Cove Marina Trip October 2005

Cove Marina on the Thames River October 1-2 2005

This was the last overnight trip of the 2005 season. We had arranged to travel to the Cove Marina in Canada, which is in the far southeastern corner of Lake St. Clair.

Our friends KCB and Brian agreed to meet us there in their boat if it was "at least 60 degrees". Wow were we in for a surprise as the temperature climbed to 80 degrees this weekend. Not bad for October!

On a whim I asked our neighbors at MacRay Harbor on Saturday morning if they wanted to go along.

Jerry and Marlene have a new Sea Ray 340 named "Somewhere in Time" and we had met them on a trip with the Colony Marine group earlier this season. They had no plans and were excited to join us on short notice for this 25 mile cruise to the Thames River.
We waited for them to get gas and ended up leaving the fuel dock at 12:30 p.m. There was just a moderate wind and we cruised with the canvas and camper top up, making it a very comfortable and warm ride. Waves were 0-1 feet, and very little boat traffic. Brian and KCB called on cell phone at 1:00 and said they were just leaving from their home port at Jefferson Beach Marina. Their boat is an Excalibur 38. They also joined us on a trip to Lexington back in July. We traveled southwest past the shipping channel at about 30 mph, with Jerry and Marlene right behind us. There were numerous sailboats on the lake today. We got to the buoyed channel marking the Thames at 1:30, and twenty minutes later pulled up to the dock at the Cove.	Docked at Cove Marina
We had our choice of docking areas at the marina, as they were pretty much empty this late in the season. We elected to tie up at the long docks close to the restrooms, a restaurant, and a community fire pit area. The other area had individual slips with a fire pit at each dock.

click images to enlarge

Heading into the Thames River


Captain Tim	Sailboats	Heading in the Channel

Entering Thames River, we go down a few canals (nice house!) to get to the Cove marina

The Marina
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Docked

PuttPutt Golf

Brian & KCB

Marlene & Jerry

Gina & Jerry

The service at the marina was fabulous. They stacked up firewood at the pit for us, and they left us the keys to their van for us to use it if we wanted to. Even the swimming pool was heated in case we wanted to take a dip (we didn't). The dockhand gave us his home phone number if we needed anything after they closed up.

There we two other boats from Mac Ray Harbor who came over for the night also. We enjoyed a few drinks and appetizers for the afternoon while we listened to the Michigan - Michigan State football game on the radio (MSU lost in OT 34-31). According to the staff at the marina, over 90 of their transient boaters are from Michigan, and Labor Day is booked through the year 2007.

Saturday Night

Saturday night we went to the restaurant located right down our dock called Spooters. It featured "Casual Dining", "Fine Dining", and "Patio Dining". It seemed like the same menu for all three, but just fancier tables on the "fine" side of the wall. We had a nice dinner there.

Afterwards, we went to the fire pit, where the other few boaters (which were from MacRay's) had already gotten a nice bonfire going. We grabbed some chairs and cocktails and sat around the fire enjoying one of (if not the) last nights of the boating season.

The sky was clear and black with lots of stars. We noticed what appeared to be a light shining down from the sky. Then it looked like a cross. For a few moments many of us thought for sure it was very bizarre and possibly a UFO or something?

Maybe we had too much too drink? Well it turned out Marlene was shinning her flashlight on the flagpole and it gave this appearance. (See photos at right). We all had a very long laugh at ourselves after we figured it out.

Beam me Up?

Just a Flag Pole

Sunday Leaving the Cove click images to enlarge
We left at 1:30 p.m. for the one hour ride back. Leaving the buoyed channel out to Lake St. Clair we could see all the dead trees in the water that line the shore. The lake was calm, with a slight haze, and it was close to eighty degrees, so we took the front canvas and glass down.

We had told Jerry to stay close to us and we could get some photos of his boat. What a great ride!

Nice Day for October!

Somewhere In Time



Crossing the Shipping Channel	Video 20 sec. of our Ride