Beating the weather

We are under way westbound along the south shore of Lake Ontario. This morning found us anchored off the small community of Fair Haven, New York, at the south end of Little Sodus Bay (map).  We weighed anchor shortly after a storm moved through, and we've had a drippy and bleak ride so far. Seas are about a foot with occasional whitecaps.


The West Pierhead Lighthouse on our way out of Oswego.

Thursday evening we steamed into Oswego Harbor and dropped the hook off-channel across from the H. Lee White Marine Museum (map). It was a comfortable and quiet spot, as close to town as we could get. Even on a holiday, a local tug was moving dredge spoil barges offshore the entire time we were there, from a dredging operation near the powerplant.


The White museum from our anchorage. Powerplant stacks are visible from across the lake, making a good navigational reference for incoming vessels.

We splashed the tender and headed ashore for dinner, at the same docks that would cost $1 per foot overnight. En route we discovered a loud concert at the band shell on the west bank. I thought at first that it was for the Fourth, but it turns out to be a weekly Thursday evening event during the summer. There are also overnight docks along that bank, $20 for the night; best to avoid them on Thursdays.

We walked up the hill to the highly rated Azteca Mexican restaurant, only to find it closed for the holiday. Instead we wandered back down to the waterfront and ate at Alex's, requesting an inside table at the window for a little quieter dinner experience. Some loopers were at the docks out front; $2 per foot with power for the night.


Our somewhat industrial view from our anchorage. Alex's is at left. We kept wanting to read "Swego" on the tank, which is how the locals pronounce it anyway.

After returning to the boat, while enjoying the cool of the evening with a glass of wine, I noticed the tug, the Kristin Joelle, headed right for us with an empty dredge scow. We chatted briefly on the radio; he was just expertly dropping the scow off along the end of the pier to go get another load, and we were not in the way. Oswego's harbor fireworks are not until tomorrow, but still we saw a few very local ones after dusk, around 10ish.

With no need to make another bicycle pilgrimage to Walmart or any of the other services in this relatively large city, we decked the tender in the morning and weighed anchor for Little Sodus Bay. The whole bay is a summer resort area, supported by the small town of Fair Haven at the tip of the bay.


Vector at anchor in Little Sodus Bay, from the Pleasant Beach Hotel. Flux at lower left.

We had the hook down and set before the afternoon storm moved in, which threatened to trap us on the boat till morning. But at 6pm it was all over, and we tendered over to the historic 1910 Pleasant Beach Hotel for dinner. Afterward we strolled the small town, where we ran right smack into the Fourth of July concert, featuring music of our era, outside the other restaurant, Brandon's. We sat and listened for a while before heading home.


Free concert in front of Brandon's (off camera to the right). Band was good.

Fourth of July is the busiest week here, and there was also music emanating from the marina across from us, which fortunately was not too loud and ended before bed time. The official fireworks here are actually tonight, so we will miss them, but we were treated to some spectacular unofficial ones launched from the lakefront beach.


We walked through this craft fair this morning.

This morning we returned ashore for another stroll and to drop a package at the post office. The town dinghy dock is under water, so we again used the hotel's dock. We strolled through the little craft fair that is part of the holiday festivities, and stopped into the cafe for breakfast. There was a half hour wait, and we could see the next rain storm coming, so instead we made a quick stop at the tiny grocery store and high-tailed it back home.


We also passed the annual classic car show.

We weighed anchor during a break in the storm, and here we are. In a short while we'll be anchored in Sodus Bay, near the community of Sodus Point. Winds out of the north, starting tonight, will make the lake untenable, and we'll be here until at least Tuesday. While here, we will have the local Honda dealer look at our outboard.


Louise bought this cute postcard at one of the shops, to send to a friend. The 1909 lighthouse is long gone.

Update: We are safely anchored in front of the Sodus Bay Yacht Club (map). It turns out we have reciprocity with the club, and will have dinner there. It will also be a convenient place to land the tender while we are here.