August 1, 2011 Sodus Bay NY

It was a pleasant morning, but hot. I sat out and did the blog update. Sunny at first, it then looked like rain, but the clouds passed and we had a very nice, breezy day. We planned to sail to Sodus Bay, but had not set a departure time.

I decided to try my hand at fishing one more time. Off I went in the Annie M. I tried a minnow lure, a frog, a worm and had no success. Then I tried a red and white spoon and caught a 8” bass on my second cast. Now I was encouraged! But my success was short lived and I caught no more, so I threw that bass back to look for my missing fishing pole.

We set sail about 8:45. The trip to Sodus was a motor into a 10 knot head wind. The trip was 15 miles and we arrived about 11:00. I was amazed that the seas could get so big in such a little wind, but they were coming all the way across Ontario and had a chance to grow. Kerry did not enjoy them at all, and kept asking when we would be there. It was her second uncomfortable trip in a row.

On the way to Sodus, we passed a place called Chimney Bluff (pictured). It’s a Natural clay formation that was built by the glaciers, and very interesting. This is also the last day I will be towing the Annie M as she will be disassembled and packed away for the rest of the trip. Our anchoring is over now. Kip called on the trip and said the Schiefersteins will meet us with their boat in Port Dover, not Port Colborne. He suggested we make reservations in Port Stanley since we would be there on a weekend. This was a great idea, and I made them for three boats.

Sodus Bay Yacht club is a very pretty and friendly place. We were met by Adam the dock boy and Al, the Officer of the Day, who signed us in and gave us our orientation. It turns out that he winters with John and Joanne Pinter in Florida, also VYC members. Since there is no liquor store in Sodus he offered to drive to the next town to get us some dark rum and Lew some gin. He could not get what we wanted, so sold us some from his home stash. He is a great guy.

Sodus Bay is really large. It has its own islands, anchorages and many marinas. There are lots of kids in sailing schools too, their little sails dotting the harbor with white dots. The docks at the yacht club are a little noisy and bouncy. They are open to the harbor and the wakes from the power boats roll right through the docks. It makes it very bouncy and also causes the metal on metal dock posts and decks to clang.

We spent the afternoon just relaxing on Excalibur. About 5 we walked into town with Lew and Gretchen. We found a marine store to shop, a lady with 4 dogs and had dinner at Abe’s, sitting in a gazebo on the water front. We split the Monday night special which was a normally $21 strip steak for $15 including a glass of draft beer. It must have been my lucky day, because after I had consumed a little over ½ of my beer a bee flew into it, necessitating Abe to give me a whole new one! It was a great dinner, and one was plenty for two.

I perked a pot of coffee for us when we returned to the boats. Lew shared some of his pastry and we enjoyed the treats while watching the sunset.