Three Days at Hard Labor

 

The first half hours on Lake Ontario looked pretty

Sounds like a jail sentence uttered by a judge, and that’s exactly what it felt like.

After only one night in Cobourg, it looked like we had a weather window the next day to make the 8-1/2 hour crossing of Lake Ontario.  As it turned out, the Lake didn’t read the same forecast that we did.

We got up at zero dark thirty so we could be underway at 0600, and initially enjoyed the crystal-clear blue-green water.  But within an hour, the winds kicked up to 15-20 knots and the waves went to 2-3’ with a very short period.  The Great Lakes are notorious for quickly changing their nature, and making the waves more uncomfortable by having a very short period (2-3 seconds).  By comparison, the ocean can have 9-10 second periods when it’s calm, and 3-5 seconds when it gets rough.  On the lake today, we definitely had to change course, and for one of the few times we’ve been boating, we considered turning around to go back to the marina.  Fortunately, after another ½ hour, the winds died enough that we decided to continue the trip.  But after 8-1/2 hours of a very rough ride, we felt tired and beat up.  And then there was the Welland.

Heading to the first lock, a surprise comes around
the corner!  Oh, all right, we'll let him have
the right of way!

We had planned to tie up at a free wall below the first lock of the Welland Canal, but found out that it was full. So we anchored for the night around the corner of the canal so we could join the other boats at 0630 the next morning.  We started our trek up the Welland just after 0700 with two other boats, one of which rafted up next to us in each lock to avoid the water turbulence when filling the lock.

The lock walls were massive, especially
where 3 locks are right next to each other.
The lower gate of one is the upper gate
of the next lock

Most of the locks were relatively easy, and we handled them better than some on the Erie Canal.  But then #7 lock got us.  The turbulence was so bad that it pushed our 22-ton boat against the concrete wall so hard that we burst one of our fenders.  It was a real cowboy ride, and our boat now has the battle scars to prove it.  We finally got through the 8^th and final lock, having spent 7 hours fighting the lines and fenders, and went right to a marina around the corner.  We were exhausted after two hard long days.

A casualty of the Welland Canal

At Lock 8 we tied up for an hour to let 2 ships lock down bound.

But the weather looked good enough (at least it was marginally-good) the next day to try to cross Lake Erie.  And again, the weather guessers didn’t send a copy of their marine forecast to the wind & waves of Lake Weary.  The seas were not dangerous, but we had an extremely uncomfortable ride, having to hang on to something the entire trip.  This ain’t my definition of “pleasure” boating.  And after 7 hours of this, we finally arrived at Erie PA again feeling exhausted and beat up.

But there is no rest for the weary.  That afternoon at Erie, we rented a car so that during the next 2 days we could make the 8-hour drive right back east to Waterford NY, where we had been just a mere 4 weeks ago.  We had to retrieve our plants and personal items that we could not take into Canada.  As the interstate highway crossed the Erie Canal at various places, we said “I’ve been there!”

Outside Presque Isle, a replica of O. H. Perry's second
flagship "Niagara".  Click on the photo to see the
man on the main top gallant sail.

So now we’re spending a couple days in Erie PA doing nothing but enjoying some R & R.  We’ll do a little sightseeing, since this is where Commodore Perry built his fleet for the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813.  And next week, we’ll be close to Put-in-Bay Ohio where the battle was actually fought.