42°52′32″ N 79°15′20″ W

I was up at 5:30am to prepare for an early departure to Port Colborne. It is a 6 hour passage from Port Dover.

The weather forecast was favorable with lots of sun & very light winds. The beautiful sunrise was certainly encouraging.

I pulled away from the dock at 6:15am and was greeted by a very different version of Lake Erie – compared to my experience approaching Port Dove the day before. The water was perfectly flat with a gentle breeze on my stern. This would be a great day for what was likely to be my my last passage on Lake Erie for quite some time.

Unfortunately this pleasantry was not meant to last. About 20 minutes after I left the dock I had a few thousand unwanted passengers join me for the voyage.

The boat was covered with tiny flys & they especially liked being on the flybridge!

Plus, huge clouds of them were following the boat & looking for a place to land. It was impossible for me to outrun them so my only choice was to retreat to the inside steering station until the invasion was over.

It was a real shame to have to go inside on such a beautiful day. Fortunately after about an hour the breeze picked up enough to clear the forward deck of bugs so I loaded up with sunscreen & bug spray & sat on a lawn chair on the bow of the boat.

I approached Port Colborne about 1:30pm. The large grain elevators at the entrance to the marina & the Welland Canal made my destination easy to spot from a fair distance away.

It was not very long before I was tied up at Sugarloaf Marina. The clouds of bugs stayed on the lake but I had a big cleanup job ahead of me because of all the dead ones still on the boat.

Once I was securely tied up I had a big G&T to cool down & to build up my motivation for the cleanup job that was facing me. Catherine & Emily we’re supposed to arrive in a few hours so I didn’t have too much time to waste! They would have no interest in boarding the boat in it’s current condition.

They arrived from London shortly after 7:00pm. After stowing their belongings aboard we went in search of a restaurant for a late dinner. We found a nice place on a street beside the canal & I pointed out the “waiting” dock for pleasure boats that were ready to enter the Welland Canal. There was a beautiful motor yacht tied up on the dock apparently in the cue to enter the canal.

Time for bed & an early start in the morning.

Cheers!

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!