Day 2-241 Nice cruise to Erie, PA

After cruising all of the way from Texas via the Gulf and East Coasts and the Erie Canal, we have finally "set foot" in Pennsylvania. We did not mange to land when we went past the state in the Delaware Bay on our way up the east coast. We left Buffalo at 6:55 am for a 81.1 mile cruise. The wind was already stronger (10+ mph) when we started than it was supposed to be all day. The picture at the right shows some of the many scenic views as we left the harbor.

While in Buffalo, we had seen posters advertising the arrival of the Brig Niagara in Buffalo for a weekend of tours. As we left the harbor, I jokingly told the Admiral that we might see her since she would probably be arriving in Buffalo today or tomorrow. Also, our destination for today was Erie, PA, which is where the Niagara was built in 1813 not long before she was Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813.

Little did I know that about 2 hours later we would see the Niagara under full sail. In fact she tacked about a half mile in front of us. She is about 110 feet in length on deck and counting the spars that over hang, she is 198 feet long. Her original crew was 155 officers and enlisted men, but today she sails with a crew of 40 and 28 trainees. Her main armament was 18 canons and two long guns. The port of Erie was a wonderful, safe place to build warships in that era. The harbor is formed by a long (5 mile?) sand spit that curves out into Lake Erie and the end of the sand spit is connected back to sand by a sand bar/beach. Thus, the British Fleet was not able to sail into the harbor to attack the shipyards. One of the things that I had wanted to see while in Erie was the Niagara... Well, seeing her under full sail on a beautiful day on the lake was MUCH better than seeing her moored to her dock at the museum here. Another neat thing is that this is the original ship. Well, she has been restored and re-built a number of time, but some of the original planks, etc. are still in the boat so "technically" she is the original. Well, I can definitely take that one off of the list.

The sand spit and bar may have kept the British fleet out of the harbor, but it also presented problems for getting the newly constructed gunboats out of the harbor. Evidently, they stripped the boats and attached floats to the sides to get them over the bar. Then they had to re-rig the boats before the British found them unarmed and helpless. Today, there is a manmade channel with a lovely lighthouse where we entered the harbor.

The harbor had many interesting sights, including these recently unloaded diesel train engines. This crane in the picture at the right would have unloaded them off of a ship, and now it has lifted one of the engines back up so that the wheels can be installed. I know, but I have not put a train picture in for Grandson Will in a while...

The harbor is surrounded by the sand spit and bar, which is all park with beaches on both sides as well as marshes for viewing wildlife. Also, the city has built a huge convention center across a channel from a major hotel. There is also a large outdoor concert pavilion, several museums and a replica of an old ferry pier. That pier has a 8 story high observation tower and water taxis and cruise boats use the pier. The city is doing a great job of re-inventing itself. The entrance to our marina was through that channel and under an enclosed glass walkway that has a whopping vertical clearance of 71 feet.  Lucky Us is at her dock in the middle of the picture with the hotel in the upper right. What looks like a bridge coming out the left side of the hotel is the elevated walkway with an elevator down to the waterfront convention center.

It was a nice day on the water. It took only 9.5 hours to do the 10 hour trip thanks to the 20+ mph tailwinds that built up over the afternoon. Not what we expected or what was predicted, but we did get to surf down a "few" waves that added about 2 mph to our speed for a few seconds... Tonight, the winds have already died down and are supposed to be light tomorrow. So, we will get an early start for (hopefully) another log trip tomorrow.