42°39′57″ N 81°12′49″ W

Start: Port Stanley

42°46′58″ N 80°11′37″ W

Destination: Port Dover

I left Port Stanley at 6:30am on Thursday & headed towards Port Dover. It’s a 16 hour passage from Port Stanley to Port Colborne, at the Lake Erie entrance to the Welland Canal, so I decided to break the trip up into two segments.

It makes the total distance travelled a bit longer but is easier to do when single-handing. Plus, the weather forecast for the next few days looked good from sunrise to 5 or 6 pm but not so good in the evenings or overnight.

If I was on a sailboat I would be very happy to take advantage of the favorable winds that come later in the day but they may not be so kind to a slow moving trawler.

The segment from Port Stanley to Long Point was very comfortable. The wind & waves were on my stern, making for a smooth ride. There were several commercial & sports fishing boats on the water to keep me company.

The commercial boat in the photo above was headed towards Port Stanley & was all decked out for Canada Day 🇨🇦

All good things must come to an end and so it was for my nice ride. As soon as I “turned the corner” at Long Point to head towards Port Dover, the wind and waves were now coming at me on my port side & the ride instantly changed to major rock ‘n roll. On top of that, the wind was now growing stronger!

As a result I spent the next 3 hours wedged in my seat up on the flybridge while the cupboards in the galley below proceeded to try & empty themselves. Fortunately, my advance “security” preparations held together & the only door that managed to open itself was the spice & coffee cupboard.

After 11 hours on the water I certainly was glad to get into the marina & tied up on the dock. First order of business after that was a tall G&T!

Tomorrow I head to Port Colborne. Only 6 hours away – a piece of cake, compared to today (fingers crossed)

Cheers!

42°39′57″ N 81°12′49″ W

We had a restful evening & comfortable night at the marina. It was good to be able to move around the boat without having to hang on.

Mike & Pennie needed to get home on June 26 so Catherine came from London to pick us up & then I drove them home to Goderich.

We had great fun on our trip & I was very sad to see them leave.

I pointed out to Mike & Pennie that we were tied up beside the dock that I was at with the Nauticat in 2010 with Peter Hammond & Mike Norton. Fortunately, our passage this year from Erieau to Port Stanley was much better than the trip in 2010!

I was back in London by supper time & it was good to spend an evening with Catherine & Emily & to sleep in a bed that was not bumping up against the side of a dock.

I spent June 27 tending to odds & ends in London & organizing items for the next segment of my journey.

Catherine drove me back to Port Stanley late in the afternoon. Emily & Catherine’s mom, Jeanne came with us & we had dinner at a restaurant close to the marina.

Bonus! – Jeanne made a whole batch of my favorite peanut butter cookies for me to take on the journey. I must confess that I have already dipped into the tin several times. I’d better slow down or there won’t be any left by the time I get to Port Colborne!

Thanks Jeanne – the cookies are awesome!👏

Catherine & Emily are going to drive to meet me at Port Colborne on Friday & we will go through the Welland Canal on Saturday. They will leave the car at the marina in Port Colborne & then take a cab back from the marina in Port Dalhousie (on Lake Ontario).

Cheers!

42°39′57″ N 81°12′49″ W

We departed from Erieau at 8:00am and headed for Port Stanley.

The temperature was still cool but the winds were light & blowing in a favourable direction.

Once we were underway we were basically headed straight into the wind & small waves which creates a bit of a hobby-horse effect ride for the boat. It was just strong enough that we had to hang on tightly when moving around the boat & it also took a bit of effort to stay seated. Mike suggested that even staying seated was a good “core” workout.

Mike & Pennie & I took turns watching the helm so we could each have some time to read or have a nap.

Even though the ride was a bit rough it was pretty comfortable laying on our bunks & I managed to snooze for about an hour.

About halfway to Port Stanley the wind died down & much to our pleasure the waves dissipated with the wind & the last few hours of our journey were a lot smoother.

Port Stanley became visible on the horizon about 90 minutes prior to our arrival. When you are traveling on a slow moving boat once you are able to see your destination you think the journey is nearly at an end but when you are traveling at only 6-7 knots it seems to take forever to travel those last few miles.

We entered the harbour shortly before 3:00pm.

Port Stanley has a drawbridge just in front the marinas. It opens every 30 minutes so our timing was good.

We were booked to stay at the Kettle Creek Marina & our slip was the very first one past the bridge.

Mike & Pennie has the fenders & lines all set up so we were tied up on our dock in no time at all. As you can see from the photo below, our dock overlooked a 3-hole championship golf course!

We were all too tired to play golf but we did take some nice seats in the sun & had a cool drink to celebrate our safe arrival.

Sadly, this day was the last part of the journey with Mike & Pennie. They were scheduled to be home the next day so rather than cooking on board we went out on the town for dinner.

Cheers!

42°17′11″ N 81°53′47″ W

The weather forecast for the area between Erieau & Port Stanley included early afternoon thunderstorms so we decided to stay in Erieau another day.

It was my turn to cook breakfast and I was looking forward to impressing Pennie & Mike with my culinary skills. Unfortunately there is no Spam on board so we had to make due with extra thick cut bacon with fried potatoes & poached eggs. They hid their disappointment about the Spam well & happily accepted the meat substitution.

I’m sure I will be able to pick up a few cans of Spam in Port Stanley & be able to make it up to them before they head home to Goderich.

It was an odd weather day in the marina. Throughout the morning heavy dark clouds passed by overhead but none stopped to dump any rain on us. Later in the afternoon we had a couple of light showers but they only lasted a few minutes & then the sun came back.

The marina is very well kept & has great amenities.

It was a good day to just relax & enjoy the surroundings.

The marina offers free internet access but unfortunately they limit the number of devices per password. It took a bit of effort but I finally managed to set up my wifi hotspot device so we could share access to several devices at once. High Fives all around.

Santosha appears to be content in the spot we were assigned & so are we – close to the showers & washrooms – a plus for us seniors!

Tomorrow (Monday) we will try to get to Port Stanley. That segment of our journey is about 42 nautical miles & should take about 6 1/2 hours.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good so we will cast off around 8:00am.

Cheers!

42°1′35″ N 82°35′48″ W

(Depart – Leamington Marina)

42°17′11″ N 81°53′47″ W

(Destination – Erieau Marina)

The weather forecast looked promising so we prepared to cast off for Erieau.

Our first stop was going to be at Leamington‘s pump out station ‘cause they give you a free pump out if you stay two nights in a row. Who could pass up on a deal like that!

Unfortunately my happiness for such a great deal was short lived because the cap on our holding tank was stuck shut & I broke the handle while trying to force it open. We sprayed WD-40 on it to try to get it to loosen up but no success. Oh well, enough time spent on that little problem – Erieau awaits!

There were scattered clouds in the sky but the weather looked like it would hold for us.

We had a pretty smooth ride out to the end of Point Pelee but the waves were not in our favour when we made the turn for Erieau.

Shortly after we made the turn the waves started coming on the starboard side of the bow & generated an uncomfortable corkscrewing motion. The motion was not strong enough to be cause for concern but we had to be very careful moving around. Then, add insult to injury, it started to rain! We retreated to the main cabin & settled in for a few hours of rock ‘n roll.

Fortunately the rain did not amount to much at all and only lasted about 45 minutes. Once the sun came out again we headed back to the flybridge only to be greeted by hundreds of black flies!

We formed a swat team and the battle was on.

By the time we were approaching Erieau the carnage on deck was pretty gruesome! Hopefully that will be the last we see of flys on the flybridge:)

We arrived in Erieau around 3:00pm and were given a comfortable spot on the marina’s main wall for the night. There were lots of Purple Martins in the marina near our berth & they were feasting on the insects around the boats.

I wonder if they would come along with us if we set up a nice house for them on the flybridge?

We decided to have supper ashore & walked to a nearby brew pub that overlooks Rondeau Bay. Great tasting beer & food too!

The weather forecast for Sunday is not encouraging so we will re-evaluate our options in the morning & decide whether we stay put in Erieau for another day or we make a run for Port Stanley.

Cheers!