Boating to Small Bass Island...

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Holly wanted to sleep in some before we headed for the boat and our trip to Small Bass Island, so I started the morning taking a photo opportunity hike around the Catawba Island Club. I was shooting some interesting pictures of a Great Blue Herron, when I saw what I thought was an albino Great Blue Herron. It was a snow-white bird which from a distance, appeared to be every bit as big as a Blue Herron and flew in the same unusual style…legs dangling and it’s long neck in a tight ‘S’ with its head tucked down on top of its body. I would later learn it was a Great Egret, but at the time, I thought I’d found the missing link I was so excited.

I hiked for about an hour and managed to sweat through the first of three shirts for the day…it was already up around 80 degrees (who am I kidding? I was hiking…it could have been 40 and I would have sweat through a t-shirt).

Holly and I went to the boat for breakfast…some healthy cereal and lots of fruit…before Jeff and I go the boat underway (my 15-year old niece was out on the bow helping me with the lines) which we did with great efficiency. Jeff kept harping about the wind blowing the boat off-line and how careful he needed to be. “This thing weighs 11 tons and has a gazillion horse power in those two monster engines down there. How could some wimpy little wind blow you around?” I couldn’t figure that out, but then I remembered how easily I’d pulled the boat closer to the dock while standing on the bow…which again…could just be my super-human strength. Anyway…he said it was a factor and wasn’t moving his eyeballs from dead-on center.

We made our way into the open water where I thought he’d breathe a sigh of relief, but no. “Keep your eyes peeled for logs floating. One of those could sink this boat,” he said. I was thinking that the log would have had to have been a Redwood, fallen into the Pacific Ocean, floated through the Panama Canal and into the Atlantic, up the coast to the St. Lawrence River and then upstream, managing to climb Niagara Falls and making its way through Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and into the path of his boat. Anything smaller would have been snapped like a dried twig...but what do I know? I looked for logs…and spotted quite a few.

We tied off on a friend’s boat at Small Bass Island and spent the next four hours in the sweltering heat (I sweat through my second t-shirt) enjoying the lunch fare, the museum dedicated to Commodore Perry’s defeat of the British Navy on Lake Erie during the war of 1812, and the interesting population of party animals that populated the island. There were also some of the most impressive antique automobiles driving all over the island…the likes of which I have never seen in one place at one time.

We were heading for the boat and heard from a couple of boaters Jeff knew that severe weather, including tornadoes, were ripping through Toledo. We quickly untied the lines and made our way back to Catawba Island, docking as the rains began to fall. Holly and I packed our car and were soon on the road…and driving through hurricane-force winds and hail stones smashing ominously against the vehicle. We stopped and had something to eat, allowing the storm to move on, but would catch the back end of it later as we approached Cleveland. My plans for a bike ride upon our return were dashed by the severity of the weather…what’s new?

I ate poorly throughout the day, having a burger on a bun and fried fish and French fries for lunch. I did pass up the ice cream ...though I was sorely tempted by the ‘Caveman’ flavor. I’ll get back on track tomorrow. I realize I have to make slight concessions to ‘normal’ living…but I don’t have to like it.