Ian Rambles
"Where have you come from?" - "Holland"
"How long did it take you?" - "Two weeks"
"I would have gone mad!" - "We were mad to start with!"

It was strange, after two weeks with nothing but the Atlantic ocean around the ship, to be within a few metres of a raised platform crowded with Canadians visiting the Welland Canal Centre and asking about our trip.

Meanwhile, in the owners cabin, the jigsaw was completed at last.

Fiona's Journal
This morning we traversed the length of Lake Ontario without seeing any of it. The fog was so dense we could not even see our own bow so the pilot was presumably navigating entirely by GPS, radar and local knowledge – I just prayed that no small boats accidentally strayed into the big ship lanes as I don't see how we would ever spot them in time to avoid them. It was a rather erie experience (no pun intended and wrong lake anyway) steaming into a continuous unknown and leaving it, still unknown, in our wake.

At lunchtime we reached the entrance to the Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara falls to take us up into Lake Erie. Miraculously, the fog cleared abruptly and completely just as we approached the entrance lock. This is the first of a total of eight huge locks in the canal, three of which form a sort of staircase with one lock exiting straight into the next. Sadly they do not pass close enough to Niagara for us to actually see the famous falls at all. It was a long, hard working day for the pilot, the officers and the crew and all we could do was watch and try not to get in the way. It is endlessly fascinating and impressive though, to see them sliding this huge vessel in and out of these skintight chambers time after time without mishap.

Somewhere close to midnight we entered Lake Erie and the day's pilot left us to be replaced by next one, again by the apparently precarious method of the little pilot boat tucking in alongside our moving hull. We expect to be in Cleveland by 10.00 tomorrow morning and I am sad that this part of our journey is almost over. I shall miss the Isa and her crew – the ship herself, and her company, inspire great confidence and I feel privileged to have traveled with them.

Arthur's Log:
The primary radar died in the middle of a area called Thousand Islands, apparently the most beautifully part of the saint Lawrence seaway - not that we saw any of it because the visibility dropped from “moderate or poor” to “where the hell have my feet gone”.

We passed the Welland Canal tourist center where probably one hundred people were shouting questions, so to be polite, and answer their questions, we let off the fog horn.

The Harry Report
The visitors at the Welland Canal Centre looked like they were in a zoo.

George's Musings
Hard hats that look stylish on mum don't on me!