Dan and Gena's life - on a boat, in a camper, and wherever else life takes us !!: Put In Bay

Our last stop before Michigan! Put In Bay is actually on an island in Lake Erie called South Bass Island. Once we left Cleveland harbor, we could see a tall tower/monument to Commodore Perry which is on South Bass Island. It just took us several hours to get there! As is our habit, we tried to call the marina we selected several times during the day, but never reached anyone. No problem – we will just get in there, tie up, and settle up with the bill in the morning. We navigated around the south end of the island and entered the protected harbor. We saw the marina, found our way to a slip alongside a dock and managed to get secured. It was really windy, and we were happy to be in a protected harbor on the lee side of the island. When we arrived, it was pretty warm, still warm enough for sandals and shirtsleeves. We rambled down the main street and selected a restaurant for dinner. Not being a weekend, and being at the very end of the season, many of the shops and restaurants were closed for the season. But, there were still plenty of places to go. There were only two other boats in the entire marina.

Next morning, the weather had turned – really chilly, very windy, jacket weather and no more sandals! Turns out the slip we selected is not one owned by the marina, but by a vineyard located right on the waterfront. They were closed for the season, so free dockage for the two nights we sheltered there! Our favorite price! We walked around town, down to the Perry monument. It and the Visitors Center was closed, so we just looked around and went back to the boat.

Looking at the weather, we decided the dash across open water in Lake Erie wouldn’t be too bad on the next day. Well, “not too bad” is a relative term. For the two or three hours it took us to get into more sheltered water south of Detroit, it was a rocky roley ride – lots of things that normally stay in place while cruising found the floor. That’s why we have mostly plastic dishes!