We relinquished our motor yacht to a commercial captain at Youngstown, New York, at the very edge of the United States border (the Niagara River outlet) due to a very silly Covid-19 Pandemic protocol. Canada will not allow us, United States citizens and owners of a “pleasure craft for recreation,” to enter their country. Not even to transit their canal knowing that we have no intention of getting off the boat. The Welland has always required three (3) crew members, so we knew that we needed to recruit at least one other person. We thought it would be great to invite family along for this leg of the journey and that would meet the requirement, but that was a naive thought many months ago. We’ve since learned that any pleasure craft transiting the Welland must be manned by a licensed commercial captain and his designated crew members.
Captain Dave and his first crew member, Don, took over on a Sunday evening at 18:00 hours. (He would pick up his other crew at the Canal on Monday morning.) We gave them the nickel tour and Dave gave us his assurances that he understood our boat, from stem to stern. We got the keys to Dave’s bright yellow Nissan Xterra SUV and off we went with our overnight pack to find a motel in Buffalo.
Our first goal was to locate our dinner. We found Frank and Teressa’s Anchor Bar, the original home of Buffalo Wings! The outside of the building was pretty plain but the inside was decked out with wall to wall, floor to ceiling art and objects. License plates as wall paper, police and fire patches on almost every pillar, boating paraphernalia, full sized motorcycles (lots of them!) mounted well above eye level, autographed photos of many famous patrons, odd and interesting chandeliers, several televisions for sports fanatics, and a gift shop for apparel, hats, toys and of course, sauces. Orders of wings are 10, 20 or 50. We chose 2 orders of 10 with “original” and sweet Chipotle sauces, a Caesar salad (to split) and some onion rings, with local beers. What showed up was a generous amount of food that would have fed at least 4 people!
We then went to Erie Basin Marina, one of two probable locations to meet up with our boat at the end of the transit. Fun fact: this marina was designed to look like a buffalo! The other marina was in Dunkirk, directly across from the south end (the inlet) of the Welland Canal. The final decision would be up to the captain and dependent on weather.
We enjoyed a good night’s sleep in Buffalo and a nice breakfast at a small café. We wanted to visit the Martin House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Historic Landmark, but it was not open, so we drove to Niagara Falls State Park. It was a great choice since we were able to take in the views, get some exercise, and reminisce about our last trip to the Canadian side in 2017.
During the day, Captain Dave kept Pete apprised of the progress via text messages. There were lock delays and weather challenges. The wind was often gusting greater than 25 knots. Dave was able to get the boat through the final lock and tie up by 20:30 hours (8:30 pm). He would get our boat to Buffalo in the morning and we would need to find a motel for a second night.
Tuesday morning, we drove to the designated location. I climbed the observation tower and captured our boat coming into the harbor. We met the crew at the refueling dock, thinking we’d top off. There was a formal (telephone) Customs Interview with the commercial captain, and once completed, Dave said “We’re cleared. She’s all yours!”
We decided our fuel was adequate and the weather reasonable, so we moved on to Holiday Harbor, Dunkirk, NY, making the marina by about 12:30 pm. Our tie-up was assisted by two other Loopers and local mariners. We were very grateful for (1) a successful Welland Canal transit, (2) a reasonably smooth travel day to our next marina, (3) and supportive line handlers at Dunkirk. We had a terrific time off of the boat, but we were so relieved to have her back!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Thomas Haynes Bayly