4 July, 2021. Only fireworks at the end. Cleveland, Ohio

103 SM; 14.1 hours

 Very early get up.  Coffee and weather study.  Amazing conditions appear steady and maybe even improving toward end of the day.  Some swell initially, but winds less than 10 mph all day.  We untied the lines and eased out the the slip at 0615.  It took about 30 minutes to retrace a path back to the Erie harbor inlet, much better start than a few days ago.  

Much better sunrise than two days ago

Erie harbor and shoreline

Exiting the protected waters and rounding the outer area into Lake Erie there were two foot swells from the WNW, left overs from the strong winds yesterday.  But no real wind chop.  Past Erie, first exit was 20 miles away, then 15 more, then bailout harbors every 20 miles.  Plan for the day was to check mechanical condition of Serenity, check winds and weather radar and determine whether to bail out or continue.  All good to go.  Actually, as we proceeded SW winds began to decrease to light and variable as forecast.  The big high pressure was overhead.  Only light, high cirrus clouds, not thunderstorms anywhere.  We continued along at 7 MPH.  Miles and hours accumulated.  At each harbor bypassed, generally there were lighthouses at the entrance.

There were no white knuckle moments.  Actually, it was kinda of boring in a good way.  Calming waters and calm winds.  But, when you travel at 7 MPH on big water and are a mile or so off the beach, forward progress is hard to determine.  Seems like we are sitting still.  We studied our distance to go, our speed made good and the GPS spit out that we could arrive Cleveland East Harbor entrance at 2000.  An hour before sunset.  We pressed on.  

Hour before sunset cruising toward Cleveland

We arrived east end of Cleveland harbor at 2000.  USCG issued security alert that parts of harbor would be secured at 2100 for the fireworks display.  Oops, forgot to check about fireworks display along waterfront.  We pulled off into a pretty protected small and deep harbor.  Holding was good.  Boat traffic slow going and coming to watch fireworks.  We set the anchor at 2030.  So thankful to have that leg completed.

Cleveland skyline

4727 SM traveled; 1851.5 hours hobbs