September, 30, 2007 - Weedsport, New York

Today dawned with cool temperatures and high, hazy clouds. We started the day in Lyons, NY, with the smell of the Chicken BBQ at the Fire Hall as they began cooking dinner for 400. The smell was mouthwatering. We took walks around town and shortly after 10 we were on our way. We only had two locks today with drops of only 6-8 feet. A real snap for our crack crew!

The canal has joined the Seneca River and widened considerably (as can be seen by this picture from our stern, tied to a wall for the evening). As this is a most beautiful last Sunday in September, we saw more boaters and fishermen out on the water. We have also continued to see a great number of great blue herons along the route and this afternoon we saw a bald eagle soaring over the river.

The wall where we are docked has no services (power or water) and we will be firing up the grill to do some salmon stuffed with shrimp which Marlene brought. We are in agreement that we are eating very well on this cruise.

September, 29, 2007

Here we are in Lyons, New York. Today was a beautiful day on the canal. It was sunny with just a few clouds, light winds and the temperatures in the low 70's. It was not a long day of cruising and we passed through five locks. We are getting to be real pros at this. Marty and I have been trading off piloting the boat into and out of the locks. We are preparing to lock the Monarch with just the two of us. We had a couple of tense moments, as we went under bridges with only 4-6 inches of room to spare, when we were expecting a foot or more. This picture shows a 37' Nordic Tug astern of Monarch, which linked up with us about half way through the day and accompanied us through the locks. This is not uncommon, as it makes the locking much faster for the boats. Just up the hill from Monarch is the Fire Hall, which is the location of the restrooms and showers. We have to make sure we are underway at an early hour tomorrow as there is a Chicken BBQ between the firehall and the boat and the smell of that would probably hold us to the dock.

September 28, 2007 - Fairport, New York

This evening finds the Monarch in Fairport, New York. We had quite a cruise on the canal today. We travelled through apple country, where the trees were laden with red or golden apples. The canal was actually higher than the orchards! At one point, a road passed under the canal, appropriately called Culvert Road. We had sun, clouds, wind and rain. The rain really let loose while we were in lock 34. Luckily we were tied up and were waiting for another boat to enter the lock when it really poured. We felt sorry for the couple and the lockmaster (no slicker!) who were getting the boat secure. Our luck held as we got tied up in Fairport, shortly before a thunderstorm with hail blew through town.

Marlene and Carl are getting to be "pros" at locking the boat and we are really enjoying having them along for this part of the trip. We have been trying to talk them into skipping their trip to the Middle East in a few weeks and staying on to New York City, but so far no luck.

In Fairport, we went to a great restaurant - Joey B's. Somewhat of a limited menu but everyone's food was excellent.

Saturday morning there is a Farmer's Market we will go check out. This one we are assured is only a block away.

September 28, 2007 - Cruising the Erie Canal

Here are two pictures along the Erie Canal. These show how the canal has been cut out of the rock and how narrow it is in the cuts. There were some places that were even narrower than this. It does make navigating simple. The other advantage is that in strong winds like we had for part the day, we were well protected by the walls and trees.

September 27, 2007 - Sunset

Had to share this picture Marlene Bihlmeyer took at sunset in Middleport, New York off the stern of the boat.

OUTSTANDING ---

September 27, 2007 - Middleport, NY

Today was overcast and damp for the most part. Makes having a pilothouse a nice thing as we were able to be warm and dry. Monarch finds itself in Middleport, NY this evening. We had planned to get to Medina but the liftgate bridge there is stuck half way up and unfortunately, the docks are on the other side of the bridge.

Carl and Marlene had their first experience with locking today at Lockport. There the two locks are adjacent and between the two locks we dropped over 50 feet. Have to say their performance was stellar.

We will wait to hear in the morning if the bridge is fixed. There are approximately 10 boats sitting here.

September 27, 2007 - Tonawanda, New York - continued

Today dawned gray and overcast. Marlene, Marty and I walked to the Farmer's Market which we had seen in a tourist pamphlet that we picked up at the Harbor Master's Office. What looked like a short walk really was a little over a mile to get there. Here are Marty and Marlene looking over some of the locally grown goods. It really was a great market and we got everything from veggies to hot Italian sausage.

September 26, 2007 - Tonawanda, New YorK

We are now officially in the Erie Canal. (Although if you listen to the locals they are upset because the Governor signed a bill about a month ago that made Buffalo the official western end of the canal rather than Tonawanda - so officially we made it last evening). It was a quick run from Buffalo to Tonawanda (under 3 hours with a fuel stop). This is an interesting town with the North side of the canal being a different town and county than the South side (North Tonawanda vs. Tonawanda). There are very few boats as we are late in the season although a PDQ catamaran pulled in later in the evening a short distance from us and they are from St. Clair Shores and are headed to the Bahamas. We enjoyed walking around town and the Dockmaster (Pappy) was a wealth of information about town (both current and historical). Marty and Marlene have found a Farmer's Market that is about 6 blocks away and they are heading there in the morning.

September 25, 2007 - Buffalo, New York

It was a beautiful cruise from Erie Pa to Buffalo. We had following seas of 2-3 feet and made great time getting here. The yacht club here is older than the DYC - but only by a few years. We were docked on the outer wall along the Black Rock Canal. While the cruise was a breeze, the docking was something else as we were in a cross wind and it took everything Carl, Marty and Marlene had to get us pulled over to the dock. (Must say something about the Skipper?????) We headed to the Anchor Bar for a taste of the "original" Buffalo Wings and none of us were disappointed with the different variety of foods.

September 24, 2007 - Erie, PA

Today was a picture perfect day to cruise from Mentor, Ohio to Erie, PA. What a day to introduce Carl and Marlene to the trawlering life!!!. We had offshore winds that were under 10 knots all day and waves under one foot.

We are docked at the Erie Yacht Club for the night. This club is located on the Presque Isle Bay which is one of the best (if not the largest) natural harbors on the Great Lakes. It measures 4.5 miles by 1.5 miles. They are able to hold their sailing regattas on this natural bay - no matter what the weather is on Lake Erie. The Club here is very friendly and accommodating with a great harbor and clubhouse.

We are watching the weather as we plan to get up early and head for Buffalo. The weather is supposed to have rain and thunderstorms tomorrow evening, so our plan is to get off the lake beore this hits.

September 23, 2007 - Mentor, Ohio

We left Put-in-Bay early this morning to a beautiful Northeast breeze that made us remember our days of sailing and how great this weather would have been for it. The wind ended up going more to the East and blowing 10-12 knots and the waves by the time we got to Mentor Harbor were running 3-4 foot. We are docked tonight at the Mentor Harbor Yachting Center. The building is done in a spanish style that reminds us of the DYC. The layout of the club is interesting in that there is a harbor and picnic area across the entrance from Lake Erie that the members reach by a shuttle. We are awaiting the arrival tonight of our good friends, Carl and Marlene Bihlmeyer who will be with us for nine days - until we reach Brewerton NY (this town is right next to Syracuse). Tomorrow is calling for more nice weather - temps in the upper 70's and winds from the South ... What could be better....

September 22, 2007 - Put-in-Bay, Ohio

What a great day to start our Great Loop cruise. The morning dawned overcast with a mild breeze out of the Northwest. But that did not deter our friends at West End Dock at the DYC from being on hand at 8 AM to cast us off and wish us well. The cruise down the Detroit River and across Lake Erie was uneventful - although the flies were out. The clouds broke up and disappeared as the day went on. For the last day of summer, the temps stayed in the 80's. We have a very different view off the transom of Monarch this evening for cocktail hour. We are looking directly at the Comm. Perry Monument.

With this late warm weekend, Put-in-Bay is living up to its reputation as the party capital of Lake Erie. We were lucky we got an early start as we got one of the last mooring balls. The water taxis are buzzing around - taking people back and forth to the hot spots on shore. Hopefully things will quiet down as we are planning an early morning start to get to Mentor, Ohio tomorrow.

Cruise Notes: Wi-Fi is in abundance in the harbor. Mooring rates for boats under 52 ft are $35 per night and $45 for 52 ft and over.

Final evening at the DYC

September 21, 2007 -

After 10+ years of enjoying this view of the city of Detroit every morning and evening each summer from the stern of our boat, our final evening had arrived. The week before, Marty and I both finished up our careers or as we say "chucked it" (retirement seems to old) and had spent the last week getting Monarch ready to go. Our final evening was spent with great friends as we had cocktails on the dock and dinner on the boat. Tomorrow morning would be the start of our new adventure.