Lake Eire

An early start took us running out of the mouth of the Detroit River into Lake Eire, we had about 3 knots of current pushing us along.  Lake Eire was calm with almost no wind we tried  putting up the spinnaker it went up and down a couple of times  but eventually the wind picked up and we cruised along and managed a couple of hours of quiet progress.

The only thing worth noting is that we now know what flies the fish flies are !!  They stink like lake trout and we were inundated with them YUK.  They leave a green slime when you squish them, who would have thought that the woollen duster we inherited with Adriana would be so useful.

Captain woollen duster 

We knew the wind was going to pick up, so we had an early dinner of beef curry from the freezer.  The air was still warm we were in shorts and t-shirts, but we could see the storm clouds building on the horizon. 

Around sunset the wind started to pick up and we were flying along. it was still incredibly mild.  The thunder clouds rolled in, there was only a crescent moon lighting up the skies.  

We were heading down the lake to the end so there was land on the horizon on both side, cities on the American side giving off a faraway glow and the red lights from the wind turbines on the Canadian side.

The wind increased but so did the size of the waves.  Lake Eire has a reputation of blowing up quickly because it is so shallow.  They will issue a strong wind warning in Australia at 25 knots but in Canada they issue one at 15 knots, we now know why, the shallowness of the lake produces short sharp waves and today they were growing into large short sharp waves, only 10 mt apart.  Then the lightening started.  Craig hates lightening!!!  

What it is like sailing at night but wait for the lightening 

What a show Lake Eire put on for us, we were flying along - Adriana didn’t disappoint, she cut through those waves, dodged the lightening and sailed on through the night.  

At one stage she peaked at 9.8knots - her optimum hull speed, she hummed, the hull started vibrating – that’s where the term humming along comes from.   

It wasn’t long after that that Craig realised; we were maybe going a bit too fast in these conditions.  So, we furled in the headsail and reduced the mainsail to about ¼.  And wow we were still flying along at 8 knots with only the smallest sail out.  There was still lighting striking all around us and the temperature was still really mild. 

Eventually around 4 in the morning we hit a really choppy patch, where we seemed to just stop, our gages still showed 4 knots but the lights on the horizon didn’t seem to move past us.  After about half an hour of being bashed around on went the engine and we ploughed on through the big choppy swell. 

We were heading to a public docking area at the entrance to the Wellan Canal.  As the sun rose we were motoring through huge rolling waves, the thunder and lightning storm abated and rolled away behind us, the thunderstorm had lasted for hours.  Craig went below for a quick nap and my job was to keep a watch on the chart plotter checking that we were staying on course, it would beep if any ships on AIS came into range and I had to check that I could see them.  I also had to keep a watch on the horizon front and rear for any lights/vessels not on AIS.  We did not pass anything else out on Lake Eire that night only the huge freighters.

Craig awoke about an hour from the entrance, I wish I had taken a photo of Craig at the wheel as he navigated our way past the break wall into the canal entrance we were punching through the high seas.  I now know what the term “High Seas” means we seemed to be sitting really high on top of the waves being pushed forward by the swell, riding much higher than usual.  As the sea was so rough we couldn’t put out our fenders getting ready for docking, until we were within the shelter of the canal behind the break wall.  I had to steer Adriana up the channel keeping her in the centre was a bit of a challenge in the strong winds while Craig made us ready for docking. We had to manoeuvre back and forward a few times to get the right angle for me to throw a line over the bollard on the dock, but eventually I managed to snag it and tie the rope around the cleat, Craig did the same at the stern. Once we were tied up securely, we had a high five a big hug and then a moment, so relieved to have made it across Lake Eire, through the lightning and huge winds and into a port.  I didn’t mention we were running down the shipping channel so the AIS would beep whenever any freighters were close.  But that kept us busy through the night. We did have the Coast Guard radio on the whole time.  We had travelled 180 Nautical Miles from Pele Island to Port Colborne, the entrance to the Welland Canal.

We had to call the St Lawrence Seaway Port Authority to check  in and pay for our transit $240 CA. we told the where we were tied up and they said relax you will be going through at 9am on Tuesday morning, it’s a new policy they only let pleasure craft through on Tues, Wed and Thursday, so we had an extra day to recover.   The dock we were tied up to is a free dock for transient boats entering or exiting the Welland Canal, there is a Marina around the corner and we had a visit from someone from the marina saying the slip was reserved and we would have to move to the marina, Craig politely told him we were not moving, he made a phone call and came back to say it was alright for us to stay where we were, we think he was trying to scam us into using the Marina. After we had showered, and we were chatting to the guy on the boat next to us who was just about to leave after passing through the canal, we had a visit from the Border Patrol Customs officers there were 4 of them and 2 came on board Adriana.  We think the St Lawrence seaway people must have contacted them.  We had to explain our Australian flag, show our proof of purchase, show our Australian passports and Canadian visa emails. When we had entered Canada coming in through the airport  everything was processed electronically and we had no stamp on our passport to show visa status or arrival date in Canada.  Our visitors very kindly stamped our passports for Canadian entry.  They were happy we could prove who we were and verify our story with relevant paperwork, they said we would be surprised how many people just arrive in Canada by boat probably with no intention of leaving again.

We went for a walk to stretch our legs and have a look around, Port Colborne is very pretty around the dock area in front of where we were parked,  with lots of cafes and gift shops.  We found a guy selling marinated beef rolls outside of a gourmet butchers shop  - they were delicious.  Being a Sunday most of the shops were closed and they were closed Monday too in fact there were more shops open on the Sunday than the Monday. After a walk around we had an ice cream and headed back to Adriana for a sleep.  When we woke up around 5pm we were like zombies.  Craig cooked a chilli beef and whipped up some sausage rolls ready for Tuesday.  Monday we did some had washing, cleaned up, did a grocery shop.  We also walked to the local hardware where among other things we picked up an electric kettle.  As we have solar panels we have free power during the day but we have to pay for gas and the gas can get expensive and hard to source in other countries.  As Adriana is American built all her power sockets are US so anything electrical, we want will need to be bought before we leave USA, we are thinking we might pick up an induction hot plate too.  We picked up a power socket with 2 usb charging sockets.  I left Craig installing the new power point and I wandered off on my own and had a look around I picked up a couple of new paperbacks at an op shop.  I found the local museum and library and they were opposite a laundromat so back I went to pick up Craig and our bedlinen. We spent an half an hour or so at the museum and sat in the library using their free Wi-Fi until the clothes were dry. An early dinner and we collapsed still exhausted from our overnight sail.

Tuesday we were up bright an early excited but nervous about our Welland Canal transit.  There was only a power boat travelling through with us and they had done the transit before, so we just followed them. We were ready by 9am but didn’t get the green light to pass under the first bridge until 10am. This bridge was directly in front of where we had been tied up.

The bridge had to lift in the centre to let us through.  The first lock we just bobbed around in while the water dropped a few feet.  Then we motored for 10 nm (18.2km) we went under the next bridge and into our first real lock.  As we were entering, we were parallel with the guys on shore, Craig had to motor close to the wall so they guys could throw on the 2 ropes.  I held on to one at the bow and Craig held the other one at the stern.  The idea was just to hold the boat in place and let the rope out as we descend.  
There were 6 locks after the first easy one.  The stressful part was keeping Adriana from crashing into the wall, at one point there must have been a water outlet in the wall next to us and Adriana’s stern was sucked into the side, causing the solar panels to crash into the wall (there was no major damage)  We used the boat hook and a walking stick Bill had left on board to fend ourselves off the wall.  In Warton we had purchased a huge 24” orange buoy and that was our saving factor it was worth every penny. 

We had to work hard keeping back from the boat in front of us 

We had to keep away from the wall 

And we had to pass through a few of these bridges 

Another stressful part was keeping a safe distance from the motor boat in front of us.  We also had to change the sides that the fenders were on between a couple of the locks so I had to steer while Craig repositioned the fenders as quickly as he could.  Craig worked hard all day accelerating - reversing and using the bow thrusters.  I was at the bow in the sun most of the time it was a big long day but we were through by about 4pm.  

Just around the corner from the Canal exit there was a pretty little bay called Chicken Bay where we dropped the anchor.  The water looked really clean and the temp 24.5c we jumped in to cool down, we don’t have an actual temperature gauge on board but I pulled the one out of the fridge it rose to 30c but I think it was hotter we couldn’t tell as that was the highest temp the thermometer went up to.  After a swim a beer and the sausage rolls we didn’t get to eat earlier we tidied up ready for an early dinner and collapsed into bed exhausted.  Lucky there was no wind as we slept solid through the night. 

One of the last locks of the day 

we made it,  the exit out into Lake Ontario

Sausage Rolls at Chicken Bay

Lake Ontario

The next morning, we were up and away by 6am out across Lake Ontario we decided not to head towards Toronto but to keep going, we had visited the city when we first arrived and I had driven down with Heather.  We are also very aware of how far we have to go and how cold it is going to get here very soon.  Winter is coming.  

We could just see Toronto on the horizon

There was a nice breeze and we moseyed along at about 4knots but by midday the wind had dropped, up went the spinnaker but there was nothing, so on went the engine.  We busied ourselves showers to freshen up the running the engine heats up the water, we made nice salad wraps for lunch and watched the passing scenery.  You can see ripples on the water when there is breeze so as we approached these patches up would go the big red spinnaker but we still couldn’t catch any wind we were motoring along in the centre of lake Ontario its huge just like an ocean.  

After a nice dinner of fried rice cooked by Craig we prepared for another overnight passage, we have on hand water, snacks (our favourite is rice thins and peanut butter we don fleecy jumpers and have our wet weather gear ready and blankets ready if needed.  
The wind started to pick up  - this time there had been no indication on the weather reports of any wind increases we had all the sails up heading NE down the lake, the wind was coming from North West in increased 15 -18 knots then 20-22 knots the seas kept increasing and increasing the waves got bigger and bigger and as usual on the lake they are close and sharp pounding into Adriana. 

Don't watch if you get sea sick 

We had to endure about 10 hours of incessant waves and high winds, we were heeled over so it was not very comfortable, Craig managed a bit of a sleep sitting up early on and I kept watch.  
We could see the flashing red of the wind farms on the Canadian side and the glow from the cities on the US side.  I had to keep watch that the wind direction did not change and keep an eye on the chart plotter for any ships on AIS and the horizon for any ships not on AIS and that we were staying on course.  
I think most sane people stick close to the edge of the lake and day hop  form Marina to Marina but not us we pushed through the night straight down the centre.  
Dawn broke and the sun came up with no change in the sea state, wind strength or direction.  We were still being pounded and heeled over one thing that was good was that the wind direction did not change and so we were traveling in one straight line the whole time and heading in the right direction.
Once the sun was up Craig had another short sleep with I kept an eye on the horizon.  I found it first a great little secure spot to lie down when Adriana is heeled over.

A welcome Sunrise

One it was daylight Craig took the wheel for a while to see if he could navigate a smoother path through the swell but there was no rhythm to the seas. Around 10am things started to calm down, the boat righted herself and the seas abated, so much so that eventually we were becalmed and we had to motor to our destination Amherst Island in Stella Bay.   We dropped the anchor in a lovely little bay with the hum of a power plant in the background.  We certainly have left the remote North Channel far behind us.