Early October cruise

We want to share some pics of our cruise from Western Lake Erie to Detroit earlier this month. We tried to go a few weeks before, but the weather wouldn 't cooperate. Glad we waited, it was a wonderful week.
First night at Middle Bass Island State Park, 3 hours West from Sandusky.
Next morning underway in beautiful conditions.
Mike at the helm loving the big water.
Detroit River light. Vapor plume from cooling towers in the background was visible from 25 miles out, making navigation easy.

Beautiful.


Wrightsville Beach, back at ya.

Lake Erie Metro Park in Michigan.
Departure delayed by fog.
First Mate Jana taking advantage of the time to bake goodies.
Weather clears enough to head North to Detroit.

First Mate takes her turn at the helm.
Playing with the Big Boys on the Detroit River
Swank Canadian homes on the Amherstburg Channel.
Current running 2 - 3 knots.

Approaching the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
Downtown Detroit.
MacArthur bridge going to Belle Isle on the West channel of the Detroit River. The chart listed a clearance of 32 feet. We have a vertical clearance of 22 with the mast up. We passed under with room to spare, but I was anxious for a bit. We went around Belle Isle to the main channel the next day to head home.

Very nice photos! What a nice journey!

With the weather getting questionable again, we started back home. With our ground speed of 9 to 10 knots, we took the main shipping channels all the way through Detroit, and went on to the Monroe Boat Club, 47 miles and 6.25 hours away.
First Mate Jana standing by as we negotiate the narrow river channel.
Monroe Boat Club. Snug mooring right in front of the club house. We love traveling in the off season.

Toledo Light. Western Lake Erie is very shallow. The channel to the Maumee River goes well out into the lake for the freighter traffic. The light is half way out in the channel, 9 miles from Toledo.
Toledo Yacht Club. 1906 building being lovingly restored to its "Great Gatsby" splendor.
Jana took us out the Maumee channel and got more experience playing with the big boys. We also passed a working dredge and tug boats towing barges.
We made the 38 mile trip from Toledo to Sandusky in 6.5 hours to avoid a frontal system that was coming in the next day. Overall we traveled 181 miles with 28 hours on the tachs. The boat is hauled out now, and winter projects begin. We didn't launch until June 25th, but we put 98 hours on the Lady J. I think we had a good summer.

Great! Thanks for posting.

Moonstruck said:

Great! Thanks for posting.

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Brings back old memories, born in the area and we lived on the river very near the swank houses in Amherstburg, ours was nice but not quite as swank. We also spent many weekends in Put In Bay haven' a few (too many). Glad you finally got good weather, as you know Erie can get ugly. Thanks for the post.

Great photos and it looks like your decision to wait was a good one. Nice shots, and thanks for showing us where you do your boating.

Nice trip in our neck of the woods.

We love off season cruising. We just got back from a cruise from Port Huron, MI to Vermont through Lake Huron, Trent Severn, side trip to Thousand Islands, Rideau Canal, Ottawa and St. Lawrence River, Richelieu River, and Lake Champlain. We had near perfect weather (with the exception of Georgian Bay), no competition for the waterways or docks, and beautiful fall colors. We have the boat in storage in Vermont and will pick up in the spring where we left off and come home through the Erie Canal and Lake Erie. We plan to be home by the time school's out and the mobs hit the waterways. Travel Blog: The Great Meander on the Little Loop (Part 1)

LaBomba - We've been to Put In Bay several times this year. We prefer to hitch to a mooring ball rather than tie up at a dock. More relaxing and quiet than at a pier. Gettin' too old for that all night party stuff.