Welland

Got woken for watch and was really confused, went through 2 locks of the Welland canal and then it was time to stand down. I stayed around a little to watch us go through the set of three huge locks. The great lakes are about 400 feet above sea level if that helps to reason why there are so many locks and how huge they are. Didn’t have work party and didn’t have to have all hands for the locks.

The 4 to 8 watch had perfect weather.

Sending line 1 across.

Richard and Laura.

Dan standing by.

Lock doors opening.

Bow thruster.

Man powered jousting bow thruster.

That's right, Peter, the first mate.

Dina.

Ashleigh and Laura.

Chris.

Out of Erie

Had the morning off and had tours in the afternoon. Didn’t do much in the morning, just relaxed because the next day or so through the Welland canal are suppose to be tough. On tours two guys were taking photos really intensely, I asked why, they said it was for a sci fi steampunk ish movie about tall ships, they were the animators.

I steered us off the dock and it seemed a really tight squeeze, I was also a little rusty from not driving for a week.

New watches:

A watch: Peter, John, me, Chris, Katie and Mitch

B watch: Darren, Jesse, Ashleigh, Brooke, Laura and Misty

C watch: Cory, Grant, Tenley, Justin, Richard and Rebecca

Day off

Had the day off, went to an Army Navy surplus and got long underwear and heavy duty warm socks, walked about 12 blocks to a Salvation Army and Jesse finally got a pair of sandals. Went through the museum that goes with the Niagara, for a museum about a tall ship that usually sits right out side it was nice, if only they just us play with things more.

Darren’s wife Misty arrived today and so did Brooke, they are both coming to Montreal with us.

Our long line.

Needles.

Cannon team.

Northwest Passage

Had tours today, spent the prep time setting up merchandise and then we were swamped with kids, busloads of them at a time. While standing at great cabin Robin was talking to some ASTA people about the Northwest Passage, how there is nothing up there but polar bears, who could and would want to sponsor our trip and having Dutch Harbor, Alaska be our launching point, where Deadliest Catch is filmed from. Hoping to do the trip as a research vessel sometime with in the next five years, will need at least 2 million maybe to do the trip.

Got a new crewmember at the end of the day, Chris, he’s from Boston and worked with Zach in Antarctica. I did breakfast and lunch because Dina wasn’t back yet.

Erie, PA

Cut up my bread and got very nice slices, just a lot of practice to make even slices. French toast with caramelized ham for breakfast and pasta with Parmesan zucchini for lunch. We anchored before lunch just outside of Erie, PA waiting for the parade of sail into the harbor to start. We had to wait for Niagara because they went off to do their own thing for awhile. Got on the dock after 6 and there was Mexican food for dinner at the crew party. We also had three passengers on this last transit, two older guys who were sailors and a lady who said I’d made a perfect housewife.

Bread

Corn beef has and scrambled eggs for breakfast, sausage and sour kraut for lunch and Indian food for dinner. I marinated chicken overnight, had butter chicken and a sauce to go with it, coconut peas, fried bread parathas and mango chutney. Dinner was long and complicated but well worth it, one of my better meals I’ve ever made. Also made four loaves of bread.

I miss being on deck.

Jesse.

Little Frog.

Food for my hungry friends.

Bass Island, OH

Pancakes for breakfast with berries then helped sail off the hook. Made chili for lunch, Little Frog told me to add peanut butter and it was just the thing it was missing, served it with fried corn cakes, and needs a little honey next time. Docked at Bass Island in Put In Bay, OH, some War of 1812 history stuff happened there. Had the afternoon off and walked around, small little town, some of the boys rented golf carts and went around the island.

Memorial for war of 1812.

Models.

Katie, me and Jesse.

Jesse.