Detroit to Cleveland

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

We left Detroit on Wednesday morning and headed south to transit  the final leg of the Detroit River, enter Lake Erie and proceed to Put-In-Bay, Ohio, a passage of about 55 miles.  Once clear of the marina we encountered the Ambassador Bridge which connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.  Cruiser’s tradition requires that cruisers who are  retired shout “No more Mondays” as they pass under this bridge.  Who are we to challenge tradition?

The Detroit River south of the downtown area is a heavily industrial collection of oil refineries, steel mills and power plants.  Not much to look at really but important none the less.  While southbound, we were passed by a Coast Guard Cutter and a short time later we began hearing radio traffic between this cutter and a large ocean going freighter that was northbound on the river.  The Coast Guard ordered this vessel to slow to six knots so that they could put a boarding party onto the ship.  A short time later we passed the ship as it was being boarded by the Coast Guard.

Before starting this adventure we spent a lot of time researching equipment, boats, sails, engines, and so on.  Some of the research was actually pretty boring reading.  The more enjoyable research was learning about destinations.  One such destination was Put-in-Bay Ohio, an island in Lake Erie.  Never ones to pass on an island, we thought we would make Put-In-Bay our first destination on Lake Erie. 

Put-In-Bay is a beautiful place that everyone in Ohio seems to know about but that no one else we know has ever heard of.  A touristy place, the island has restaurants, shops, an impressive monument to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, more themed bars than residents and lots of live music.

We pulled into the Island’s mooring field at about 4:00 P.M. and hailed the Water Taxi Service.  There is no place to land a dinghy on the island and so you must use the water taxi to get to shore.  The Water Taxi also administers the mooring field and collects payment for the moorings.  The taxi service is included in your daily rental for the mooring.  

It has been a couple of years since we have had to pick up a mooring.  The procedure for this involves one person at the helm while another hangs over the bow rail with a boat hook trying to get hold of the round pendant on the top of the mooring ball.  Needless to say we were not successful on our first attempt but eventually were able to secure the boat and provided some entertainment to the other boats in the mooring field in the process.  

Daughter Jennifer had forwarded our mail to the Island’s Post Office and on Thursday we walked there arriving at 12:30 PM to find that the Post Office is closed from 12:00 to 2:00 for lunch.  Wow, talk about island time. 

The primary method of transport around the island, at least for visitors is the golf cart, both motorized and electric. There are several outlets where they can be rented by the hour or by the day and they can be seen zipping all over the island. While we waited for the Post Office to reopen, we rented a golf cart and buzzed all over the island for a couple of hours. 

Each night at sunset the Boardwalk Marina has a flag lowering ceremony in which they blast patriotic music across the mooring field.  After the flag is down, boats chime in with their boat horns.  Afterwards, the water taxis get busy for the island night life as people go ashore to experience the many restaurant, bars and music venues.   

To get to Put-In-Bay, we had traveled over 500 miles and were feeling pretty good about ourselves - until we saw the distance sign to Key West.  This sign reminded us that we needed to get moving.  So, Friday morning we let loose of our mooring, took on diesel at the fuel dock and headed east towards Cleveland and our destination there, the Whiskey Island Marina. 

Never having been to these ports before, we are never sure what we will find once we arrive, but in this case, a good clue might have been the name of the marina.   On our arrival, the marina answered on our first hailing and three beefy type guys all wearing the same yellow shirts with “Security” on the back were at our assigned slip to assist.  We noted that there was another boat in the slip and the security guys were apparently getting the guy to move.   We stood off, circling until order was restored and we were able to dock in our assigned slip.

On the way in to Cleveland we were listening to a local radio station and heard that the hated New York Yankees were in town to play the Indians that night and that the Browns would be playing the Eagles as well.   The big controversy on local talk radio was how Cleveland had recently banned alcoholic beverages in their sports venue parking lots on game days.

Based on our observations at the Whiskey Island Marina there was no lack of adult beverages, with most people carrying at least a 12 pack of beer and a lot of them having trouble with their balance,   We are thinking that Cleveland has a ways to go in the temperance department.

Once docked, we headed to the marina office to check in.  On the way,  we couldn’t help but notice more beefy guys with yellow shirts, some with german shepherd K9 type dogs.  This is what we get for checking into a place called the Whiskey island Marina.

Later we found that there was going to be a band playing at the marina.  They really take security seriously there.  There was a large crowd of locals all of whom we found to be well behaved, friendly and the band was pretty good too.

See our albums page for additional photos from this time period.