So I stuck around Put-In-Bay, not a bad place to be stuck. Put-In-Bay is the town, the island is South Bass. Its not a real big island, but too big to walk and see it. Golf cart rentals are a very big business, but I opted to rent a moped and took a self guided tour.
The most prominent landmark is the Oliver Perry monument.
When I first saw this, I thought the squared top looked a little odd, but then I found out it was scaffolding as it is being renovated. It now is added to the growing list of things on this trip that were being renovated when I visited. Normally there is an observation deck at the top of the 352 foot structure, but of course it was closed during the renovation. The name Put-In-Bay is attributed to Commadore Perry because after he defeated a British fleet in the war of 1812 just off the island he said "put em in the bay" when asked what to do with the captured ships. I spent quite a bit of time at the visitor's center and now know more than I ever thought possible about the naval battle and Oliver Perry.
There are a number of wineries on the island and I stopped at one, but did not elect to take the tour or taste the wine. Mostly because I was driving the moped and also because it was mostly chablis and other fruity wines, which I can do without.
I went back to the southwestern tip of the island and strolled the grounds of the lighthouse I saw on the way in. It sits on a rocky point.
Up close, its age of 115 years shows. It is no longer a working lighthouse and is on the Ohio Historical sites list.
I also spent a fair amount of time at the fish hatchery, which is run by Ohio State University and is staffed by students. Another educational event.
Night time did not get too wild and crazy, at least not for me. I planned an early morning departure, but of course the captain slept in a little and it was after 9 when I untied from the boat I was rafted to. It looked like he had some fun planned for the weekend.
It was a fairly straight shot to the mouth of the Detroit River because I took a short cut through Canada. I even had lunch there. I was actually in Canadian waters for only about 45 minutes and during this time I ate the chicken sandwich I had made before leaving Put-In-Bay. Technically, I could not have docked in Canada because I do not have my passport with me. Its ok to cruise in Canadian waters as long as you don't stop there. If you do stop, you have to clear customs and I might be a little over the limit of one case of beer that you can bring in.
Along the way I passed Middle Sister Island, which is in Canada.
East Sister Island is also in Canada, but West Sister is in Ohio. All tolled there are about 30 islands in Lake Erie. It depends on how you count Hen Island, which has three smaller islands around it. Big Chicken, Chick and Little Chicken. Apparently they are not always included in the count. I only mention these because I think Denise will like the names.
As I got closer to the mouth of the Detroit River I started encountering a lot of commercial traffic.
I guess the river ends at the Detroit River Light.
Starting around this point and continuing for at least a couple of miles the water had much more algae in it. I think this picture captures the point.
For the first few miles the river is pretty wide, but eventually it narrows to a shipping channel that is not very wide and can be quite congested. Its easy to see who has the right of way.
There is also an upbound shipping lane to the east of the strip of land on the right, above, but it looked like all of the pleasure craft were staying in this downbound channel, so I did too. I stayed as far away as I could from the commercial traffic, but it was still pretty close.
I knew I would encounter an opposing current and it really became apparent in this channel when I dropped 1.5 MPH.
It was still a few miles to Detroit and the scenery started to change as I got closer.
Note the storm clouds. T-storms were in the forecast and just about the time I was in downtown Detroit, they caught me. While there was thunder and lightening, that stayed to the south of me. I just got wind and rain.
On the other side of the river is Windsor, Ontario.
At this point the river has taken a turn more to the east and while the storm had more or less passed, I started catching the back end of it. It was only another couple of miles to Lake St Clair and I wasn't interested in going out on the lake in a storm, so I putted around downtown for almost an hour until it looked like it was clearing. I also figured I couldn't make an anchorage I had identified in the northwest part of the lake, so made a call to a marina about 6 or 7 miles up the western shore.
By the time I was tied to the dock, the storm was past, but the rain lingered a little while longer. Had I known my speed was going to go back to normal on the lake to around 9 miles an hour and that the rain was ending for the night, maybe I could have made the anchorage.
But here I am in St Clair Shores, Michigan. More t-storms are in tomorrow's forecast, so I'll have to wait see what the cruising plans will be. This is an interesting spot for boaters. They call it the "nautical mile" and there are 2500 boat slips in several marinas along this strip.
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