Vermilion

Thanks Bill, Susan, and Joelee for advice on sending more than one picture. Now if I can figure out how to space them better. We'll save that for another blog.

We sailed/motored under a black cloud from Vermilion to Cleveland today. It finally dropped a few sprinkles on us as we entered the Cleveland Harbor. This is the first time I have been to

Cleveland by land or by sea, so I want to do a little sightseeing by bike and taxi. We plan to stay here through the 4th, so we'll get to see Cleveland's fireworks.

Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island in Lake Erie didn't quite match the picture in my head developed from Lou's stories. It is cute, but not that cute. The mooring field probably has 80 mooring balls and I counted 15 sailboats and 5 power boats. I'm not sure if that's a sign of the economy or the weather. There's a water taxi that runs from 8 am to midnight so people aren't "stuck" on their boats. In fact, they want to make it easy to go ashore and leave some cash in the T-shirt shops, restaurants, and bars. Unlike Mackinac Island, there are cars --- and hundreds of golf carts.

It was an easy sail to the next port - Vermilion. It's located on the Vermilion River and is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE. The houses along the river and side canals are all white and well tended. We took our bikes off the boat and rode around town before and after dinner. After we were tied up to a wall another boat arrived and tied up behind us. It was a beautiful Jeanneau sailboat. Just to give a few comparisons:

Papa Bear (Jeanneau) Mama Bear (us)

54 feet long 40 feet long

5 1/2 feet of freeboard 3 feet of freeboard

dingy davits no davits

bow thrusters no bow thrusters

Vocabulary:

freeboard - distance between the water and deck

davits - fancy system to hold the dingy out of the water

bow thrusters - motors that push the bow right or left (We use arm power.)

We've noticed a few differences in the ports we've been in so far:

Northern Lake Huron ports - empty

Detroit - very quiet

Put-in-Bay - high winds made the rigging "sing"

Vermilion - busy train tracks about 2 blocks away

Cleveland - airport "next door" and busy 4 lane highway very close by

Fortunately, when we are snug in our cabin, we don't hear (actually we have trouble hearing anything) the outside noises. What we can hear is the splashing under the transom. It's enough to drive you crazy.

The lake levels are up again this year so we need to use a 2 step step ladder to get on and off the boat. Thank you Mike and Marlene.

We've had some hitchhikers on the boat:

*hundreds of pesky flies

*thousand of gnats

*one small bird

*one large bee or yellow jacket

The little bird rode on our bow rail for quite awhile. He must have needed a little rest. The bee came aboard and settled on the cooler lid. He must have thought it was the biggest flower he'd ever seen. He stayed a couple of hours and looked like he was taking a nap. He finally left after we docked in Cleveland

Now it's raining and cold so we'll probably watch a movie tonight. All the comforts of home in 550 square feet.