The morning of Sunday, June 8th, dawned with beautiful clear skies. We pulled up the anchor to find it one big ball of mud and vegetation. We tag teamed driving the boat and cleaning off the anchor as we exited Little Sodus Bay. What a mess! However, when the anchor is full of mud we know it dug in and we were safe. Lake Ontario was calm as we made a fourteen mile run to Sodus Bay Yacht Club. We docked on the wall in front of the club house. As we were about to pay for the slip, a club member came running to tell us our stern and spring lines had come loose due to the wind. The yacht club did not have cleats to tie the boat to but used three inch pipe with a cap sunk in the cement. Tony didn't bother to check the lines, something he will never do again. With the help of several boat owners, we succeeded in turning Summer Recess around and securing the lines again. Whew!! Remember the adventure begins when the unexpected occurs. We took a walk into the village of Sodus Bay. The town consists of several watering holes and restaurants. We decided to have a late lunch in the club house because the dock fees were ridiculously cheap. Everyone was very welcoming and all loved to hear our loop stories. Storms were expected so the marina staff made sure we knew where to go if the storms became to intense to stay on the boat. That night we had a little rain but nothing like the weather forecast predicted. We paid for two nights dockage but with the weather being clear and the yacht club closed we decided to continue on to Rochester. We left the yacht club behind on Monday morning. The lake was like glass. Well, you would think that would make for a soothing ride. Well, think again. We were invaded by hundreds and hundreds of flies. It reminded us of crossing of Lake Michigan without the fog. They were everywhere. We pulled into Shumway Marina outside of Rochester, NY. We spent several hours debugging the inside and outside of the boat. Yes, it was time to bring out the vacuum to rid ourselves of the pests. We planned on staying at Shumway two nights so we could do laundry and get supplies. According the information packet, there was a laundromat and grocery in a strip mall across from the Marina. Bright and early Tuesday morning we packed up all the laundry and took our trusty rolling cart to the mall. Well, there was no laundry, it had closed during the winter. Upon our return to the marina I informed the manager that he needed to update his handout. We decided to do grocery shopping instead and found a lovely little coffee shop called Sips. We still needed to do laundry. After the cab fare and the cost of the laundromat, it was one the most expensive laundry trips we have had to date. Our plans to leave Rochester on Wednesday were foiled by the weather. We had fog in the morning, followed by rain in the afternoon. On the bright side, we went to Sips again and Sharon got a badly needed haircut.
Thursday, June 12th, was overcast and rainy, but there was no wind. These conditions followed us the 27 miles to Point Breeze. We also had a good downpour on the way. Our plans called for us to dock at the Orleans County Park docks. The docks were only 28 ft long and we ended up using two slips due to the beam of Summer Recess. It was a very peaceful spot. Due to weather, a one night stay turned into three nights. We had winds and rain for the next two days. We also discovered that we would have to go the 44 miles to Port Weller. The two ports in between (Olcott and Wilson) either could not accommodate a boat our size or there was no room for us. Summer Recess has never been so clean including windows and isinglass.You have to do something to occupy the time. Sunday, June 14th, Father's Day, was beautiful. The lake was calm and we left Point Breeze easily. As we got closer to Port Weller, we could see the Toronto skyline across the lake. The wind picked up from the northeast so by the time we reached Port Weller we were surfing and spending along at 8 knots.We docked at St. Catherine's Marina and checked in with Canadian Customs. Our next adventure will be the Welland Canal. Sharon has declared that she has done 66 locks but she is doing no more, so her anniversary present to herself is hiring two deck crew to man the lines as we lock through the eight locks of the Welland Canal. She will sit in a deck chair and be the admiral she is.
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