk home .

After a Big Dinner & Ice Cream, what else would a guy do but go swimming 😃

Here is the beautiful Vermillion Beach, a five minute walk from the municipal docks.

I had total strangers take the video, they were so nice, and they were intrigued by our voyage.

After swimming, here is the Vermillion Park Adirondack Chair Dry Off Area – if you forgot your towel. I always seem to forget my towel 😃

After swimming & drying off, it was about 8pm, enough time to join Jerry & Deena back at the Mahi, for another couple hours of boat & people watchin’.

Vermillion really deserved at least 3 day stay, maybe next time ( Thx Bill).

Tomorrow (Sunday, 6th) – we’re off to somewhere at the Lake Erie end of the Detroit River, with a Monday afternoon arrival at the Mahi’s new home port of Miller Marina in St Clair Shores Michigan.

Monday will be a special day for a couple reasons –

1. Jonell’s Birthday
2. Deena’s completion of the Great Loop (started in 2018).

We hope you enjoyed this post, the end is near 😢

We’re bummed that we missed the holidays with our friends & family, but there is still a lot of summer left. We look forward to seeing you all.

xoxo,

Mile, Deena, & Jerry

Team Mahi Mahi

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

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

Yesterday, June 30th, we completed the highly anticipated Welland Canal ✔️

You may remember from the last post, that on Sunday we were in a nice anchorage just outside of the Welland Canal, but had moved to the Pleasure Boat Waiting Dock, just in front of Lock-1 on the canal.

During the evening we saw a couple Freightors pass by. While we were sleeping, about every few hours – there was another Freightor passing by the boat. The Freightors were actually very quiet & put up very little wake. I did wake up in the middle of the night and looked out of the starboard window, to see a large Freightor that was lighted up like a small city (sorry no photos).

When Monday morning came, our first action was to Check-In with the Welland Canal Port Authority, to let them know that we were stationed at the Pleasure Boat Dock & that we had a reservation for an Upbound Lockage at 9am. I made this call about 7:30am. We had our last solitude on the Pressure Craft Wall.

Between 7:30-8:30am, all the other boats signed up for the 9am Lockage started arriving at the Pleasure Boat Docking Wall, 7 other boats beside the Mahi, it was a bit of a circus. There was; the Tall Ship Liberty Clipper (that we had seen in St Johnsville), a Sailboat full of young kids on an adventure, learning how to sail (not thru the canal), and 5 other cruiser Powerboats.

Then the Customs Officers arrived – good thing that we had called in Sunday night. The officers asked for our “Arrival Number”, said thank you, and went on to the other boats.

Then we met a guy named Tom. Tom has an interesting job, in that he is a “for hire, Welland Canal Guide”.

We didn’t know it when we first met Tom, but he turned out to be a very important person. Tom was a hired, 3rd deck hand on one of the other cruisers & Tom’s buddy was also a hired 3rd deck hand on another cruiser.

You may remember, that the on Welland Canal, there is a minimum 3-person crew requirement ; Captain, Bow Line, Stern Line.

Tom says that it’s a good hobby for “beer money”. He makes $400 CAD per day, but it’s a long day. I don’t like his hourly rate.

So do you remember from the last post (Welland Canal Part 1), all the stuff about – when you enter the lock, the lockmaster will point to you with his finger or use shoulder taps, to tell you where he wants you in the Lock ?

Well, that’s a lot of BS !

Before we left the Pleasure Boat Dock, Tom came by and told us that we would be rafting off of the 50ft boat that he was hired on to be the 3rd deck hand. Initially, I’m thinking “who is this guy”, I’m gunna wait until the lock operator tells us where to go. But as I watched closer – everybody knew Tom. All the customs guys knew him, previous Welland Canal customers knew him. And as it turned out, Tom ran the whole show, we didn’t communicate with the Lock attendants at all. The lock attendants just dropped the lines down to the boats on the wall and that was it. No communication on the VHF Radio, nothing.

They didn’t tell us that in the handbook.

So after our 7:00am alarm to call in to the Welland Canal Port Authority at 7:30am. We were highly anticipating the passage thru the 1st Lock at 9:00am. We had a reservation right ?

Well guess what, there was an downbound Freightor that did not get thru Lock-1 until about 10:15am. We were not in Lock-1 until about 10:30am.

Entering Lock1 was no big deal thanks to Tom. He told us that we would be the 4th boat to enter the lock, and that we would tie up to the boat that he was on. And By- George, that is exactly what happened. In this video, you can see the boats “Worldwide” & “Buckeye Nut” in the Lock before us, getting ready to raft off. The 3rd boat is “Tops Optional”, the boat that we rafted off of, with Tom on board. Note – Locks #1&2 are starboard side tie ups, Locks #4-7 are port tie ups. This is due to where the water enters the Lock. The starboard/port tie ups are intended to use the water flow to help keep you pressed against the wall vs being pushed off of the wall.

Ok, so now we are in lock-1, we were rafted off of the boat Tom was on, as Tom had told us. It was actually very easy for us. It was much harder for the boats like the one Tom was on, because they had 2 jobs. The boats on the wall, had to retrieve 2 drop lines from the lock personnel & then they had to help us raft off of them with our docking lines.

We ended up locking all day, thru 7 locks with only 5 other pleasure boaters. The 2 large sailboats had to wait for the next lock after us.

I got to know Denny from the boat “Tops Optional” quite well. He was a big Tigers fan from Grand Rapids.

Locks #1&2 went fine, just like every lock we had been thru before, except for rafting off of another boat.

Between locks #2&3, we had to pull off to the side and wait for a down bound freighter to pass.

Lock #4 was the most interesting, I think that I will call it – Niagara Falls 👍 . Very wet for the 2 lead boats. Our view was great.

After Lock-4, we had a nice rain down pour. It rained from Locks #4-#7 and made for a very long day.

Speaking of that, remember the Welland Guide that said to plan on a 12 hour transit. Not so true again. We hear from Tom that it could take 12 hours, but usually 8-10 hours. It depends on how many Freightors are coming the other way & how quickly the boats on your group can get tied up. Our transit was relatively quick – entering Lock-1 about 10:30am & exiting Lock-8 about 7:30pm for about 9 hours.

BTW – I think that I have referred to 7 & 8 Locks. We had to go thru only 7 locks and #8 was an open drive-thru. Lock #8 is only used to control high water fluctuations from Lake Erie.

That was about it, 326ft of elevation rise from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie over 9 hours.

To me traveling thru the Welland Canal was a great experience, another feather in my boating career. But much like the Dismal Swamp in North Carolina, it was something really cool to do one time, but I much prefer the Trent Severn Waterway Locks.

Thanks to Jerry & Deena for giving me another lifetime boating experience.

Hope you enjoyed the blog post.

xoxo,

Mike, Deena, and Jerry.

The time has finally come, today we will be traveling “TO” the famous Welland Canal (Part-1), and tomorrow we will be traveling “THRU” the Welland Canal (Part-2).

Today’s post will be about – how to prep for going thru the Canal & all the things you have to do and know for a successful trip thru the Canal.

The first thing you need to do is read & study – St Lawrence/Welland Things to Know

Here is an outline for the basic process

1. Sign up online to become a customer of the St Lawrence/ Welland System. Click Link

2. Pay the Pleasure Boat Welland Canal Fee Online= $200

3. Make your Reservation to transit the canal before 7am on day of transit. You can make your reservation months in advance if you are sure of your date (you can edit your date after the reservation). If you wait too close to your desired date, you could be “locked-out”. We made our reservation 2 days before our planned arrival, there is a calendar screen to pick available dates for Upbound & Downbound transit.

4. The transit direction thru the canal is titled – UPBOUND or DOWNBOUND. This was a bit confusing at first, because we thought that Lake Ontario to Lake Erie would be downbound. Not True – Upbound/Downbound refers to Up/Down in Elevation/WaterLevel, not location. Our Port Weller (Lake Ontario) to Port Colbourne (Lake Erie) transition is Going Up in elevation, thus we are UPBOUND. Pleasure Boat Upbound Passages are only allowed thru the canal on ; Mon, Wed, Fridays. Downbound on Tu,Thu,Sat. I’m not sure about Sunday, it original looked like you could do an Upbound, but the calendar was not open for us.

5. On the day of transit (tomorrow/ Monday for the Mahi), we must Check-In at the Port Weller Pleasure Craft Small Boat Dock BEFORE 9am (between 7:00 & 8:30am). Check-in to the “Seaway Control Center” ; VHF= ch 14 or Phone= 289-690-43445.

6. The 1st Lock begins @ 9am and the canal system list the transit time thru the 7 Locks as a 12 hour process (ugh) !!!

7. Lights inside the Locks (3); Solid Red = do not pass the L/A sign (lock authorization). Flashing Red = continue, pass well be granted soon, & Green = Enter the Lock

8. Crew – A minimum of 3 people are required to transit the locks (captain, bow line, stern line). You must watch the line handler for signs on where to go in the Lock, your assigned position. The Lock Handler will use finger and arm signals to direct you where to go. There are 3 signals; Finger– go to wall pointed to by the Lock Handler. Shoulder Tap – go to boat pointed to and raft off of them. Shoulder Tap & Finger– go to a specific boat & in a speficic row & raft off of them.

9. Starboard or Port Tie – Locks #1 & #2 are Starboard Tie Locks. Locks #3-#7 are Port Tie Locks, Locks #8 is a Starboard Tie, if necessary ( usually #8 is a drive thru, it’s only a1 ft Lock).

10. Other Notes; Max Speed = 7mph (6kt), the entire canal is 27 miles long. The water level rise is (lift) = 326ft.

Welland Canal Trivia

1. The Canal is 27 miles long
2. Max vessel size = 740ft x 78ft
3. Max Draft = 26ft (humm)
4. 8 Locks, 7 + 1 potential drive thru
5. Each lift will be 43-49ft
6. Construction = 1824-1833
7. It is very close to Niagra Falls
8. Lake Erie is 326ft higher than Ontario
9. There is a 116ft bridge hight limit
10. It takes commercial ships 12 hours to transit the canal.

Surprizingly, only about 3,000 ships use the Welland Canal each year (8-10 per day) They carry around 40,000,000 tons of goods. The canal played a big role in the growth of Toronto. It allowed goods from Great Lakes cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago to reach the port of Montreal or Quebec City. From there, goods could be shipped all over the world. The Welland Canal became more important than other canals in the area, like the Erie Canal, because it offered a shorter path to Lake Erie.

So this is what all of our Welland Canal research says, we’ll find out tomorrow what really happens 🙄. Stay tuned for our next post – Welland Canal Part -2 tomorrow night.

***************************************

After our 3 hour voyage today, we arrived at the St Catherine’s Marina at Port Heller (Lake Ontario). Unfortunately we had 2 issues; 1) The water level at St Catherine’s was very shallow, we were kicking up mud, so we decided to bail out. There was an anchorage very close by. You can see in the screen dump – the Mahi in the Red Arrow, the Welland Canal entrance along the LHS of the screen, and St Catharine’s Marina in the lower right.

The next order of business was to clear customs, by calling 1-800-CAN-PASS. But ops, it didn’t work. After a few head scratching moments, I figured out that I needed to call 1-888-CAN-PASS 😃. Then more fun. The phone reception was sketchy – I got 10 minutes into the call with customs agent #1 and the line went dead. I waited 15 minutes for a call-back, but alas there was no call-back. So I called back again to agent #2 and repeated the process of names, passport numbers, boat registration, etc. This time all was good.

To check into Canadian Customs you need to have ready; 1) Passport Numbers, 2) How Long you will be in Canada, 3) Your Purpose for visiting Canada, 4) Your Vessel Documentation Number, 5) Your Arrival Port, 6) Your departing Port, 6) Alcohol & Fire Arms declarations.

So it’s about 2pm on Sunday June 29th, all the prep work is done, it’s time to go swimming. Our little anchorage is quite nice & the Lake Ontario water is very pretty, but not as pretty as The Exuma Islands, two years ago with Jerry and Deena.

Here is some video of our anchorage.

Thanks all for today folks. Wish us “Luck” in the Welland Canal tomorrow. Our next post will be from Lake Erie, after we complete the WC.

Thanks for reading,

Mike, Deena, and Jerry

Yesterday’s blog is being re-posted, I forgot one of the big highlights of the day.

We were going to dinner at Murph’s in Rochester NY, and look what we saw.

We left Oswego New York today at about 7am. The wind/ waves were predicted to be high, but the wind was from the SE so we figured that we could ride the south shore.

The first hour of the ride was great, but as our direct, shortest distance route took us further away from shore (5-7 miles), the water started getting a bit uncomfortable.

So we made an abrupt change in course, heading closer to shore, and as expected – the waves calmed down to a very comfortable ride for the next 4 hours.

The heavy purple line was the original course, the light yellow & red lines were the revised course. The red arrow is the Mahi.

We traveled 60 miles, departing at 7am with a 1:45pm arrival.

We had the daily “safe arrival drinks”, checked in with the very friendly staff, and then took the pre-dinner naps.

Short rain burst at 5pm, only 20 minutes. Then it was time for exploring.

We had a nice Tiki Bar right next to our marina, and the marina gave us 2 free drink wooden coins, so we felt compelled to go see what we could get with our drink Wooden Coins.

The Tiki Bar was called “Schooners”. It was a pretty cool place with live music, a typical bar band.

Schooner’s was pretty cool, the music was good, but we had a greater purpose on our list.

Every time we dock in a new city, I try to find out what Restaurants, Bars, and Pubs are nearby. I stumbled on this one.

We had a fine dinner at Murph’s. The food was good, the service was great, and we got a free “Murph’s” glass.

Right next door to Murph’s, was a liquor store. I was gettin’ worried because I was down to the last bottle that Carrie had got for me back in St Johnsville.

The liquor store only had 2 bottles of Anejo Tequila, and I let the woman also looking for Anejo get the other brand. So I was stuck with this one. Sorry Frank, it is not up to our normal standards, but I was desperate.

So the night ended with sampling the Villa One Anejo Tequila, in the Murph’s glass.

It was indeed a good day.

Thanks for reading,

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Hey Blog Followers,

Today was a great day & we are now finally done with the New York Canal System.

23 Locks on the Erie Canal & 7 Locks on the Oswego Canal.

We had a great ride today, but it was not without drama, luckily the Mahi was not involved.

Drama #1 – We were the 4th vessel into Lock #23, it was our first lock of the day. We were in the back of the lock on the starboard side. About 5 minutes into the water level drop, we heard & watched a woman from the boat in front of us on the port side of the lock, yelling – stop stop stop !

The woman had either attempted to temporarily cleat the lock drop line to her boat, or the lock line (that you usually hold with your hands) became entangled on the cleat. The water level was going down and the stern of the boat was being held up by the lock drop line. The boat started listing heavily as the water level went down. Several of us in the Lock were yelling to cut the line. It seemed like forever, but finally the husband arrived with a knife, cut the line, and the port side of the boat dropped heavily back down into the water with a heavy splash. The line was under so much tension that it sounded like a gunshot when he cut the line. Photo below is an old photo just to remind you what a drop line looks like, normally you just hold on to the drop line during the locking process. This was not the woman who had the issue today.

Many lessons here, but a couple to mention. 1) Don’t cleat the drop line, especially when the water level is going to drop, 2) If you do use the cleat for leverage to help hold the drop line, make sure that it is still slipping every few seconds, 3) always have a sharp knife at the ready and know where it is at for quick retrieval, 4) when you cut the line, make sure that everyone else is clear from the spring back from the line under tension.

Luckily nobody was hurt and the expensive Azimut boat seemed ok.

It was frankly amazing that the cleat did not rip out of the gunwale of the boat.

Drama #2 – We were in the 3rd Lock on the Oswego Canal. We were all secure, the boat behind us was secure, and our 3rd traveling partner for the day, a 40ft sailboat named Pursuit, was just entering the lock on the Starboard side. The sailboat had been in 2 locks with us previously, but this time his one & only engine apparently stalled as he was coming down from a higher engine speed to idle. The sailboat almost hit the Mahi, almost hit the exit door of the lock with his lowered mast, and did bang hard into the starboard side of the lock wall. Luckily nobody was hurt & the sailboat appeared ok.

Further down the road at Lock #5 on the Oswego Canal, we were treated to a very different bridge, immediately after the lock. I’m not sure what you call this type of cantilever drawbridge, is it still called a Bascule Bridge – IDK ?

After Lock #8 on the Oswego Canal, we entered the City of Oswego.

As luck would have it (not Jerry or Deena), shortly after we arrived at The Oswego Marina, the sailboat that lost power (Pursuit) joined us at Oswego Marina. They docked on the opposite side of the canal at the marina, because they are now also entering Lake Ontario, and it’s time for them to “raise the mast” on their sailboat.

I had never seen this process, so it was very interesting for me, maybe boring for you ?

It was a very long process taking about 2 hours. Oswego Marina has the device that sailors need to perform this task. It was a triangular structure with a cable/pully system – anybody know what is called (Brian Agar) ?

Here are several videos showing the process. There are five 45sec videos. I gave up video taping because the process took so long – silly blow-boaters, to much work 😃 😀 😄.

Ok, have you had enough sailboat mast video. See, I told you – buy a Power Boat, preferably with twin diesel engines for a whopping 2 miles per gallon.

That’s all from Oswego NY, off to Rochester NY tomorrow, about 60 miles. The waters are predicted to be “so-so” for wind/waves, but we wanna get to the Welland Canal for Monday’s Upstream transit (Upstream = Lake Ontario to Lake Erie).

I know it sounds backwards, but upstream means up in water level, not in North/ South terms.

There will be more to come on the Welland Canal, we’ll explain the entire process in a few days. Both, what they tell you to do (before) & and what actually happens to us (after). I’m very excited about this opportunity that Jerry & Deena have given me.

Adios from the Mahi Mahi,

Mike, Deena, Jerry.

You may remember the phrase “Trapped Like Rats” from our last post, when we were again held hostage by the Erie Canal Demons.

So we have an interesting story from Lock #20.

We became pretty good friends with lockmaster John, who takes his orders from bosses in the NY Canal System. John was actually the guy who texted me the photos of the tree falling on the house that killed the twins. He is a great guy.

Early morning reports for the potential opening of Locks #20/21/22 yesterday (Tue-24) were not very promising. Lock #22 still did not have power.

So due to the intense heat (95f & humid), no power at the lock wall & BOREDOM – we decided to go to the movie theatre, kill 3 hours of time, sit in air conditioning, and watch the new Mission Impossible Movie.

Prior to departing for the Theatre at 11:30am, I texted John and asked if he could text me, if there were any changes in status for the locks, John agreed.

So, we head off to the movie at 11:30am, the movie starts at 12:30pm, the movie ends at 3:15pm. At 3:30pm, 15 minutes after the movie ended, I receive a text from John advising that he now has the go-ahead to open lock #20 & that power had been restored to Lock #22 (what timing !!!).

We were back from the movie by 3:50, Engine’s warm by 4:05, shoving off the wall by 4:10pm, and in the Lock #20 by 4:30pm. The fastest departure that I have been a part of 😃.

We debated how far to travel after blast-off, wanting to get thru all 3 locks. But shortly after a couple of calculations, we realized that we could not make it to Lock #21 by the closing time of 6pm (remember trawler speed of 8mph, & 19 miles to Lock 22). But we wanted to get as far as we could go, and we did go 18 miles, all the way to #21, and tied up on yet another Lock wall for the night.

Today (Wed-25) we made it thru both locks #21 & #22, across Onieda Lake, and we are currently in Brewerton NY- one stop away from Lake Ontario 😃 😊 😀.

As the band “The Who” said in the movie Tommy ; I’M FREE – I’M FREE, and freedom tastes of reality !

Only 1 more Erie Canal Lock, and 8 Locks on the Oswego River, then we are done with locks – Oops, I forgot about that little one called the Welland Canal (8 locks).

Enough of the Locks. Today is 6 weeks to the day from our departure. As we stated in the last post, we have changed our plans from going into Canada on the Trent Severn Waterway, to coming back via Lake Erie. We are all bummed about not doing the Trent Severn & Georgian Bay, but that would have been another 2 weeks on an already well behind boat trip.

Here is a pictorial view of our trip, 6 weeks to the day. Note – this is just a Google maps recreation of our “approximate route” thru the eastern half of the United States. In spite of the issues with the throttle & the Erie Canal Locks – it has still been a heck of a trip.

As we mentioned in the last post, we will end with;
1) Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal
2) Welland Canal to Lake Erie
3) Lake Erie to the Detroit River
4) The Detroit River to Lake St Clair.

But let’s go back to Onieda Lake & the town of Brewerton NY.

Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of 79.8 square miles (ref – Lake St Clair is about 430 square miles). But since we were traveling from the far east end (Sylvan Beach) to the far west end (Brewerton), it sure seemed like a big lake. It was good to get that fresh water inland lake smell again.

Sylvan Beach was a cool little boat town right before we got onto Onieda Lake, but I didn’t snap any photos.

I did remember my photographic blogging duties when we got across Onieda into Brewerton, another cool little boating town. Photos below from the Onieda River coming into Brewerton.

That’s enough for tonight.

Tomorrow we’re off to Oswego NY (our entrance to Lake Ontario).

7:00am rise & 7:30am departure.

32 miles & 9 Locks – lock #23 on the Erie Canal & 8 Locks on the Oswego River.

Nitie Nite 😴

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Have you ever watched the 3 Stooges and heard the phrase ” Trapped Like Rats”. Well that’s how we feel. Lock #20 is still not open, and we understand now that it is not open because Lock #22, about 20 miles away – has no power !

Saturday night during the big train storm, it appears that the area near Lock #22 had a major storm, with tornado like events, even a tree falling on a house killing two young children – OMG 😳. It kind of puts our small issue of not getting thru a lock into more perspective.

The lock #22 operator said that the lock did not have power, they were using a generator for the lock office but it wasn’t strong enough to open the lock. And that they were pulling Hugh Logs out of the canal and lock water.

We are stuck at Lock #20.

I spoke with the Lock #22 operator yesterday, he said that it looked like a war zone up there.

So as I write this post, it’s now Tuesday June 24th, and we are on our 3rd day of being Trapped at Lock #20.

So it’s a good day to just discuss random things.

Random Subject #1 = the NY Canal System Notice to Mariners – it has become apparent during our cruise of the Erie Canal, that the website I used to check every day is kind of useless, because it is not updated very frequently. Here is a view of the Lock Status Map from yesterday, while we we held captive and know that locks #16-22 are closed. The map shows all green/open. Even the worded update posts are a couple days behind the actual events. I checked again this morning and the map still shows all green (Locks open). The NYCS did add a worded update post yesterday saying that the locks 16-22 were closed, but did not update the map.

Random subject #2 = We were already running a little late. And now due to a 5 day delay initially with lock #16/17 (Marlboro Yacht Club), a 5 day delay with the Starboard Throttle (St Johnsville) & at least a 3 day delay with Lock #22 – we have made the decision to change our course back to Detroit.

Original Course- from Lake Ontaio = 1) Trent Severn Waterway, 2) Georgian Bay, 3) Drummond Island, 4) Lake Huron, 5) St Clair River, 6) Lake St Clair.

New Course- from Lake Ontario = 1) The Welland Canal, 2) Lake Erie, 3) Detroit River, 4) Lake St Clair.

This change in course will shave off 10-14 days and result in our arrival back in Lake St Clair, probably just after the 4th of July (est July 4th-8th) – if we get thru lock #22 tomorrow July 25th.

We’re bummed out about not going thru the Trent Severn, Peterborough Lift Lock, The Big Chute, & Georgian Bay. But Jerry & Deena do have some family events for mid July & I assume that Mrs Murphree would like her husband to get home too. Sounds like a nice trip for 2026 😃.

The good news is that The Welland Canal will be a new experience for me & Deena, Jerry did the Welland many years ago. I am excited about adding the famous Welland Canal, to my list of Boating Achievements in my life ✔️

Random Subject #3 = It has been so hot, and we are on a lock wall with no power. We have been using the generator sparingly only at night. And the lock wall is down in a valley with little airflow. So Deena & I took some chairs up to a park at the top of the lock that had a good breeze. While passing time reading books and playing on the internet, we noticed how loud the chirping from the birds was (LISTEN to the video).

Random Subject #4 = On a hot summer day, with no swimming pool available, it was time for The Nestea Plunge

The Erie Canal is really not that clean, so Deena recommended that I get hosed off before coming back on to The Mahi.

That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading, hopefully we’ll have a more exciting post for you next time.

Mike, Deena, & Jerry

Mahi Mahi