2nd update on 05-31-09. Below is another ship that I met on the St Clair river, which was much more narrow than the Detroit River. In addition the current from Lake Huron runs very strong in this river. We left Detroit River, crossed over Lake St. Clair and into the St. Clair River. We spent the night at Port Huron Yacht Club. (Reciprocity with ECYC) When we entered the St. Clair River to enter Lake Huron the current was so strong we were only making 3.5 knots over the ground. We left Harbor Beach this morning and turned around and came back. The wind was out of the North West (Bow port quarter), however the waves were from the North, North East and were quite large. This is a fun trip so we turned around, came back to Harbour Beach and ate at a buffet for lunch. No dinner tonight, too full. After listening to the weather we may be here Monday as well.

The following sailboat races were held in the Detroit River just off Detroit, Michigan. It was an impressive sight and the pictures do not do this scene justice.

Detroit in the background.

Light house on the Canadian side of Detroit River, just down river from Detroit.

This is Sunday May 31st. We are in Harbor Beach, Michigan. This is on the southern end of Lake Huron. The following pictures are from the end of Lake Erie to this point. This is Detroit Michigan. The picture above is a very large GM office complex. I wonder why they are having financial issues as this looks like a very prospous organization from the surface.

This is the view from the Detroit River traveling north and into Detroit Michigan.

Once we entered the Detroit River this was the first ship we meet in the river. Quite an experience to meet a chip in a river.

We are exiting Lake Erie and entering the Detroit River.

As you can tell the weather was very cloudy. This is a light house in the Western end of Lake Erie.

This is another new friend that I made in Vermilion, Ohio. There are lots of Blue Heron in this part of the country. I saw one land in the water, pick up a fish and fly away. This was a first for me.
We left Vermilion this morning and went to Put In Bay on South Bass Island, which is in the western end of Lake Erie. Put In Bay is the counter of Key West, Florida. This is a party town on the weekends, this time of year and all week during the summer. It is all bars, tee shirt shops and restaurants.

I I've seen lots of beautiful and interesting designed homes along the waterway since leaving New Bern. HOWEVER this is the strangest one I've seen. Being a boat lover it is my kind of home. It actually is a steel boat, approximately 150 feet long and appears to be someones home. As you can tell it is sitting on top of a stone ledge, approximately 75 feet from the water. How did it get there?????

This is down town Put In Bay. Neat place to visit during off season. The docks raft up boats 4 wide and there are over 80 mooring balls for other boats to swing on. In addition there are big ferry boats bringing people on the island all day long.

There is a federal part on Put In Bay with a 350 foot tall Doric column that was built in memory of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, who in the war of 1812 fleet defeated the British Navy in the battle of Lake Erie. When ask what to do with the British fleet, Admiral Perry responded, "Put them in the bay" and this is how Put In Bay got its name.

If the weather cooperates, we will be out of Lake Erie Thursday and into the Detroit River. From there to Lake St Clair and into Lake Huron.

This is only a portion of the docks at Put In Bay.

Good Morning World. We are in Vermillion, Ohio. There are 2,600 registered boats in this town. We came into Vermillion Saturday afternoon and I think we have seen most of the boats pass our slip. We have seen everything from a small canoe to a 60plus foot sailboat. This has been a real treat to watch all the boats. Today the wind is out of the North East (beam) @ 15 to 20 MPH. We are staying put today and possibly Tuesday as the weather forecasters are calling for 15 to 30 out of the East for Tuesday. We are going into the Western end of the Lake so the waves have the entire lake to build and role into the Western end. This is a fun trip so we don't have to deal with such issues.
Saturday afternoon, shortly after arriving in Vermilion there was a tap on the door and a very nice gentleman as if I was making the loop. It was Dan Kernell. He and Judy finished the loop approximately a year ago. Dan has been very gracious with information about Vermilion BUT much more important, he is providing great info on what to expect on the LOOP. Dan and Judy invited us to their home for a cookout today (Memorial Day) and hopefully will continue to provided valuable information for this trip.
The first and last picture in this section are of interesting light houses in Lake Erie. The picture below is a couple of friends that we made while tied up at a local yacht club on Chagrin River. They really liked us and decided to spend the night on the Pelican. I know this because of the evidence they left on the decks. The evidence indicated they actually may have had friends over.
The additional two pictures are of Cleveland, Ohio. This was a beautiful waterfront. The Cleveland Browns stadium was impressive. It is right on Lake Erie.
There is a old fashion drugstore/soda shop approximately 3 blocks away and they make delicious sandwiches and have a great ice cream center with awesome milk shakes. If we have to stay in Vermillion a couple of days it will be fun. I'll be looking at boats and eating ice cream or drinking milk shakes. This is a great life and I'm very thankful that I'm having the opportunity to do it.

We are on Lake Erie. The above picture is a sunset picture from the marina we were in last night. The picture below is a picture of the south eastern end of Lake Erie approximately 30 miles west of Buffalo NY. We passed out of New York State, after being in New York for 18 days. We passed Pennsylvania and are in Ohio tonight. Hopefully we will get to Cleveland or further Friday. The weather has really been good with light winds from the South West. The weather may change Friday. It is predicted to be North changing to North East 10 to 15, which will be on our beam. Not the best but hopefully we will still have fun. The shoreline of Lake Erie is really nice. We are still in hills and high bluffs.

This is the last leg of the Erie Canal. We are fixing to lock into the last lock which is below. We will then be in Buffalo NY. Once I get paper charts for Lake Erie we will begin the southern route around the lake to Lake Huron.

This lock lifted us over 50 feet. It was a double lock and quite massive.

This is the bridge at Fairport. It is at an angle and there are no two angles on the bridge the same. My kids will remember Fairport from a canal barge vacation we took some time ago. This was the first of many lift bridges that we passed under. This entire bridge was lifted with a 40 horsepower electric motor.

WELL, we are back tracking where we have been. Because the Trent Severn Waterway, in Canada is closed we have gone back on the Oswego to the Erie Canal and now heading for Buffalo NY. We will take the Lake Erie and Lake Huron route to get to Lake Michigan. We have two more days on our permint for Lake Erie. I plan to get an additonal two day pass ant hopefully be in Lake Erie by Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather. Today we ran eleven hours . We may not travel Sunday. It depends on the weather. We are in Fairport NY, which is a big Erie Canal water community. There are many shops, restaurants, etc. We need grocery stores and showers. Hopefully Sunday we will find both.

This is where the Erie Canal joins with the Seneca River. Approximately 8 years ago the entire Barwick Clan rented a Canal Barge from Lake Seneca and traveled the Erie Canal for a week. I'm now traveling over the same parts I visited 8 years ago. It's interesting that I see things I remember from the first trip.

Just another shot of the Erie Canal

I'm enjoying the NY water way BUT I'm also getting ready for something different than canals and locks. We have another hundred and four miles of Erie Canal before we enter Lake Erie. The intersting thing is we do not have a chart of where we are now or where we are going. I have to find charts somewhere before we enter Lake Erie.

Well, we just finished a big pizza, which was delicious, and a local ice cream shop forced me to make a visit. At 65 yrs old I've not learned to not over eat. Life is just great.........

This is Lake Oneida, which is on the west end of the Erie Canal before going into the Oswego Canal. We crossed this 24 mile lake this morning. It was a great run as there was no wind. We are in Fulton NY tonight. Wednesday we will go to the town of Oswego and wait for the wind to not be blowing so we can cross Lake Ontario. Hopefully that will be no later than Friday.

Yesterday we were in Ilion NY and toured the Remington Museum. We saw some beautiful guns of all types. Old, military, pistols, shotguns, rifles and other products that Remington manufactures such as the old Remington Manual Typewriter. That brought back memories.

The above picture is a shot of the Erie Canal. If you notice there are mountains off in the distance. What a great place to be boating.

This is lock 17 and it locked us up 40.5 ft. This is one of the greatest lifts in the world. Now we are locking down as we prepare to go into Lake Ontario. It is much easier to lock down than to lock up.

You may like to drive to the mountains and view them from the road. HOWEVER you really need to see them from the water, on a boat, to get the real effects of them. God was really good to us.

Just another shot of the mountains from the Erie Canal. Life is great, this trip is fantastic and if you didn't know it I'm having a blast.

This is in reverse of where we have been: This is a home on the Erie Canal system. This is just north west of Troy NY. As you can see this is not flat lands and the homes are very nice. Tonight we are at lock #9. We have had a very nice day on the Erie Canal. We are actually in the Mohawk River. We plan to spend the next 10 days on the Erie and Oswego Canal system before entering Lake Ontario.

This is a spill way coming into a lock on the Erie Canal. The lock is on the left side of the picture.

This is lock # 2 on the Erie Canal System.

This is the first lock on the Erie Canal

This is the Federal Lock on the Hudson River. It is considered to be lock # 1. After we passed this lock we made a left turn into the Erie Canal System.

This is Albany NY. Albany is the capital and is just south of Troy, where we spent a couple of days. There is quite a contrast between old building and new building in Albany. Quite a pretty city.

This is just another picture of a large home on the Hudson River. The Hudson River is a very beautiful river to boat on. Actually NY state has some of the most beautiful boating waters I've ever seen.

The following pictures are of light houses on the Hudson. They are not functional today and are being restored by private organizations to their original condition. All were quite beautiful.

The sun does not shine in paradise every day. When we entered Sandy Hook, NY it was cloudy, foggy and raining. Therefore we did not get the best view of the city that we could have had. The Statue of Liberty and the buildings were pretty much fogged in. We spent the night at Liberty Marina which is just up river from the Statue of Liberty. This morning we tackled New York Harbor again. Us and 5,000 ferry boats taking people to work in the city. It was a mad house starting up the Hudson River. To make matters worst we had a outflowing tide which only allowed us to travel at approximately 4 to 5 knots. HOWEVER the Pelican did her thing and held her course through the ordeal. We traveled over the spot where the plane landed in the Hudson. It was touching to think about a plane floating in the Hudson eactly where we were. Finally we got out of the city and were able to view some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. The Palisades (on the left shore of the Hudson) were beautiful. As we continued North we began seeing mountains and boated right through the middle of them. WOW, WOW, WOW.

We passed West Point and then went through Worlds End, which is the deepest part of the Hudson River. I've enclosed a picture of the depth sounder reading. Just a little different than what we have in the Trent River. Tonight we are at the Newburgh Yacht Club and plan to visit Kingston Tuesday.