Middle Bass Island

Today we took advantage of a special offer from the Boardwalk Restaurant to go over to Middle Bass Island. They threw in a free bike rental and $5 food coupon for each of us. We wanted to check out the new State Park Boat Marina that several people had mentioned previously at Kelleys Island.

The boat marina is brand new, in fact so new that there is absolutely no shade at all. It is basically a corn field with boats floating in it. Looks super hot. There are temporary buildings for showers, etc, but no running water at the docks as the EPA will not give the State of Ohio permission to provide water to the boaters at this time.

The picture is of Lonz Winery, which the State of Ohio bought to create this new State park on Middle Bass. You may recall that Lonz is where a bunch of people were injured when a deck collapsed from too many people on it a few years ago.

It was a nice visit but glad we only went for 2.5 hours.

Came back to South Bass where Put n Bay is located. Joy went for a kayak trip around the bay while I went over to the Perry monument and talked to one of the park rangers for about 30 minutes. Very interesting young man. Likes to teach but not in a four wall classroom.

Going to hear an all women country band tonight at the Beer Barrel Saloon, home of the world's longest bar.

Leaving for Vermilion after breakfast tomorrow

Joe

I'm pretty silent on the blog as this is definitely Joe's thing. He loves to take pictures and write something every day. If it was up to me you would probably hear every 2 weeks.

Last evening as were were taking the water taxi to shore, we met Dan and Sue, who left Lake Superior a few weeks ago, plan to go up the St Lawrence Seaway and end up in the Caribbean this winter. Shared stories and contact information over lobster bisque. Perhaps our paths will cross again. We will follow them on their blog to keep in touch.

Being on a mooring (or anchor) is so much nicer than a marina. The boat always faces into the breeze, so it is cooler, and with 90 degree days, a little breeze helps. Last night we put up our "wind chute", which looks like a kite, fills with air, and chutes it down the hatch over our heads while sleeping. We also can use our grill on a mooring, but not in a marina, because of the propane. This evening we enjoyed pork tenderloin, baked beans, applesauce, and cantaloupe. Thanks to Jennifer who was on the phone when I was looking for a good rub for the meat- mustard, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil worked well!

Look for my blog additions occassionally. Joy

PUT N BAY

Hello

After church at St Michael's on Kelleys Island we left for South Bass Island, which has on it the resort village of Put n Bay and the Perry Peace Memorial. St. Michaels is a very small church but it was full.

Uneventful trip over to South Bass Island, the navigation system seems to work properly and we are still finding new aspects of it daily.

We are on a mooring in the middle of the Harbor. A mooring is simply a chain attached to a large concrete block sitting on the bottom of the harbor. Much cheaper than docking, in fact it will cost us only $30/night plus tips for the water taxi kids. Went to the supermarket, all island prices are high. One place sells M&Ms for $1.75, which back in Cleveland cost about $.99 max.

We got a $5 coupon for drinks for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we are going to Middle Bass Island for the first time. The water taxi company has a special deal which includes money for lunch and free bike rental.

Here are some pictures of the view from the boat in the harbor including Perry's Peace Memorial

Joe

KELLEYS ISLAND - DAY 2

Hi

Went to the North Shore Beach at Kelleys Island. This was the greatest number of boats and people at the beach in all the times we have visited Kelleys.

At dinner listened to a good band featuring Kristen Jackson, who kind of reminded me of Janis Joplin, same sound. We talked to Kristen during the break, she is from Elyria, has been doing music professionally for 7 years, ie that is she makes enough money at it to eat and sleep. She started out as a classical trumpet player thinking about going to play in a major orchestra, but discovered the Blues when she was a sophomore in college. Could not find someone to sing her original compositions, so she started singing them herself.

Kristen is involved in a group called KickingTheCancerBlues.org

Bye for now

Joe

Kelleys Island

Arrived at Kelleys Island yesterday in the late afternoon. Today was a job day, that means not a vacation day but a day to do some chores. The biggest chore was walking down to the other marina in town and doing laundry. Seems that the place we stay at, Portside, does not have
laundry facilities. Went to Seaway Marina and had lunch while the clothes dried.

Joy has been tracking down the leaks in her dinghy. After calling the dealer, we were told to tighten the air valves. Of course, we could have read this if we had read the manual. Guess it
pays to read what they give you with the product when you buy it. However, we have to
pull the dinghy up on the dock, loosen one valve and tighten a nut behind it. That sounds like a good job for tomorrow.

Here is a picture of the place we are staying at along with a picture of our boat.

We are off to Put n Bay Sunday morning.

Joe

FINALLY

We have finally left Cleveland on this adventurous part of our life. Joy reminded me that we are not on a 2 year vacation, we have to watch how we spend our funds, and can not go out to eat 3 times a day. Although Kellys Island had some interesting items on the menus of the restaurants we looked into tonight.

We arrived at Kellys after a 8.5 hour motor sail travelling about 6 knots per hour at 2100 rpm with both sails helping a little. The lake was extremely flat, hot and humid. Front went through about 8 pm and now it is raining.

Here for a couple of days. Joy needs to find a place to wash her clothes either here or at the next place, Put in Bay.

We will be back in Cleveland for a couple of days next week to get our canvas project completed by Clarence. Clarence has sailed all over North America, got into the canvas business as a way of supporting a boating life. He has been at it for 23 years.

Joe

CLEVELAND TALL SHIPS PARADE

On Wednesday, July 7, we took some friends out to watch the Tall Ships parade down the Inner Harbor. These ships are really something to see.

One of them, the Appledore V stayed in our Marina on B dock Tuesday night. It is crewed by five high school students with three adults.

Joe

READY TO GO!

Hi Everyone

Well we are finally ready to go, or at least 98% ready. Today our boat mechanic was supposed to come and show us some simple repair/maintenance items but he never showed up. We called his office but he was out saving a boat that was sinking.
Guess, they needed his help more than we did.

So John from the boat yard is coming tomorrow to get us ready. Also tomorrow is the Cleveland Tall Ship Parade, hope to have some good pictures to post. We plan a short trip to the islands in the western part of Lake Erie for a week to get our feet wet and visit them. The three places, Kelly Island, Put in Bay and Vermilion are all great places to visit, and yet all completed different.

Put in Bay is the noisy bar crowd, Vermilion is the town where everything is a five minute walk and Kellys Island is like visiting part of America from the 50's except there is great Mexican food just feet from the marina. Growing up in the Midwest in Cleveland, Ohio, we did not have any Mexican food near our house. My parents were meat and potatoes.

So we are getting ready to push off. The rigging job has been completed, and we are off in two days. It has been extremely hot, 90 degrees plus the last two days and was over 80 last night and we have no air conditioning on High Spirits.


Joe