Obsession to Pittsburgh

I finished up my trip from Chicago around 2:00pm yesterday and flew directly to Toronto to continue the trip aboard Obsession. What a great first day back aboard Obsession. We departed from the Outer Harbor Marina in Toronto this morning at 6:00am. Connie and David's brother, Bob wished us well and a safe voyage before they headed back to Pittsburgh. Then it was off to the Welland Canal which joins Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. Effectively, the Welland Canal raises you up the height of Niagara Falls. The average time to make the 8 lock passage is 12 hours, but we were hopeful that today's trip would be a bit faster.

After the short 1 and a half hour crossing of Lake Ontario from Toronto, David, his good friend Todd and I entered the Welland. We pulled off to contact the Lock Authority to get our clearance and instructions to proceed. We were told we would have a short 45 minute wait before we could get underway. Not too bad at all.

At about 8:45 we were underway with the 85-foot Pacific Mariner named "Sea Safari". We traveled together all day through the locks. The passage today was near perfect. We only got stopped for about an hour or so in Lock 6 before proceeding out the far end onto Lake Erie at about 3:15pm. A perfect start to our long trip to Pittsburgh.

Once on Lake Erie, sea conditions were ideal. We had a short, choppy 1 foot sea on the bow which the boat took easily. After about an hour, the 1 foot chop turned to glass. The wind stopped completely and we had the nicest run you could imagine. Originally we planned to stop in Ashtabula, OH for the night. However, we were having trouble finding any marina that was open and that wanted a nice large fuel sale. On an off chance, I called the next marina up the lake which was the Geneva State Park Marina. Low and behold, they were open until 9:00pm and had diesel fuel and would be glad to help us.

So we altered course and set a new waypoint for Geneva, OH, just another 20 miles further along the lake and closer to our destination. We pulled in at 7:50, took on 250 gallons of their best diesel and got settled into our slip for the night.

Then it was off to find some dinner in town. The dockhand told us that the town and several restaurants were a short walk to town. His definition of a short walk and mine are a bit different. Nonetheless, we made it to dinner and back without hurting ourselves.

We traveled 191 miles today from Toronto and are set to make a really big run tomorrow up to Lake Huron.


Off the dock at 6:00am. Toronto is pretty bright at this hour.


The entrance to the Welland Canal




The observation deck at Lock 3 on the Welland


The 85-foot Sea Safari in front of the double lock doors.




A freighter coming into the Welland as we were coming onto Lake Erie


Taking on fuel at Geneva State Park Marina in Ohio.