Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

I was up at 6:00 AM today. I wanted to get the blog posted then proceed to pull our anchor and get on the road, hopefully before my goal of 7:00 AM. I woke Kerry about 6:30. We pulled the anchor and motored out at 6:45 AM.

The sun rising over the channel to Lake Erie

Lots of mud and seaweed on the anchor chain and anchor. We expected that as it's always that way at East Harbor. The anchor was really dug in and came up with thick mud all over it. We use to let the seaweed slide down the anchor chain as we rose the anchor. That caused a huge seaweed ball to form on the anchor once it was up.  Now we pull off each piece of seaweed with a boat hook and are able to avoid the massive seaweed ball. Kerry does a great job of washing the mud and seaweed off Annie.

Leaving East Harbor with a clean deck!

We were guided out by a very helpful bird - Kerry's from yesterday?

Marblehead Lighthouse is one of the prettiest. 

It was very rough when we hit Lake Erie. Kerry gave a big "Yuck" and went to her napping position. The seas were ENE and about 2' high which made for a bouncy ride. They were too big for the light winds. By the end of the voyage the seas had diminished and matched the light wind. It was very pleasant as we neared Vermilion. 

Five miles from Vermilion we passed Rick and Nancy Simpson on Cruisin from VYC on their way to the North Channel. I tried unsuccessfully to reach them on the radio. I sent them the AIS picture that Peter sent me on our two boats. Nancy called me when she saw it and we wished each other well. Voyager made it to Port Huron today.

We arrived in Vermilion at 9:30. It was a fast 22 mile trip from East Harbor. Jimbo was there to welcome us home and document the event.

Annie arriving at VYC

On arrival we always pumpout and fill up our diesel so we are ready for the next voyage!

So, the 2025 voyage to the North Channel is over. We traveled 836 Nautical miles. We put 112 1/2 hours on the engine and used the generator for 21.4 hours. We used 352.4 galls of diesel, for a whopping 2.37 miles per gallon and 3.13 gallons per hour. 

Starlink was the big game changer for this trip. Internet everywhere and any time allowed us to get weather, connect, shop, blog, etc. And most of the calls we made were over wifi, via Starlink. I can't imagine cruising without it. 

Anne and Aubrey picked us up at noon. I treated them to lunch at Rudy's. We'll go back to Vermilion on Thursday to pick up our bikes and other things. Thanks for reading this year's blog! We had a wonderful trip!