41°58′59″ N 82°55′56″ W

Sept 16 – Colchester Marina

I arrived at the marina in Colchester at 3:30 this afternoon. It was a great day on the water – except for the flies.

After getting secured on the dock, paying my fees, etc. I felt that it was the right time for a tall G&T to unwind from my hectic day on the water. The photo below shows my view of the lake from the flybridge.

I just got nicely settled in my chair with my drink when a couple of young bucks went past me on jet skis – headed out on the lake for some fun….

Once they were through the breakwater they each went in separate directions at high speed & then looped around & started heading towards each other. I figured they were going to go zooming past each other when there was a massive BANG! as one jet ski t-boned the other one! Unbelievable! All I could see was one fellow & parts of both jets skis flying through the air.

I yelled over to the marina staff to call for help & a couple of other boaters at the fuel dock who already had their boat running headed out to rescue the two fellas.

Turns out that the guy that got hit has a broken leg & a broken arm  with multiple fractures in each. Apparently he had just bought the jet ski a few weeks ago & had not been out on it very much. The other guy (who went flying through the air) was shaken up but no cuts or broken bones. Talk about lucky… I’m amazed that neither of them were really seriously hurt (or killed).

Anyway, after all that excitement I needed another G&T. That went down well – along with the sunset.

So, once again I can confirm that poking along at 6 1/2 knots ain’t so bad after all.

Cheers & be safe!

I spent last night at Erieau Marina.

42°15′25″ N 81°54′29″ W

This is a large marina with great amenities that include a well stocked chandlery & an LCBO outlet right beside the marina office. Talk about convenience!

My first time at this marina was in 2010 when I was en route to Atlantic Canada on my Nauticat, Ananda. I spent last night tied up in the same spot where I was in 2010.

I was up at 5:30am this morning so I could get an early start to my next destination, which will be the municipal marina in Colchester. I pulled away from the dock at 7:00am, just as the sun was rising “above” the lake & the horizon.

The trip today will take me about 9 hours & on the way I will pass between Point Pelee & Pelee Island. The weather is very pleasant & so far there are not too many bugs on the water (fingers remain crossed)!

The chartplotter tells me that I am now about 9 nautical miles from Point Pelee. Visibility is great & I can just make it out on the horizon.

Cheers!

42°36′8″ N 81°17′11″ W

Sept 15 – en route to Goderich

This portion of my journey comes as a total surprise to me!

My original plan was to have the boat hauled out in Port Stanley & trucked to my friend’s shop in Ailsa Craig for a refit over the winter & then trucked back to Port Stanley in the spring for relaunch.

Unfortunately I just learned yesterday that it would cost me a small fortune for the (there & back) trucking because the flybridge on the boat is too high for unrestricted passage under power & phone lines that cross the roads everywhere.

The maximum allowable height for any road transport is just over 14 feet & this trawler will sit at over 15 feet when it’s on a trailer.

If it had to be trucked then that would mean extensive route planning, escort vehicles & hiring the power authority to raise any power lines along the route that the truck & boat could not pass under without assistance. That alone could cost even more than the trucking – to make a combined total of roughly $3,000-$4,000 each way!

As a result I abandoned my trucking plan & tried to come up with a “Plan B”.

“Plan B” was to store the boat in a yard across from the marina in Port Stanley. Unfortunately the marina there cannot handle boats unless they are on their own trailer or on a cradle. I investigated having a cradle built but that can’t be done unless the fabricator/welder has the boat on site & the cost of bringing a custom fabricator/welder to the marina is prohibitive.

So, now I have moved on to “Plan C” & am now underway to Maitland Valley Marina in Goderich on Lake Huron. They have a travelift large enough to handle our boat & can store it for the winter easily in their yard.

We kept our Nauticat “Ananda” in this marina for several years so I am very familiar with all the resources & amenities there, plus my boat-builder friend Ed is often there working on other customer’s boats – so I will be able to make the best of the situation.

The trip from Port Stanley to Goderich is roughly 200 nautical miles so it will take me about 4 days to get there. I had to leave on short notice to take advantage of the weather so I am making the trip alone as Catherine has commitments over the weekend. Not a problem. I know the boat well & the route is familiar to me.

This trip involves traveling to the western end of Lake Erie, up the Detroit River to Lake St Clair & then into Lake Huron.

The red-circled blue dot in the screen shot above shows my current position on Lake Erie & the red-circled “pin” shows my destination – Goderich.

I plan to make 3 overnight stops along the way. My first stop will be at a marina in Erieau & I should arrive there around 3:30pm today.

I will figure out the next 2 stops along the way – depending upon my rate of progress.

I am very fortunate that the weather forecast for the next week is ideal for trawler traveling. Very light winds & calm waters.

However, I have just discovered a major downside to this weather!

It’s a beautiful day on the water but I was only underway about 30 minutes when the boat was invaded by THOUSANDS of mosquitoes & flys.

I had no choice but to retreat to the inside helm station & shut all the doors & windows. Hopefully the wind will pick up just a little bit & blow these pests away.

Stay tuned!

(Note to self – pick up a case of Deep Woods Off at next port of call)

Ahoy there!

Here are some statistics regarding our entire trip from Jacksonville to Port Stanley

Wow, what an amazing trip! For additional details see the trip log at the bottom of this page.

Chris – The Bad Bird

Ed – Steady Eddie

Catherine – The Admiral

Thank you so much Chris and Ed for helping me out and sharing this adventure with me. And, of course, thank you Catherine for being a very big part of it too. Our first of many adventures together in our “new” little trawler!

Over the next few weeks I will be doing odds and ends with the boat to get her ready for haul out and winterizing. I have a fairly long list of projects for this winter – some big and many small. Hopefully I can get them all done before launch time next spring!

Watch for posts in the coming weeks and months regarding haul out and repairs and improvements.

Cheers!

The waves were coming towards us sideways so we had a sloppy ride until we got past the tip of Long Point & turned towards Port Stanley.

Once we “turned the corner” the water smoothed out considerably & we were a lot more comfortable.

It was still pretty chilly outside so we stayed in the cabin & used the lower helm station instead of the flybridge.

By noon it had warmed up a bit so we ventured outside to enjoy some sun & calmer waters – only 5 1/2 hours to go!

As we got closer to Port Stanley we encountered a small flock (?) of monarch butterflies. Up until then I thought that we were making pretty good progress, traveling at 7 knots, but when a butterfly can fly circles around you at that speed it’s a bit humbling!

If you look closely in the photo above you can see a butterfly just at the horizon level. This little fella flew a few circles around us before heading towards the shoreline.

About 2 hours before our arrival we could see the outline of Port Stanley harbor ahead in the distance. At this point it really started to sink in that our journey was almost over. That left me with a mixture of happy & sad feelings.

Before long we were closing in on the harbor entrance & began to make preparations for docking. However, we still had one last bridge to contend with before we could reach our marina & it only opened once every 30 minutes so we were cutting it close!

We finally tied up on the dock at Stan’s Marina at 5:45pm Friday evening. The screenshot below from Google Maps shows the area where we are located.

Catherine’s mom Jeanne, her brother Steve & his wife Kim were there to greet us with wine & cookies. A great reunion & celebration.

It’s been an amazing journey with a boatload of memories.

We slept last night in our own bed at home in London. I’ll go back to the boat today to start unloading her. She’ll stay in the water for another week or two & then we will haul her out & get her ready for winter storage.

Over the next few days I’ll also compile some statistics about the trip & post them on the blog.

Cheers!