We left Port Erie in Pennsylvania August 2nd 2023 and thought that we had ample time to make our way to Sodus Bay near Wolcott NY. Keeping in mind that we needed to report to Canadian or U.S. Customs when we dropped anchor after being in either country, we started our trip from Port Erie into Canada. Reporting to Canadian Customs we were given three ports in the Dover area to choose from. On approach our first selection was alarmingly shallow. Even though were told 50-foot motorboats had docked there the four foot of depth was too shallow for our boat to chance. We decided to dock at Port Dover.
We docked at Dover’s fuel dock, telephoned Canadian Customs, and were cleared to enter Canada. Biking around the town of Dover was very pleasant. A stop at their Memorial Park reminded us we were in a different country with a different perspective. A plaque in the park commemorated a British hero of the War of 1812.
Over the next few days, we stopped at ports Maitland, and Colborne, then traveled through the Welland Canal and on to Port Dalhousie. People at all of these ports were exceptionally friendly. Port Maitland is a privately owned port situated up a river in a beautifully scenic location. The port owners far exceeded gracious hospitality in assisting us with an equipment problem.
The 27 mile trip through the Welland Canal took one day. The canal joins Lakes Erie and Ontario and has eight locks that lowered us from Erie into Ontario. Along the way we rafted next to another sailboat in each of the locks and we saw several freighters. As we lowered in each lock, we pulled on ropes dangling from the sides of the canal walls in an effort to maintain boat position in the turbulent water. At the same time we pushed the boat away from the rough canal walls to minimize potential damage to the boat.
Our next stop was to be at the Niagara on the Lake’s Yacht Club on the Canadian side. However, when we were two miles from their docks the Yacht Club very unprofessionally canceled our reservation, necessitating our return to Port Dalhousie. The Canadian side yacht club’s unreliable reservation system is something to keep in mind should you plan on boating into Niagara on the Lake.
After checking in with U.S. Customs on 8/12 our next stop was at Wilson New York. Motoring upstream in the river we were greeted by a family of seven swans. After sitting out some bad weather, we left Port Wilson on the 14th.
Our trip so far had taken longer than expected due to a NMEA cable and fuse issue combined with the unpredictability of the sea and weather conditions on Lakes Erie and Ontario, all of which unexpectedly slowed our progress. Another learning was that the ports on the American side of Lake Ontario can be rather shallow, not allowing for much draft. Some of the ports that we encountered were too shallow for us, so our choice of ports was constrained, meaning distance between ports varied between 15 and 60 miles.
Looking at the weather forecast for the next week we decided we had run out of time for boating to Sodus Bay and that we would need to return to our home port and continue our trip by car. We returned to Port Dalhousie and the next day we traveled to Port Colborne through the Welland Canal.
The return trip through the canal to Lake Erie was even more turbulent than the trip into Lake Ontario, but we were not required to raft. We spent several days in Port Colborne. Docked next to us there for a couple of days was a 90-foot motor yacht that had also decided to forgo the choppy seas and bad weather. When the weather calmed, we left Port Colborne at daybreak and made our way diagonally across Lake Erie back to our home port. The next day we continued our genealogy expedition to Wolcott and Cato New York by automobile. That trip is covered in another of our blog stories.
The Boating Genealogists 