Our journey started in 2012 at Roys Point Marina in Bayfield, WI. We spent 5 years cruising the Apostle Islands, and during that time decided to embark upon a larger journey. We decided we would sail from Washburn, WI to Eastport, ME. Our cruise would take us across 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, out the St. Lawrence Seaway, through the Northumberland Straight, down the coast of Nova Scotia, and finally across the Bay of Fundy to Maine.
Our actual journey
We left Washburn at the end of May and began our planned journey. We crossed Lake Superior to Sault Ste Marie, where we crossed into Canada. From there we went down the St. Mary’s River to the North Channel of Lake Huron. We spent a couple weeks in the North Channel before sailing down the Canadian coast of Lake Huron. From there we went down the St. Clair River, crossed Lake St. Clair, and followed the Detroit River into Lake Erie. We crossed Lake Erie and were ready to transit the Welland Canal when we changed our plans. You can read about it in our Change of Plans posting. Thus began our journey down the Erie Canal. Towards the end of the canal, we decided to change our plans once again. You can read about our second change here: Updated Plans.
Because our overall adventure now has two separate parts (the sailing part and the road trip part), we created a page dedicated to the road trip piece. It has its own interactive map and list of places we’ve visited. You can find that page here: Our Road Trip.
Interactive map of our sailing journey
The map below shows our planned route and main stops along the way. It is currently zoomed in to avoid crowding the markers, but you can zoom and pan the map to see our entire journey. The markers are colored green (for where we’ve been), orange (for our planned stops), and blue (the start and end). They also have different icons: anchors represent places we’ve anchored (or plan to anchor) and sailboats are the marinas and towns we’ve visited (or plan to visit). We will re-center the map based upon our most recent location and update the markers accordingly. Below the map is a list of stops along our journey, a quick summary of that place, and a link to a more detailed posting.
Track us by AIS
While underway, we will be operating a Class B AIS transponder. This allows us to transmit details about our vessel, including our current position, in real time. Other ships can receive that information and display it on their navigation systems. There are also many land-based stations that will receive and rebroadcast that information on the internet. You can find out more about AIS, track our current position, and view our other vessel data by clicking the button below.
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We spent 3 days at Sault Ste. Marie, and this was where we checked in to Canada. Both cities were fun to visit, and each had their own unique attraction.
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Millford Haven was a quick overnight anchorage on our way to Thessalon. Scenic, but talk about mosquitoes!
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We stopped at Thessalon on our way to the eastern North Channel of Lake Huron. We ended up staying 2 nights waiting for severe weather to pass.
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Our first anchorage in The North Channel was at The Turnbull Islands. Beautiful scenery, but getting there was a little challenging!
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Our second anchorage in The North Channel was at South Benjamin Island. All we can say is 'Wow'!
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We anchored here on our way from Little Current to Killarney. A beautiful cove, but anchoring was extremely difficult!
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Killarney is 'The Gateway to The North Channel'. We stayed here 2 days waiting for storms and rain to pass.
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Baie Fine is one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. We count ourselves among the fortunate to have anchored here. A little slice of heaven on earth!
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Tobermory is definitely a tourist destination. We spent 3 nights here riding out some bad weather. Best food on our journey so far!
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We planned on only spending one night at Port Elgin. But storms and high winds (again) caused us to stay for two.
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Once again, we had to spend more time than we planned. In this case we didn't mind as Kincardine was an unexpected surprise!
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Because of Canada Day, we couldn't find dockage in Sarnia, and bad weather was (again) forecasted, so we spent 4 days in Goderich. For it's size, it was a really great town!
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Sarnia marked our departure from Lake Huron, and a start to the next leg of our journey: Lake Erie.
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We made 60 miles from Sarnia to Windsor, and did a quick overnight at Westport Marina.
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Leamington was just a quick overnight. We didn't really get a chance to see much, but we did go to our first Canadian Tire store!
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Erieau is a hidden gem along the Canadian shore of Lake Erie. One of our favorite marina stops so far!
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Port Stanley, namely Kettle Creek Marina, quickly became one of our favorite stops so far. A wonderful marina run by great people!
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Port Dover was a welcomed sight after a long day. Our plans to anchor at Long Point didn't work out.
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Port Colborne marks the end of our crossing of Lake Erie. It is also where we plan to transit the Welland Canal to cross Lake Ontario.
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Buffalo, NY marks an end and a new beginning. It marks the end of our Great Lakes crossings, but the beginning of a new adventure out the Erie Canal, down the Hudson River, to the East Coast!
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Tonawanda was our first official stop on the Erie Canal after unstepping our mast at RCR. The beginning of a new adventure!
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Middleport was our second stop on the Erie Canal. It was a tiny little town with not much to offer, but it was still a good place to stop for the night.
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Brockport was a quaint town along the Erie Canal. We enjoyed our visit, and had dinner with new friends.
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Fairport was a great town on the canal that catered to the cruising crowd. We spent 3 days there, enjoying the town, but also getting our engine fixed!
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Newark was a quick but nice stop on our way East. Everything there was free, even laundry!
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We almost passed Lyons by due to extrememly high walls. But we turned back, and ended up having a great time there!
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We stopped in Brewerton at Winter Harbor Marina to await a good day to cross Oneida Lake.
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We didn't have many options to stop after Oneida Lake, so we decided to stop for a night at Lock 20.
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We had been travelling for several days and needed a break. We decided to stay an extra day in Little Falls. What a beautiful town!
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We stopped in Canajoharie and visited Wintergreen Park to see the Boiling Pots that the town is named after. It was a spectacular park!
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Amsterdam wasn't our favorite stop along the Erie Canal. We spent one night there and moved on.
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We found dockage at the Schenectady Yacht Club about 20 miles from the east end of the Erie Canal.
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Waterford marks the end of our Erie Canal journey. We spent Labor Day weekend here.
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We went to Catskill to restep our mast. We spent 4 days there waiting for a break in the weather to have that done!
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Kingston was our last stop for 2017. Our boat will be hauled out here, to continue our journey in 2018!
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Poughkeepsie was our first stop after leaving Kingston. We met up with some old freinds unexpectedly!
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Our next stop was on Staten Island. We hoped to head south along the coast of New Jersey within a couple days but unexpected repairs, and Mother Nature, said otherwise!
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We finally had a good weather window, left Staten Island, and made a quick stopover in Barnegat on our way to Atlantic City.
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We were hoping for a 2 day visit in Atlantic City, but 3 days of small craft advisories turned it into 6!
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We stopped at Cape May for a couple days to check out the town. Our last stop in New Jersey before crossing the Delaware Bay.
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We crossed the Delaware Bay in 4-6 foot seas, and spent a quick overnight in Chesapeake City.
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Our first stop in the Chesapeake Bay was in Georgetown, MD. It was peaceful and quiet: just what we like most!
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We anchored southwest of Georgetown at Still Pond. Our first night anchored out since last summer!
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Next stop: Pasadena (Maryland, not California). Need to provision, do laundry, and wait out some bad weather!
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Before heading to St. Michael's, we anchored out for two nights. The first was on the Magothy River.
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Before heading to St. Michael's, we anchored out for two nights. The second was on the Wye River.
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We stopped in St. Michaels for a few days. Talk about catering to upscale clientele!
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Cambridge was a neat town. It's the birthplace of The Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman was born in this county.
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Before going to Solomons Island, we anchored for a night just up the Patuxent River in a little bay by Kingston Creek.
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Overall, we were disappointed by Solomons Island, but they did have a nice museum there.
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On our way from Solomons Island to Yorktown, we stopped for a night at Point Lookout Marina.
On our second day from Solomons Island to Yorktown, we stopped for a night and anchored in Little Bay.
Gloucester Point (Yorktown) was as far as we could go before Hurricane Florence made her intended path known. We could go no further, but we did get to visit Yorktown and also Fredericksburg when we evacuated for the impending storm.
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