July 31, 2006

N 43 12.937' W 077 56.131'
We have put on a lot of miles since our last posting. Wireless Internet isn't as available as we had thought so we have been having problems updating the blog. And we are getting lazy.
Anyway, we left Port Huron and traveled the St. Claire River to the mouth of the Detroit River where we stayed at the Bayview Yacht Club. The next day into Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay for some R & R. On Lake Erie we also stopped at Lorain (Anne Forgacs' parents picked us up and brought us to their house for cosmos,dinner & laundry), Fairport, Erie (stayed for 4 days anchored in a state park, very nice), Dunkirk then into the Erie Canal to get our mast down.
Here Cindy is enjoying the shower facilities at Wardell's Boat Yard where we had our mast taken down and secured on the top of the boat for our trip down the Erie Canal. Bridge clearance in 15.6 feet and our mast was about 50 feet. All went well taking down the mast. As it turned out Canal Days was going on so we had all weekend to enjoy the festivities and prepare. Caught a ride to Niagara Falls with the parents of the boat we met at Erie, PA ("Black Pearl" Charlie & Kerri Cole who are heading for the Bahamas too!). We were embarrassed when we discovered that we all wore the same outfits.
On Monday morning we got 3 masts taken down and one put back up. Cindy and I then moved over to the city tie ups in the town of Tonawanda.
I decided it was time to clean up so I got the razor out and started cutting. Before I knew it I had turned into my brother John. I have almost no hair now as Cindy has been practicing her barbering skills. I was her first customer and opted for the buzz. Brian, a passing biker from New Zealand decided to get a more traditional cut.
Life is good here in the Erie Canal. We are getting pretty lazy cruising 10-20 miles then tying up at some small town and hanging out with fellow boaters. Everyone is very friendly and helpful, (except some of the power boats), the lift bridge operators know where all the boats are and where they are going, so you don't want to get on their bad side. It looks like the Canal will open up by the end of the month but we will continue to monitor the situation.