Second Summer at Turkey Point Marina

Our second summer spent at Turkey Point marina, in 2014, had us equipped with bow and stern thrusters as well as dock rollers to assist us in docking the boat. Much to Karen’s joy we also had a hot water tank installed as well as a BBQ that I added to the swim platform. The hot water tank was a welcome repair, as Karen did not like the marina showers at all. The shower facilities at the marina were barebones and not always the cleanest. I didn’t care so much, but Karen really did not like using the facilities, so the ability to shower on the boat was really a welcome luxury. The BBQ was also a welcome addition as we would now do most of our cooking outdoors now as the weather permitted.

Due to the distance that we needed to travel to spend time on the boat, we would travel down every second weekend when Karen had the Friday off. Add to this the two weeks spent in Florida with my daughter and the summer just zipped by. We did however get out of the marina for a few day trips. Our first trip had us heading out of the marina and into Long Point Bay, where we anchored for a few hours before returning back to our slip. It was a nice summer day and my daughter even tried her hand at the helm for a bit. Unfortunately a 41 foot boat is much slower than the 16 foot Sea Doo jet boat we had at the house which she had helmed the year before. For a 14 year old teenager fast is fun and being at the helm of something so big, where you need to think ahead of every manoeuvre gets boring quickly.

Once we were at anchor, I wanted to check on the running gear (propeller, trim tabs, and rudders) so in the water I went. Lake Erie that year was particularly cold for early June, 11°C, not fun. Once I got over the initial shock, I had a look at things and was happy to see everything was nice and clean and in great shape. It was a beautiful day and the warmth of the sun on my skin after I came out of the water just felt right. I have to admit, what really struck me was just how clear the water was in the bay. You could clearly see the sand on the bottom 10 feet under us. After I warmed up and dried off, we fired up the engines and headed back. The transmission warning light came on …..”Great! What now?” I thought to myself. As it turned out, when the marina technicians installed the new starter (the old one burned out when they failed to notice a sticky start switch), they had failed to connect a sensor properly. I had removed the old starter but the new starter did not arrive until later, and the marina service manager had her tech install it. It was a nice gesture, so I won’t knock it. 

 


That summer proved to be a rainy and stormy summer and water levels were abnormally high. I also learned about the tidal effect that the wind actually had on the lake. Whenever the wind would be from the west, the water levels would simply rise just like a tide, and would fall depending on the wind pressure. It was fascinating, at times the water would surge almost a full foot. I guess this is similar to storm surge that coastal areas experience during a tropical storm. The one thing we learned was that it is almost always windy on Lake Erie. Before you knew it, the summer was over and fall was upon us. Karen and I spent the Thanksgiving weekend on the boat together as family relationships had become complicated for a while. Then the day came when the boat was hauled out of the water and put into storage for the winter. We started to hibernate for the next 6 months quietly waiting for the sun to fill the sky again with its warmth and light. We would celebrate Christmas with family and friends, visit the Toronto Boat Show, watch many episodes of Distant Shores and plan our next boating season. Spring could not come soon enough.