Tonawanda had a Wednesday night music on the waterfront performance. The band drew about 70 boats. It's great to see cities embrace their waterways! Where we are moored they have canoes, kayaks and peddle boats to rent. People are fishing, teens are swimming and sight-seers bike or walk the shore paths. Buddy drew a crowd.

6/9/05 - Today is mast stepping day; Another Adventure becomes a sailboat again. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! We pulled into Smith Boy's Marina at 9am with  Sampatecho. Their mast was stepped first, then ours.

The process went smoothly and the mast was up by 11am. We rigged the lines and stays in 85 degree heat, departing through the Black Rock lock (say that 3 times over the radio for permission to lock) We arrived in the Erie Basin in Buffalo about 2pm. We spent the evening with US friends of Bradd & Maeve. Enjoyable folk.

6/10/05 - After pumping 4" of water out of the dinghy (the result of an impressive nightlong display of  lightning accompanied by instantaneous thunder claps) we were ready to depart for Port Colborne ON, Canada.

Now a sailboat we motored in no wind along the northern shore of Lake Erie, shrouded in fog while Barry finished wiring the radar. Enroute we called US immigration per their website and were told we did not have to clear out for Canada. Okay. Then we called Canadian Immigration 4 hours before arrival (per their site) and were told we didn't have to call until we arrived in the marina. That works for us. We raised the yellow quarantine flag and motored on. However, when we arrived and called we were told that we had to stay on the boat until the immigration officers arrived. No problem there, until we were told they had to drive there from Buffalo - perhaps an hour's wait.

Meanwhile, dockside at Sugarloaf Marina we got a surprise, no electricity! But they had a service called Hydro that proved satisfactory - you plug into it like electricity and it works the same... handy, eh?

Continuing on our alien saga, immigration arrived. They sent a 4 person team, all dressed in black fatigues, with big heavy black boots. They asked if Buddy had a passport. No? Well, he can and should get one being a member of an endangered species. What?? They gave us a brochure that explains how and where to get our pet legal.  We'll have to look further into that if we head out of the country again. After a thorough search of the boat they welcomed us to Canada and we took down the yellow flag.

Within 10 minutes of their departure we got another surprise.  No, this was a good one.  My brother Pat called to say hi and announced that on Wednesday he was in Green Bay trying out for the reality series "Survivor".  He felt that his interview went really well.  I never really thought about it before but he's the type of guy that could do it.  We'll keep you posted on his adventure and how it progresses.

Later that evening, we had drinks and dinner on Sampatecho, meeting their son Crawford, and friends Lou, Margaret, and Ken. It's interesting how good people are surrounded by good people.  We joked about Buddy's passport and came up with the idea of using Barry's old passport with a picture of Buddy glued onto it for his identification.  Do you think the officials would think that was funny???  Hard to say.....eh?

6/11/05 - We woke to find that we had been "lake flied" during the night. Yup, little green specks all over the boat we'd just cleaned and waxed two days ago. Out came the Bug & Tar remover and we went to work like true Winnebago sailors. Felt right at home. Local story? "Say, we never get those buggers here, eh?" followed by "What's that stuff you're using on the spots, eh?"

We did laundry and explored the town. Nice little lakeside village whose population doubles in the summer. Erie terminus of the Welland Canal. Barry photographed a pair of C&C sailboats that had T-boned on a port/starboard crossing during the Wednesday night race. Father-in-law (port) versus son-in-law. One boat has about $1,000US in damage to the pulpit and furler (came very close to dropping the rig). The other maybe $15,000 to replace the toe rail, repair a hole in the core hull and replace the deck at the genoa winch turning block. Word is they are still talking.

Maeve & Bradd drove us to see Niagara Falls - Ruth hadn't seen it. It remains an awesome display of water power. Bradd pointed out a barge trapped against an island just above the falls. He said a seaman was on the barge trying to secure it as is bumped down the river. When they rescued him after the barge snagged his hair had turned white from shock. I was impressed how the area around the falls had cleaned up. Bradd said that 15 years ago the government put in casinos. That attracted new money to rebuild the whole area. Impressive!

6/12/05 - Flied Again! Man these Canadians know how to make a Lake Winnebago couple feel at home! Another 85 degree hazy days with T-storms forecast. We joined our hosts on a provisioning trip to Costco coupled with sight-seeing along the Welland canal. All shipping coming to or departing the Great Lakes passes through this canal. We got to see a steady stream of vessels.

6/13/05 - Still in Port Colborne, got flied again last night. No winds... none! High temps are hitting the high 80's with no relief in sight until Wednesday. Ruth has gotten addicted to hydro... gotta love the air conditioning in these conditions. Even Buddy refuses to leave the harbor until the hot spell breaks.

6/14/05 - Mild rainstorms last night provided some relief from the heat and lake flies. This morning is clearer and cooler - mid 70's. Ruth's limping around, sprained her ankle on a curb at Niagara Falls - just can't let that girl wander around on her own.

6/15/05 - The heat wave broke, it's in the high 60's/low 70's and rainy. We've done some sight seeing and boat maintenance, otherwise just handing around the marina meeting folks. We were looking forward to the Weds night keelboat races but they were cancelled due to high winds and lightning.

6/16/05 - Still rainy - weather seems to get stuck in ruts here. Today we got visited by the Canadian Marine Police checking to make sure we had our clearance authorization number on board. Pleasant chaps, just checking numbers and burning Canadian fuel. One big change since 9/11... all the border units have found money for big fast patrol boats - 450 -800 hp is common on 25-30' inflatable cabined boats.  We've noticed this along our entire trip.

6/17-21/05 - The weather the past couple of days has been fantastic - sunny, mid-70's, light winds. Got a bit of dinghy maintenance done, helped a few neighboring boats with projects, went to the farmers market... waiting to move to Buffalo for the Lake Erie cruising race. After the race we'll be pushing west toward Detroit and Port Huron. We're ready to move on... this trip has given us itchy feet - a couple of days at a marina and we're ready to push on.

The best part of this trip is the fantastic people we've met! Every port, every anchorage, we've met boaters willing to share and help.

6/23/05 - Went for a sail last night, grilling out as we watched the Port Colborne fleet's Wednesday night races. Two divisions of 5 boats each raced an Olympic course with spinnakers in 13 knots of wind. Enjoyed watching the competition as we lazed along at 6-7 knots making shiskabobs. The evening gave us a chance to tune the boat in preparation for the Interclub Cruising Race.

Continue the journey

Return to the loop log

We've traveled quite a bit with Sampatecho as we're headed the same direction at the same speed - and we've enjoyed their company. Speaking of companies; they own and operate Cruising Solutions (www.cruisingsolutions.com) specializing in items for the serious cruiser.

AA in Tonawanda NY

Sampatecho heads for home

Clearing customs

We'd heard conflicting stories on what we had to do to clear Canadian and US customs. I stopped a Border Patrol boat in Tonawanda and asked. They didn't have phone numbers or details and suggested we go to the customs websites. We did and read that we had to phone 800-827-2851 and clear out of the US. When we phone they said no, call on entry and make your declarations. Next we called Canada, 888-226-7277, four hours before entry - per the website. We were told no, that's wrong... call  on entry to our destination port. We did and Ruth answered a long series of questions. At the end of the conversation she asked if we were cleared and could she go grocery shopping? The answer was no, wait for the boarding party to arrive from Buffalo. The swat team arrived and very courteously inspected the boat from end to end... asking if Buddy had a passport. We said no, explaining where and how we bought him and offering to call the store for them. While not required, a passport sounds like a good idea... hate to see Buddy in the slammer.

Mist rises over Niagara

Interestingly, no data transmission capability in this area of Canada. May be a Canadian licensing issue. Cell phones both work okay, though in roaming mode.

We opened a WIFI connection at the marina to give us e-mail and web access. Works well and is fast.

AA at Port Colborne, we're sailing...

This will be the last Port Colborne posting. Our next will be the 29th or 30th from Erie, PA after we've completed the cruising race (read big floating party).

Market day, Port Colborne