June 21. Au revoir Chicago City.

June 14th. Entering Chicago at sunset

June 14th. Mackinack I, MI to Chicago, Il

June 13th. Alpena, MI to Mackinac I,MI

June 12th. St. Claire Shores, MI to Alpine, MI

June 12. St. Claires Shores, MI to Alpena, MI

Today was going to be about a 12 hour day navigating to the next desired port: Mackenac Island. Mark wanted to leave early so we could make it, but while the rental car got returned, the dragon flies dealed with, the honorable salutations done … we departure at 9:00.

We cruised the St Claire River North for three and a half hours from where we could see Canada on the starboard side and the US on the portside.

At 12:30 we passed under the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, MI which dropped us into Lake Huron, the current was very strong there.

We went across Lake Huron in five and a half hours averaging 23 knots. We couldn’t go any faster because we had the wind on the nose.

Mark didn't want to have a crazy day and pull up at Mackinac Island, MI at night so he made the executive decision of stopping in Thunder Bay. At 18:00 we pulled up at Alpina Yacht Club.

Stephanie was our dock attendant for the evening. No Internet signal… that was an issue!.

We separated: the guys went provisioning, the crew washed the boat. The town kept “Jon Lau” restaurant open for us –every thing closes at 21:00. We all went to dinner, had the cutest waitress, had drinks and Mark became “the potato man”.

June 11th. Ashtabula, OH to St, Claire Shores, MI

At 6:35 we were checking the oil, unplugged the cord, turn the engines on, cast off and left Ashtabula, OH. We wanted to make the 7 am opening. And we did.

At 7:00 we went under Ashtabula Bridge into Lake Erie. Around 10:31 we were going through “Rellee Passage”.

The weather today couldn’t been better: "0" knots, Calm, Winds light and variable and the height of the waves at the lake were under a foot.

At 11:41 we enter Detroit River.

We went by the Detroit River Light House.


http://www.photography-plus.com/image_pages/Detroit/DetroitRLight.htm

At 12:32 we went by metro Detroit (Wyandotte).

At 12:45 we passed the Ambassador Bridge which brings together Detroit and Winsor.

At 13:37 we pulled up at Jefferson Beach in St. Claire Shores, MI.

Then we put 456.42 gallons at 3.35 a gallon.

When the crew was getting ready to take a break and take a nap Mark called and said that he really, "reeeally" wanted his boat washed because he didn’t want to leave this particular port with a dirty boat. (The sunseeker dealer for the areas lives here!)...So while Mark drove five hours in a rental car from Chicago with two friends: Steve and Gary the boat was washed, most of the bugs scrubbed and almost ready to go.

Everybody was hungry, so we all went to have dinner at “the beach Grill” in the harbor, we met Steve's sister also.

When we got back to the boat it was covered with cute dragon flies, all over the place. So Mark is going to leave Jefferson Beach with a clean and shiny boat but covered with bugs, unless somebody rinses it in the morning.

June 10th. Port Delhousie , CA to Ashtabula, OH.

June 10^th. Port Delhousie, CA to Ashtabula, OH.

We left Port Delhousie, CA at 6:00 a little bit right after sunset.

. The St. Lawrence Seaway has three sections:

· Montreal/Lake Ontario (Origin of Seaway to Cape Vincent)

· Lake Ontario (Cape Vincent to Breakwater, Port Weller)

· Welland Canal (Breakwater. Port Weller to Long Point).

In the Welland Canal, because of the higher incidence of water turbulence, “all upbound pleasure craft transiting from Locks 1 to 7 must have a minimum of three persons on board”.

In Port Weller in St. Catharine, at 6:48, we were picking up our pilot Roger, ex lock crew. Roger played the “third person” also.

Transit may exceed 12 hours and the crew should be prepared to man the craft continuously for that time, but the fact that Roger knew every one in the canal, helped to expedite the openings.

There is a ferry crossing at Port Robinson near Nautical Mile 12.5. The wakes can wash over the ferry boarding docks and splash waiting passengers. So No Wake is strictly reinforced.

There is a $200 toll for the canal.

http://www.wellandcanal.com/

http://www.wellandcanal.com/

http://www.mtbr.com/trails/canada-ontario/wellandcanaltrail.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Welland_Canal

We waited at the entrance of the Welland Canal that was going to raise us about 300 ft from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie on the St. Lawrece Seaway, a total of 26.1 nautical miles. (Info to be updated) The assigned VHF channels are 68 and 8.

Lock #1 was thriller! It was Ximena’s first monster lock. She thought she was going to fall overboard holding on to the bow line. The experience was pretty close to a rollercoaster fall. This lock is the tamer and waking up. After this lock she graduated! The locks filled up 25 millions gallons of water in 12 minutes (info to be updated), that created a very strong movement of water.

Lock #3 to #6 are like one huge one with three chambers. At 8:20 we were going through the third lock into the chambers.

The rest of the monster locks were a piece of cake with the exception of lock #7 that sounds like a train is going to break through the walls. It was the last one with Roger he jumped off the boat and kept his way. So did us.

ise us in to the Erie Lake. This was

We were passing lock #7 at 9:38. At (9:50 we were out of lock # 7 and Roger jumped off the boat).

From Lock #7 to #8 there are 13 miles and is only a 2’ lift.

At 11:30 we were approaching lock #8 that will raise us in to the Erie Lake. This was our last lock of the trip of a total 38 locks that we did on Sayonara II.

At 12:17 we pulled up at Port Colbonrne, CA to fill up and get ready to go back to US waters. We put in around 1700 litters or 447 gallons of diesel.

At 13:14 we were back out into the Erie Lake. We cruised across Erie Lake at about 23 knots for about five hours and fifteen minutes until we got to Ashtabula, OH bridge in Ashtabula, OH.

Nancy, the queen of the town is interested in buying a 64 ft boat was waiting at the dock for us.

At 17:35 we pulled up at Sutherland marine. She owes half of the marinas in the town and the Oil business in the area. She provided us with 310 gallons of diesel that will get us ready to get to Detroit, MI tomorrow.

We had an early dinner at “Bridge Street Bistro”.

After that she gave us a ride to one of her marinas, showed us her house and her boat, and the new canal that she is dredging in order to fit bigger boats in the next couple of years.