We completed traversing the Erie Canal just in time, heavy rains closed many of the locks right behind us causing weeks of delay for some. The cruising conditions on Lake Erie were non eventful. Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes but is known to kick up some action just like Lake Michigan. We traveled the southern coast of Lake Erie, and floated our boat into Canadian waters many times….HA. Cleveland, Geneva on the Lake, and the southwest islands of Lake Erie are all highlights.
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Beautiful clear, cobalt and sapphire blue waters of the Great Lakes
Our scooter bike convoy touring town. The sun is muted by the smoke from Northern fires Rock skipping, challenge on!Fellow Loopers Jen and Rick from Nauti Jenny at Geneva on the Lake, Ohio – Lake Erie
Not to be confused with Geneva Lake WI
Fries and bacon in your salad? Of course!
She belongs on Survivor!
Geneva on the Lake, OH, a nice town with a 50’s flair and ’21 touches, complete with wineries, live music venues (and a salad with fries?!?)
Downtown Cleveland Rock and Dock – Sea C is docked in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is the white building on the left.
Our turn to host Docktails aboard Sea C
First showcase grocery store we have experienced, Heinen’s – beautiful!!
An early Stones
Some cool sights in Cleveland20 Loopers converge for dinner in Cleveland
Kelley’s Island moonrise – First and only marina that we were parked in by other boats and couldn’t leave in the morning.
Glacier grooves
Love island flair!
A huge shout out to our OH friends who hosted us in Middle Bass Island for 3 days! So glad they were a memorable part of our loop experience!
Day floats with lots of laughs! Great meals, nice beds, & laundry catch up!💕
Thank you to the Gaskins for their hospitality. Their home is on Middle Bass Island and looks directly over Lake Eire, a beautiful view! We left Sea C at their Yacht Club for the weekend.
A notable icon of Middle Bass Island, Lake Erie
After stopping at 6 ports on Lake Erie we head north for Lake St Claire, MI
Port Huron, MI ~ home of the Bayview Port Huron to Mackinac race. We don’t even bat an eye about hailing & scheduling lift bridges anymore
Lucky to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in Port Huron, the Loop experience has helped us grow stronger and grow a deeper appreciation for each other! Cheers 🙂
See Sea C in the reflection of Zebra Bar ~ headed to Lake Huron ~ a slow crawl up-current!
TRANSMISSION UPDATE – Pam and I bought each other a beautiful new Italian made transmission on our 30th wedding day anniversary, very romantic…and practical too! This beauty is not available until mid Sept and will be delivered directly from Italy to Kenosha WI. It is a bit challenging navigating Sea C in tight areas with the limited starboard power, but manageable for now.
Just completed 36o miles up the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, NY. The trip included locking through 35 concrete chambers, sliding under hundreds of low hanging bridges, and moseying through dozens of quaint small towns. Had the Canadian border been open to non-essential travel, we would have taken a right hand turn half way up the Erie but it was not to be. The Erie route option proved to be a better than expected passage leaving us even more impressed with the state of NY. Not all boats can make it through the Erie Canal due to the low bridge clearance. We needed to pivot down our tall radar mast and lower our fly bridge bimini (not an easy task) to about 15 ft to prevent banging Sea C’s head. There were some close calls with low steel trusses but mission accomplished!
These “Guard Gates” are used to isolate sections of the canal in case of accidents, high water, and to drain water during the winter…..or of course bad boat behavior.
Lock 17 – The Guillotine!
Game face entering 17~ The Guillotine is serious stuff!
Quite Nice & Lucky Me ~ down and OUT
.A company called ‘Erie Canal Adventures’ rents these sleep ready boats to people to cruise the Erie Canal. This is a must do for anyone interested in trying out overnight boating. You can’t do much harm to these beauties, they are similar to big bumper cars. Most of the small towns have free docks with water and electric that boaters can use as they navigate the Erie.
Nothin’ happenin’ here!
A veritable ghost town
Little Falls Canal Rotary – nice clubhouse with laundry
Some towns are struggling while others are thriving, but all have a special beauty & charm.
Leaky Lock #18
After lock 19, Sea C’s bimini was lowered to meet the upcoming bridge heights. This 12″ height reduction was tricky but it worked.
Lake Oneida on 4th of July
Quite Nice & Lucky Me
Pizza dinner with Wanderer, Quite Nice, Lucky Me, Das Boot, Slow Churn, It’s aBoat Time, & Taurus.
VIDEO – This was the lowest bridge of all….no problem…. centimeters to spare!
Love the police light!
Lots of bridge art depicting historical scenes
Lovin’ the livaboards along the canal!
VIDEO – Our first head-to-head encounter with a freight train – not only loud but a smelly experience, Yikes!
Free water and electric in most town, nice!
The Erie Canal has an beutiful bike/walking path that runs the entire length. A biking event that involved riding the entire canal was underway as we passed through. Biking the Erie is now high on our list of future adventures.
Middleport Lift Bridge, like many, is operated by a ‘roaming operator’ who races from bridge to bridge to accommodate all moving vessels…can get pretty crazy!
Christian bird house overlooking falls
free pump out along the way!
Notice the old stair step locks on the right
Nearing the end of the canal! We would make a few quick ‘day-stops’ along the way to explore surrounding falls, etc.The granddaddy of waterfalls – A great day at Niagara Falls with fellow Loopers from Agape and Nauti JennyWe learned a few navigation tricks from this vessel. Perhaps someday the Sea C Rider will get a chance to enter the Niagara mist!
** BOAT PROBLEM UPDATE **
A certified mechanic confirmed that we have a serious issue with Sea C’s starboard transmission. Fortunately, with a little finesse and reduced speed, we should be able to cautiously make our way back to Lake Michigan for surgery later this summer. Soooo, all systems go to the Great Lakes!
Moseying up the Hudson River we enjoyed every mile. So many different looks, from the southern portion urban sprawl, to the northern hilly remote nature meccas.
Can’t help but think about Captain Sully’s amazing heroics back in 2009 when he saved 155 lives by splash landed an airbus in the middle of the Hudson.
From sunrise to sunset, the Hudson River Valley has beautiful surprises around every bend.
Cool aqua duct system
Mysterious ruins are a popular stop on the local tourist boat.Had an impressive dining experience at the Culinary Institute of America #wheresmike
“S’mores” Chocolate Tart
Students doin’ their thing behind glass
Ate at the CIA America Bounty Restaurant
Saugerties Lighthouse is a bed and breakfast with a breathtaking view!
Checking in with Mom on a lazy Sunday afternoon
Lighthouses, bridges, cute towns with chapels …. Not enough hours in a day!
VIDEO – West Point cadets at work!
Ankle breaker hike to Hannacroix Falls, Ravenna, NY to splash around and cool off with the locals on a 90 degree day.
Looper fun – a daily check to see who’s where on Nebo – a rare sighting: navigational line-em-up channel markers – had dinner with long time gold Looper pals in Hyde Park NY, Susan & Pete & enjoyed docktails with new and old Looper friends at Shady Harbor Marina
VIDEO – Little Beers with Dock mates
Troy,NY – our last Hudson River quaint towns before we made a left turn to start the Erie Canal.
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Also…. discovered we have a starboard transmission issue which will take some time, 3-4 weeks, and cash to fix. We haven’t decided when or where we will get the repairs. One option is to just keep movin’, although slower, another is to take a break and pick up later?!? We’ll see……….BOATS!
Big shoutout to John Calascibetta & (Tony & Jim) and the Great Kills Yacht Club for their phenomenal hospitality. Great staging place to visit the Big Apple. Jim set us up with all the info and tools we needed. He is a huge AGLCA advocate and will go out of his way to help make your visit a great one.
Two bike rides to/from subway, two ferry rides, eight subway rides and 33,000 steps and 14 hrs is all we needed to complete our Manhattan Marathon.
Keep the Bull moving!
Ground Zero – very moving, especially when you see roses added for the deceased birthdays.
The Oculus is a new transportation hub since the PATH train station was destroyed along with 7 other buildings
The Empire State building is a must stop..
Lost in Central Station
St Paul Cathedral
VIDEO – Times Square
South Central Park.
Master Navigator on land and at Sea..
Topped of the day at Yankee Stadium where the Yankees beat the Royals in 9th inning dramatic fashion. Don’t really care…Go Cubs
Our Cape May Marina provided us with this giant keychain for the bathroom facilities. Their hope is that guests won’t leave without returning because it is sooo big. Well…..because it is soo big, we needed to carry it around in Pam’s back pack ..and guess what?? We mailed it back to them from New York…
We nudged in front of a fellow boater (they didn’t have a radio) and asked them to snap a few money shots. Looks like we are making off with the Lady in this one!
The Bahama Islands are not officially part of the Great American Loop but many boaters choose to visit these beautiful, pristine waters since they are not far out of the path. The trip does not come without some effort and challenges. We left the US from North Key Largo with the plan to enter the Bahamas at Bimini, which is considered an out island settlement.
Our entry into the Bermuda Triangle began with our autopilot compass heading going wonky, forcing us to manually steer across the Gulf Stream. We also nearly lost our dinghy (C-Minor) when we discovered her nearly submerged, dragging behind the boat, and hanging on for dear life by one measly line . After an hour of bailing/pumping and battling the 4 ft. swells of the Atlantic, we managed to get her secured onto the davit once again. We’d love to blame both of these incidents on the mysterious forces of the triangle…. but in turns out we only have ourselves to blame.
The cordless power drill (which has magnets) was too close to the autopilot sensor core in the engine room throwing the compass out of whack. As for C-Minor….we just didn’t secure her well enough for ocean travel. Live and learn!
The colors of the Bahamian waters are so blue and have so many shades of blue it looks fake. Pictures don’t do the fascinating blue water color justice. This is us approaching Bimini. Our flag being flown here is a Bahamian courtesy flag, flown as a token of respect to the Bahama Islands.Bimini arrival, Bimini Sands Marina
Ferry from South Bimini to North Bimini with bikes. All of a 4 mins ride.
Pam feasting on a fresh conch salad at Joe’s Conch stand, she decided that conch might not be her favorite seafood!
The beautiful infinity pool looking out towards the Atlantic.
Pam creating her own sunset.
60 miles out of Bimini, dozens of cruise ships are anchored waiting for the pandemic to pass. Eerie site so far out at sea.
A deep blue hole in the middle of Hoffman’s Cay (pronounced key), in the Berry Islands.
This furry friend boldly boarded our boat at Great Harbor Cay Marina in Berry every night for a comfy sleep in the fly bridge. Pam discovered her late one dark night while checking the pillows as the wind was picking up…Yikes to find a warm and furry stowaway!
Mangrove Cave through Snake Creek to the turtle spawning pool near Shell Beach
One of hundreds of darting turtles spotted in the clear waters.
A moment of Zen at low tide…. Oooommmm
Bahamian Easter mass in the Great Harbor Cay, Berry. We got our moneys worth at 2hrs 30min. The congregation of St Bartholomew was very welcoming and friendly
Looking for Pete’s Pub in Little Harbour, Abaco….found it just off of the Bight of Old Robinson!
Video – This pod of dolphins met up with us on our dinghy ride out to a blue hole.
Our own secluded beach on Hoffman’s Cay in the Berry Islands
Newly dubbed Sammons Cay
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Sandy Cay Reef, by far one of the healthiest and vibrant reefs we have seen.Shark swimming off the bow of Sea C…The level of hurricane devastation to the Islands is apprent everywhere. While much of the infrastructure has been rebuilt there is still much to do. The pandemic has unfortunalty slowed the progress. The locals are still incredibly friendly and upbeat as progress continues.
Hope Town Marina, Officially reopened April 1st
We took the ferry across the harbor to begin cruising Hope Town via bikes, the best way to view the highlights – On Da Beach Bar, Abaco Inn, Tahiti Beach & our Hope Town Marina
Loopin' with Mike n Pam 