Day on the Cruise: 109
From: Wolverine Marina, Erie, PA
To: Geneva State Park Marina, OH
Statute Miles: 57.8 SM
Time: 6.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 2,433.7 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
Tonight we are at a very nice marina at Geneva State Park in Ohio. We are about 50 miles East of Cleveland.
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| Geneva, OH |
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| Putting tonight's location into context with the midwest |
Today probably should have been another weather day in Erie, but the forecast called for waves of 1-3', so we set out at 6:30 this morning from the marina. We had to go back East to get out of the bay at Erie, then North to get around the jut-out that forms this bay. The jut-out is called Presque Isle, with the bay of the same name. When we finally got North of the Isle sufficiently, we set a direct course for the inlet at Geneva State Park, some 45 miles away.
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| Coast Guard Sector Erie, PA |
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| Old Coast Guard Station, Erie, PA |
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| Heading East just after sunrise this morning, leaving Presque Isle Bay at Erie, PA |
No way the seas were less than 1-3'! More like 2' - 4'. The wind and waves were coming at us from the West, so we were going into the seas. No following seas, thank goodness. We pounded a good bit, going up and down. It was pretty rough. Some of the bigger waves we could ride over, some we hit in the troughs and pounded into. We got spray on the Flybridge at times, and a lot of spray on the front of the boat.
We passed several "gaggles" of small boats right in our path that were actively engaged in perch fishing. This happened on Wednesday from Buffalo, and also happened in the Atlantic. Why the fishing is best on known GPS courses is beyond me. We had to deviate around the groups of boats at each meeting.
We put Maggie in her life jacket. It was stressful having to watch her on the Flybridge. At one point we stopped and tried to coax her down into the cabin, to no avail.
The water was very pretty. It was a beautiful green color when the sun was out. The waves were white capping. It was just rough. Susan got nauseated on the final third of the trip, but stayed with it and never blew chow. I could just imagine hearing her yelling "New York" in Ohio!!!
We put today's roughness in a category that is between what we encountered in the Atlantic Ocean and what we had going into New York at Verrazano Narrows and also in the Chesapeake Bay. Worse than the Atlantic, but not as bad as the Chesapeake or going into the Narrows. Today was sort of like Currituck Sound, maybe a little worse.
So, two days on the Lake for us now. One was very smooth. The other pretty rough. We are almost half way across Lake Erie. The rest of the way we will "pick our fights" a little better and bite off this Lake in smaller chunks, if possible. Twenty to thirty miles in actual 1-3' seas should be the limit, which would be 2-3 hours of travel.
We got to Geneva State Park about 12:30, making today a 6 hour slog in the rough seas. We both like getting underway early and then getting our run for the day finished early. The marina here is nice. We refueled and pumped out and got our dock assignment, then tied up. There is not much right around the marina. It is smack dab on the Lake and has a little beach.
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| View of the marina at Geneva State Park, OH |
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| View of the marina at Geneva State Park |
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| View of the marina at Geneva State Park. We are on the face dock in the far distance. |
Tomorrow we have a reservation at Fairport which is only 15 to 20 miles West of here. That would put us in good shape to reach Cleveland or hopefully Lorain, OH on the next good cruising day. My angst about cruising in this area is that marinas with transient slips are not that plentiful. There are more yacht clubs than marinas and yacht clubs are only showing transient slips for reciprocal members of other yacht clubs. That is the case in Cleveland, especially. West of Cleveland, there appear to be many more marina options. Oh, the joys of cruising!
Thanks for Reading!
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