Canterbury Sails by Chasseur: Days in Put-In-Bay

July 25 -27, 2012 Wednesday - Friday

We are having such a great time in Put-in-Bay, we feel like honeymooners. There is so much to do, and the American History in this place is significant.
This is the port in which "the Battle of Lake Erie" was fought during the War of 1812. We are moored in the harbor, Put-In-Bay, the launching point for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's battle and victory over the British fleet. Long story short, Perry abandoned his diabled U.S. brig "Lawrence" after two hours of fighting, removed the ship's battle flag and boarded it's sister ship the brig "Niagara". He resumed the fight, and in a span of fifteen minutes forced a British surrender, and raised the now famous ship's flag that said "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP". On September 10, 1813 at the end of this dramatic naval battle, Perry scrawled these memorable words on the back of an envelope and sent them to Maj. General William Henry Harrison: "We have met the enemy and they are ours..."
Also in this port is Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. The memorial is 352 feet high and is the largest all outdoors memorial at the top. It was built between 1912 and 1915. We went to the top for some spectacular views. We had an additional experience of the "Niagara" coming to port under full sail with a cannon shot arrival salute. We read that this ship is NOT a replica but the actual "Niagara" rebuilt and restored.
Transportation on this island is mostly by golf carts. It's like a bumper car ride on steroids. Just watching has been hysterical. We rented ours for two days to get around and to get our dingy motor to a repair man. We found an outboard motor mechanic, John Dodge, here on the island and strapped the motor on the back of the golf cart. It looked like it was an amphibious vehicle. People on the street were laughing and pointing as we drove through town.
It is better to be on a mooring here. The marinas are beyond full, especially on weekends, with mandatory rafting. We have seen up to five boats deep. There is a water taxi that will pick you up and return you to your boat, 8:00 a.m. to midnight. The taxi assistants are very good at approaching your boat.
The island has a long history of wine making. We went to the Heineman winery for happy hour. It's $2.00 for a glass of wine and you can purchase a cheese and cracker plate and enjoy it in their garden, which we did. It had been a hot day and we enjoyed our cold (famous here) "Pink Catawba" wine. There are stories surrounding this "Pink Catawba" and, of course, we have one too. Suzanne does not drink often and after two glasses of wine she was feeling pretty good. We left to the parking lot of the winery and Suzanne could not find our golf cart. Terry accused her of pranking him and suggested she may have had too much to drink. After a careful perusal of the carts in the parking lot Terry finally agreed that our cart was missing. There was one cart that was identical to ours from the same company but it had different number on it. We laughed hysterically. Why??? Because Terry had been locking the cart all day. Suzanne had been teasing him about locking it, "Where can a thief take a stolen golf cart on an island?" It turns out that all of the golf cart keys are interchangeable. So this was the one time that Terry decided not to lock the cart. Suzanne had requested a company business card with a phone number from the rental attendant in case we had a problem. The attendant had laughed at her..."you won't have any problems". Hah, Hah, we called the company and they tracked down the thieves. There was a cart exchange soon after. "The Great Golf Cart Robbery" was solved. We did enjoy another happy hour at Heineman's with mechanic and Renaissance Man, John and girlfriend Bridget. The golf cart was locked this time!

" Sailor's joys are as simple as a child's." Bernard Moitesssier