The Erie Canal 34 locks, 338 miles long, 125' wide, 12' deep Travelling through the canal is slow, easy and relaxing. Our maximum speed is approximately 7 miles per hour (6 knots), which has us covering 40 miles per day. Along the canal we have a view of many different aspects of life in upstate New York. We can see the children on their way to and from school each day as well as the joggers, hikers and dog-walkers. The many quaint and picturesque towns along the canal woo us to stay at their docks for the night by offering free comfortable facilities with hydro, showers, restrooms and pump-out. We travelled through Rochester with the expressway on our starboard side. In the country we've passed orchards and corn fields and in the towns we see beautiful homes with their private docks edging the canal. The ducks, herons, king-fishers and geese are everywhere. We have enjoyed hot temperatures and sunny days, but the abundant rain that preceeded us is evident in the lush green grass, trees and shrubs that edge the canal. The colour has just started to turn offering splashes of red, yellow and orange to the scenery. The smiles and waves from everyone that we pass on shore give us a feeling of euphoria by the end of the day. We have also enjoyed travelling through the locks. So far we've had 8 up, 1 down, and have 26 to go. We love New York State and we love travelling on the interesting and relaxing Erie Canal.

De-masting for the Erie Canal Our de-masting was done at Wardell's Marina in North Tonawanda. Barry was pleased to pay the $5.00 per foot (of mast) - docking included, to have Dennis Wardell's expertise and assistance. We shared Wardell's that day with our new friends Frederica and Alberto Colella who are on board their Whitby 42, "Nausicaa", as well as Mike Blama who is travelling along with them as far as the Annapolis boat show. We also made our fender boards at this location. Dennis Wardell has suggested we put the mast back up at Hop-o-Nose Marina, which is located in Catskill, N.Y., 40 miles in to the Hudson river. A phone call today gave us the wonderful news that the insulator had been located and installed on our rod-rigging back-stay. We requested it be shipped to Hop-o-Nose Marina and hopefully we should catch up with it when we're ready to put the mast back up.

Shuffling off to Buffalo Sea-Star Repositioning Cruise Friday, September 15th found us making our way past Buffalo (and through our first lock) to North Tonawanda, the west entrance to the Erie canal, in search of the U.S. customs video phone. We stopped at a gas dock to ask directions of a fellow there who recognized the Canadian Sail and Power Squadron logo on Barry's shirt and insisted on driving us to the phone, as he was also a CPS member. The customs officer checked our passports and issued us a 12 month cruising permit, which was faxed to the marina where we had our de-masting done. Barry had applied and paid for a boat decal on line, which was required as we are over 30 feet. No questions were asked regarding alcohol, meat, vegetables or fruit on board. Our worries were in vain.

Point Abino - Crystal Beach - Buffalo Yacht Club We left Dunnville in light fog on September 14th, passed Port Maitland, Port Colborne and anchored off Crystal Beach in 6 feet of sand in Point Abino Bay. The bay is home to the Buffalo Yacht Club, some at docks, but many on mooring balls. Approximately 20 of the very large fleet in the bay treated us to a show that evening as they had a race under-way. We are uncertain as to why the Buffalo Yacht Club has a base in Point Abino Bay, considering it's 8 miles from their home club location in Buffalo, not to mention across the border. Obviously it's a good location to sail and moor. We spent a quiet night (albeit buggy - small aphid type), very sheltered from the NE 10 knot wind. It has amazed us how easy it has been to find sheltered, safe areas to anchor out during our travels through Lake Huron and Lake Erie.

More Aggravation The antenna for the single side-band radio In June we ordered back stay insulators for our Nav-tech rod rigging. Due to scheduling conflicts, they were unable to install them at the time, so a compromise was made to do the job at the end of the summer when we would be travelling through the area. An appointment was scheduled for September 12th for the installation. We coerced a neighbouring boater to assist with raising Barry to the top of the mast to remove the back-stay. Thanks Dave. A car was rented, we paid to dock our boat and we made the 50 mile trip to Virgil. The back-stay was cut to length, one insulator was installed, but the 2nd broke upon installaton. The replacement insulator will now have to be ordered from the Rhode Island factory, which unfortunately is closed at present as they are busy with the Newport boat show. So, we have decided to move on in our back-stay-less condition, which means we can't sail. We had intended to take the mast down anyway 30 miles from here, in Buffalo, to travel the canal route. Hopefully our backstay will be shipped to us. We'll just have Barry climb the mast a bit higher and keep in touch with them by phone. It's not the perfect plan but it's getting cold and we need to keep moving along.

Aggravations The clutch problem We've been doing a very good job of overcoming the day to day aggravations that seem to crop up constantly. However, sometimes it feels like the deck is stacked against us. Barry refers to it as: in the parade of life, he is the acrobat walking on his hands behind the horse contingent. For example - Barry was concerned that we were developing a (clutch) transmission problem, so he phoned the Yanmar dealer in Grimsby to inquire regarding parts. (Thursday) This sounds simple enough except we were anchored out at the time. Therefore, the call was made from our cell phone, which requires standing on deck (actually up the mast would probably be better), and if you get through, praying the connection will last for the duration of the call. The dealer in Grimsby was very helpful and said he would look into it and Barry should call back the next day. Okay, so we wait and float for another day. The next day came and the call was made. Still no answer on the clutch parts but Barry requested they seek out a water-pump pulley as well. Okay, so one more day waiting and floating. Saturday - still no answer but Barry was informed that the parts we need are coming from the exclusive distributor for these items, in eastern Canada and they are famous for their slow response times. Call back Monday. Okay, so 2 more days waiting and floating. By this time Barry had invested his dollar in the internet kiosk machine in town and looked up on-line information that would assist him to fix the problem - which he did. Only time will tell if it's a permanent fix or not, but at least it will get us moving along again. We'll continue to persue the replacement parts in the hopes they can be shipped to us along the way.

Port Maitland The Grand River - Sportsman's paradise We turned in to Port Maitland, which is at the mouth of the Grand River, on September 7th and discovered a sportsman's paradise. The river carries a depth of 14' the whole way of 4 miles to the dam at Dunnville. Several hunting blinds are visible in the thick reeds that edge the river. We can attest to the fact that goose hunting season is under way as we heard shots, behind us, as we passed down the river at dusk in our dingy. We were surprised to learn that Canada Geese are hunted. They need to send a group of these hunters to Toronto Island. There is a large population of Great Blue Heron here - they're still safe, as far as we know. Fishing and boating are also very prevelant.

Port Burwell Long Point Bay We spent a night anchored out behind the breakwall in Pt. Burwell, after being stuck in the sand in the harbour's entrance way. Barry is getting very good at kedging us off. Back to school day, Tuesday, September 5 saw us under power in light NE to E winds. We passed several natural gas platforms as well as wind farms before we arrived at Long Point Bay. Our anchorage was behind "Bluff Bar" which is a sand bar, approximately 1 foot under water, just around the point and into the bay. It was very strange to be taking refuge behind something that we couldn't even see, but we spent 2 very restful nights there. We busied ourselves putting the "eh" on our boat to make our registered name of "SeaStareh" agree with what's on her sides, and we also put our home registry port of Toronto on the transom. Want to be "ship shape" for our upcoming border crossing.

Long Point Bay Where the sky meets the sea

Wheatley to Port Stanley The waves that kept us, as well as Wheatley's fishing fleet, tied at dock finally set us free on Sunday, September 3, 2006. Today we had our best sail so far. The winds were 10-15 knots out of the NW with waves less than 1 metre. We sailed for 12 hours, averaging 6.5-7 knots under main and genoa, covering a distance of 70 nautical miles. We arrived in Port Stanley just past sunset and were immediately invited to join the "end of the season" campfire party that was in full swing. We enjoyed the opportunity to converse with some of the local sailors, as well as some members of our London power squadron chapter. The next day (Labour Day) was a very busy day in Port Stanley. Our dock gave us an excellent vantage point for the excitement of the bridge raising to allow boat traffic through, as well as the Port Stanley Terminal Railway trains coming and going. There were lots of lights flashing, whistles blowing and bells clanging. Very busy and very exciting. The afternoon found us heading on our way amidst calls of best wishes from our new friends on shore, and in other boats that we passed in the harbour. The best surprise upon leaving was to find Harold Schwim, a fellow CPS student, heading out for a sail. Right out of the blue - there he was and with him came all the wonderful memories of the fun times we'd shared in class. It was amazing to see him.

CPS lesson in wave generation While sitting in Wheatley watching the 3 metre surf roll in, we've had an excellent opportunity to study, first hand, the Canadian Power and Sail Squadron lesson we had on wave generation. The height of waves depends on three factors: wind velocity, fetch (the distance the wind blows across open water), and duration (the length of time for which the wind blows out of the same direction). In our particular case we have the remnants of a hurricane force disturbance drifting up from Florida (Ernesto). The wind has been blowing in an easternly direction since we arrived 8 days ago. Since we are in the North-western corner of Lake Erie, the fetch has been across the whole lake (LONG). The velocity has been anywhere from 15 to 35 knots (STRONG). So, we have a strong wind velocity, a very large fetch, and a very long duration - BINGO - 3 metre waves.

Thanks to Diane & Bob 8 days in Wheatley We send our thanks to Donna's sister Diane and her husband Bob for opening their home to us while we were in London. We also are indebted to them for transporting us back to our boat in Wheatley. We really appreciated their kindness and we were glad of the opportunity to spend some time with them. Little did we know when we decided to stop beating our way to Rondeau Bay that we would end up spending 8 days in Wheatley (not recommended). We came in because the wind and waves were too strong, assuming things would calm down soon, but we would find out that sometimes waiting ou the weather window takes longer than you think.

Greyhound bus home Robin and Matt fly off to England Plan "A" was to get ourselves to Port Stanley in order that we could be picked up by our daughter Robin and her husband Matt on their way to the Toronto airport. This way we could see them off on their flight to England and return our car to our driveway. Then we would get a ride back to our boat in Port Stanley. Well, the weather didn't allow us to make Port Stanley, Robin and Matt didn't have the opportunity to pick us up and the car broke down. Plan "B" - We decided to leave the boat in Wheatley and catch the Greyhound bus home. On Sunday, August 27th we headed off on foot in the warm rain, made the 3 mile trek into (downtown) Wheatley and caught the Greyhound bus that passed their twice-weekly. We arrived home in time to attend a farewell barbecue that Uncle Wes and Aunt Val were hosting for Robin and Matt. We send our love and thanks to Wes and Val for being so kind. After the barbecue and before the flight was a very stressful time for everyone. Robin and Matt found moving, packing and leaving all at the same time a bit difficult to pull off. However, the "Lone Star" fahitias were consumed and Robin and Matt did make their flight with time to spare. We wish them well as they explore Copenhagen, England and Europe.

Wildfowl in Amherstberg Wheatley We were amazed to sight many varieties of large birds in the Amherstberg area. We viewed a flock of 100 plus mute swans, which we understand were migrating through. We also spotted egrets (also migrating) and many Great Blue herons, ducks, Baltimore orioles, red-winged black birds, sand pipers, gulls and king fishers. It was surprising and sad to see so many beautiful birds so close to the pollution we had just witnessed along the Detroit river. We passed Littles Point and Grecian Reef at 0950 hours on route to Rondeau Bay. Even though the wind is just 10-15 knots out of the east, the fetch was causing the waves to increase and we found it difficult to beat into them. We decided at 1630 hours to give up on our slow progress and take refuge in Wheatley. Wheatley is home to the largest fishing fleet in the Great Lakes. The harbour is surrounded by the Omstead fish processing plant. It is also home to the Hike Metal fabricating plant. Floating alongside their doors is a 22 million dollar yacht (Copacetic) that has been commissioned for the Cayman Islands. They also have made a car ferry which is bound for Toronto.

Detroit River to Boblo Thursday, August 24, 2006 found us motoring down the Detroit river to Bois Blanc Island (Boblo). The current today was 2 knots. Transversing downtown Detroit by water was a pleasant and interesting experience. We could see and hear a carillon on Belle Isle, and enjoyed the smell of bread baking from a large commercial bakery on Windsor's shore. Passing by Detroit's spectacular downtown Renaissance Centre brought back fond memories of how in past years we had seen the Freedom festival fireworks reflected in it. The motor industry is very well represented by the buildings along the river. Once south of the Ambassador bridge area, the view along the shore became horrid, as we passed steel foundries,(River Rouge), chemical plants and other industries. The source of the high pollution in our environment, is unquestionable in this area. We anchored for the night between the Amherstberg freighter channel and the Livingston freighter channel with a view of the Ferme Nuclear Plant. (so much for beauty) Even though freighter traffic is heavily passing by us on both sides we can sleep without worry of them getting too close, as we're out of their dredged channels. They'd be "stuck in the mud" long before they reached us.

Windsor - Peche (Fisheries) Island Wednesday Night Races We anchored last evening in behind Peche Island (just off Windsor"s waterfront). On our approach from Lake St. Clair, we could see that the Wednesday night sailboat races were in full swing in the Windsor area. We noted at least 5 different clubs that had races underway. In the light air, the boat's multi-coloured spinnakers made for a very pretty sight. Just as the sun was setting we turned into the channel between Peche Island and Windsor's waterfront. What a surprise it was to find that the Windsor Yacht Club was located there. In the narrow channel there were at least 40 of the racing boats attempting to cross the WYC finish line. As well there was a dinner cruise ship and the Detroit Princess Casino cruise ship. Amazingly we motored on against the crowd as they were sailing through and managed to put our anchor out behind Peche Island for a quiet night.

Sarnia and The St. Clair River Stuck in the mud We spent a quiet day anchored out in the Sarnia Yacht Club basin. Barry did an oil change on our diesel. He also walked over to Bridgeview Marina to order seals for our ailing water-pump. They are to be shipped to our London address and hopefully we can get them as we pass down Lake Erie. The next morning we found ourselves in a precarious situation while motoring down the St. Clair River. Our engine began over-heating so we turned it off and hoped that the current would carry us to a sheet-piling wall along the side where we could tie up and repair the problem. But, regretfully, we ended up going aground instead. So there we sat, stuck in the mud, with an over-heated engine, in air that reeked (chemical valley). Once the engine problem was repaired (how do people get around who don't have a mechanic on board?), we were fortunate to receive the assistance of a sailboat and a power-boat (with a 150 horse power motor) to set us free of the St. Clair river mud. We passed our first freighter - the Algorail out of Sault Ste. Marie just as we entered Lake St. Clair at 1700 hours. The current in the river was l.5 knots with us. We were motoring at 5.5 knots yet the GPS read that we were making 7 knots headway.

Love and Best Wishes We were extremely touched that over 90 family and friends could join us for our farewell beach party. Our children made us very proud by orchestrating such a wonderful get-together. We are truly grateful to them for all their hard work and also to those who came to wish us well. We were overwhelmed that so many came such great distances to share the day with us. Thank you to everyone for making it a day we will long remember and for sharing your love and best wishes.

Goderich to Grand Bend 0745 hours - under over-cast skies and in light winds on Friday, August 18, 2006, we powered out of Goderich's harbour (past the freighter beside us at the grain elevators, that we obviously didn't hear arrive). Our destination today is Grand Bend and we are anxious to naviage the piers there under calm conditions. We are familiar with how the waves can roll in to Grand Bend's shallow, narrow entrance way and have heard horror stories of boats touching bottom there in wave troughs. We arrived at 1130 hours, in calm water, and the harbour master put us on the north wall, almost all the way down to the bridge at Hwy. 21. Our depth sounder is reading 3'6" (rather swampy). Considering it is located 2' below our water-line and we draw 4'10", we're not floating by much. Our narrow, shallow, crowded, noisy anchorage is quite a change from the North Channel seclusion we left behind. We arrived in Grand Bend on our 45th day out and paid to dock for the first time. While in Grand Bend we met Keith Ruebsam, a fellow boater. While chatting, we discovered that Barry and Keith had grown up just 3 houses from each other on Westmount Crescent in London. Barry's mom, Alberta, can recall driving Keith to school with her son Terry. It truly is a small world. Keith and his wife boat out of Sarnia though their home is in Colorado. Now that's a commute. It helps that they're semi-retired.

Chantry Island to Goderich Windfarms Today we stopped washing our dishes in lake water. Even with our system of bio-degradable Dawn dish detergent and bleach, the smell of fertilizer on the lake has compelled us to rethink our use of fresh water. Just north of the Bruce Nuclear Plant we sighted the first of what would be very many windmills on shore (wind farms). When we came upon the first few I was surprised they were not noted on the charts as an aid to navigation, but as the true number of them became known I could see why not. In the dark they flashed red and gave the look of an unending string of Christmas lights to the shore-line. It was 2230 hours when we reached Goderich harbour. Even though we were very familiar with the harbour, we had a difficult time finding the lights marking the breakwalls amidst all the ones on shore. Once through the breakwalls we encountered a freighter on the wall in the harbour channel (at the salt mine). It had it's loading conveyor off to the side of the boat, which almost entirely blocked the harbour entrance. We skimmed along the far pier and our mast just fit through beside the conveyor. After a long day on the water, we closed our hatches and put our wood door in to block the noise of the mine's elevator, and called it a night. Note to self - future plotting - it's a whole lot easier to see where you're going in the day light.

Tobermory to Chantry Island (Southampton) Before moving on we spent a day waiting out the weather window in Tobermory. The wind was blowing 25 - 30 knots from the NW producing 2 metre waves. For the first time ever, we saw breaking waves running into Little Tub harbour. Wednesday August 16th saw us motoring through Cape Hurd channel on a course of 234 degrees true. The waves on the Lake Huron side of the channel were large and rolly after yesterday's wind. A lesson learned - we had difficulty navigating using the old charts that we had on board as they had not been updated and the numbers on the buoys did not match the numbers on the chart. However, 1030 hours found us due east of the Cape Hurd light where we set a course of 165 degrees true for Port Elgin. We anchored in the lee of Chantry Island (off the coast of Southampton), as the forecast was for 10 knot winds from the South, just in time to catch a sunset of National Georgraphic fame. Chantry Island is a bird sanctuary. We had no doubt of that as the noise of the birds from our location was incredible at sunset.

Randy and Brenda on board Fathom Five National Marine Park tour Cove Island - Wingfield Basin - Big Tub Harbour We were thrilled that Barry's brother Randy and his wife Brenda could join us in Tobermory for an extended week-end tour of the Fathom Five National Marine Park. After consulting with Park personnel regarding water depth at Cove Island, we headed into a very calm secluded anchorage (not unlike the hockey stick in Bone Island or the pool), except for lots of big "up close and personald rocks ". Unmarked rocks and shoals everywhere. In the morning we explored ruins on the island. Just as we were leaving our secluded anchorage The Great Blue Heron tour boat, out of Tobermory, suprised us by coming in to have a look. So much for privacy. After another fortunately unadventful passage back over the shoals of our Cove Island anchorage, we motored and sailed our way to Flower Pot Island and Bear's Rump Island. From there we carried on to Wingfield Basin at Cabot Head, where we spent the night calmly anchored with 15 others. In the morning we took the dingy over to explore the wreck of the Gargantua. We also explored the Cabot Head light station and museum. We were the last to leave just after noon into a 16 knot NW wind with 1 metre waves. We sailed tacking for 7 hours before we decided to go under power (just north of Flower Pot Island) into Big Tub Harbour. Here we enjoyed a quiet anchorage however The Great Blue Heron tour boat once again did drop by to see us. Big Tub Harbour is a tranquil 40 foot deep anchorage but since there are wrecks at the end of it, you can expect tour boat traffic to pass you while anchored there and they did. After hot showers and a good lunch in Tobermory we said our good-byes to Randy and Brenda, having had lots of laughs and fun as well as a good tour of the Fathom Five National Marine Park.