Bye bye Erie, Hello Welland Canal!

May 29, 2017: we left Rondeau Harbour and headed to Port Stanley. We called ahead to the “harbourmaster” to confirm we could safely anchor inside the breakwalls, and he turned out to be the lift bridge operator; but he confirmed it was calm inside and there were no other boats there.  When we arrived, we anchored in the area protected by breakwalls and dinghied in to town for groceries.  The lift bridge operator came out to greet us, and offered us a ride to the Foodland store, as he wasn’t sure if we would make it before closing if we walked. Vey nice!  We walked back along the river where many boats have private slips. There were also a large number of commercial fishing boats here. A very neat little town!

 

Waterfront at Port Stanley

Fishing Tugs in the Port Stanley Harbour

Port Stanley has a story about its name: It was named after the Earl of Derby, Lord Stanley, who’s son served as the Governor General of Canada and he donated one of the most sought after prizes in the world of sport – the Stanley Cup! (info credit to www.great-lakes-sailing.com)

A word about anchoring: you must learn how to do this well, and be sure to have better than the minimum required equipment. In Port Stanley, shortly after we returned with our groceries, a 30 knot wind came form a few storm cells moving through, but we held.

Weather is coming!

We left Port Stanley the next day for the southeast, with 15 knots of wind from the southwest – one of the best sails we’ve had yet! All day on a beam reach under full sail. We rounded Long Point and a sudden gale blew up, and it was a struggle to get the sails down! We anchored off a small island protected from the wind.

 

Long Point Lighthouse

In the morning we had our coffee and breakfast under sail and finished our journey across Lake Erie at Port Colborne.  We stopped at Sugarloaf Harbour Marina for diesel, then made our way to the free town docks at the top of the Welland Canal. I went to the booth to call in to Seaway Welland that we had arrived, and wished to transit the canal. They said it was busy, and maybe tomorrow… shipping has priority over pleasure craft.  We started to prepare Vata for the canal transit, with extra fenders and fender boards to protect the hull from the hard concrete walls of the canal.

 

Lying at Port Colborne as the Cargo ship Paul J. Martin enters the Welland Canal

The next morning I called in to Seaway Welland from the booth, and they were busy with shipping again, but advised they may squeak us in around 5 p.m. Another sailboat would be on its way, and we’ll be going through together. We went into town to provision, and everything there was very convenient. We returned into town a second time, and we got a phone call at 11:45 that we would be going under the lift bridge in 15 minutes when it opened. We ran back and got under way!  Part of the crew on the second boat, Erewhon from Michigan, were nowhere to be seen, but they suddenly showed up at the last second in a police cruiser which they flagged down because they had gone for a long walk! Both boats made it under the lift bridge and to lock 8. None of us had ever had locked through before so we were all very exited.

 

The Welland Seaway call-in booth in Port Colborne, beside the town docks

Before lock 8 we were greeted by a canal worker who with a long fish net passed us an information booklet and registration sheet inside a glove (so the wind wouldn’t blow it away). We returned the registration, and proceeded to lock through the canal.  8 locks a whole bunch of lift bridges, and the Hwy 427 fixed bridge, with incredibly large opposing traffic!

Ship "squeezing" through a lift bridge with us - there was actually lots of room!

The whole Welland Canal system was exiting, exhausting and when we passed lock number 1 at 7:37 p.m, we were grateful for the good time we made, but were exhausted. Erewhon planned to continue to Toronto, and we said our farewells. If we ever had to do this again, we would have a fender board for each side, so you don't have to switch sides. We anchored around the point in Lake Ontario’s Port Weller Harbour in 15 feet of water, had a celebration drink, and barbequed a pizza.

We took the next day, June 2, off, and stayed in Port Weller Harbour to remove our fenders, wash the boat, and relax.  It was a beautiful sunny day. We had visits from kayakers and boaters who stopped by to say hello.

On June 3, 2017, we headed north to Toronto, and watched the city’s skyline grow all day. At 3:30 p.m. We made it to Bluffer’s Park Marina where our daughter Jessie met us and slept over, and we had lots of fun.

The Toronto skyline getting closer....

June 4, 2017, we spent the morning walking around Bluffers Park and looking at the Scarborough Bluffs. (The pictures today are Jessie’s – Thank you).

Born in Toronto, this was my first time to the Scarborough Bluffs!

Karen’s brother Bob visited and we all had lunch together. Then we said our farewells. Tomorrow, the wind should subside and we plan to anchor outside the marina in a nearby cove before favourable winds develop to continue our voyage east.