A trip to Kelleys Island, Ohio
Another Adventure for the crew of the motor vessel Angels' Choice
Kelleys Island is both a village and an Island. In other words the village is the island. Or is the island also the village? Just suffice it to say if you live on the island you are in the village of Kelleys Island. Kelleys Island State Park and Scheele Perserve also can be found on the island along with The Glacial Grooves State Memorial. Access to the island is by personal watercraft, ferry, or by air. We decided that we wanted to see the island via our boat.
This was not going to be the adventure we thought we would experience. On Angels' Choice.
This was to be our shakedown cruise. We thought this was a perfect opportunity to put us, as well as the boat, through our paces. Now, I should tell you that our training captain was joining us on this trip. He came along as our guest and he offered to be our tour guide. When we headed out of our Port Clinton marina our goal was to practice anchoring and docking procedures. Everything was going well. For lunch we anchored on the North side of the island in North Bay. We watched the water skiers and other boats as we ate our lunch onboard. After hoisting the anchor, we headed around the East side of the island where we were going to practice our docking procedures at Seaway Marina. To celebrate we would move the boat to the Waterfront marina where we could walk across the street to The Village Pump. Loren was going to buy us a pitcher of Brandy Alexander’s, which is a specialty of The Village Pump. Our intent was to explore Kelleys Island for a couple hours and then head over to South Bass Island and overnight at Put-In-Bay. Little did we know that we would lose our port engine transmission before we could practice our docking, which would force us to spend the night at the Seaway Marina. Best laid plans of mice and men. We were lucky that Loren is an excellent training captain and he got us safely docked up with minor drama. Once we were tied up to the dock we studied our options and decided that the angels wanted us to stay over on Kelleys Island and we might as well make the best of a bad turn of events.
The first order of business was to check in at the marina office and rent a golf cart to get us over to The Village Pump for some adult beverages. Which we all agreed we needed.
While Michael tried to troubleshoot the engine, Loren and I went to pay for the marina slip and look for a golf cart rental. (The four seater has the back seat facing the rear of the vehicle.)
As I got seated to drive the cart I realized that I had never driven a golf cart before. Go carts–Yes! golf carts–No! This was going to be fun. Well, I couldn’t get into too much trouble because the carts have governors on them that only let the carts travel up to 20 mph. I had a blast driving the cart back to the boat so we could pick up Michael and travel into town for our well deserved libation.
Michael was in need for a distraction after not being able to fix the engine problem. So off the three of us went in the golf cart heading into to town to the village pump. When we got to the Village Pump we sat at the bar and struck up a conversation with some very nice people. That is one of the best things about traveling, you meet so many friendly people. So, CHEERS, to all the lovely people we met on our trip!
After enjoying our time at The Village Pump, we hoped back into the golf cart a drove around the island to see what sites there were to explore. We drove by three wineries! Who knew. Those would have to wait for another visit. We did stop at the Glacial Grooves, which was an interesting stop to check out what the power of a glacier could accomplish.
After checking out the Glacial Grooves we traveled to West Bay where we checked out the food, drink and view of the setting sun. A lovely way to end a crazy day.
In retrospect, we had not intended to spend that much time on Kelleys Island and we were glad that the angels chose for us to see what this charming island offers to her visitors. This island is well worth a stop if you make it to this area of Lake Erie. Come experience the island life yourself.
