Saturday - August 14

 Nice fresh start to the day after last night's rain.    We walked the nice path to "Island Grind" and got our coffees and apple struesel muffins.    The bill came to $26 (with tip)!    WHAT?    As Mark pointed out "we're on an island and everything as to come by ferry"....so of course, ytou pay more.    Yup...forgot about that.   Middle Bass has only 95 full-time residents.   Our muffins were $6.50 each!   Oh well, glad we could support them and really nice having this place on the island close to the marina.

Lontz Winery in background; building in foreground (built in 1956) is now Island Grind.   Not sure what used to be there but nicely remodeled.

There are around 20 boats here on Middle Bass for the weekend C & R and their crew all were having a  good time.    This morning several were on the docks drinking their coffee and visiting including a lady in her purple T-shirt and red hat!   Gee....thought that fad was long over....apparently not!   Ha.

They have a free pump out here at the state park, so took advantage of that (been paying anywhere from $5-20 for that service).    And then we were on our way.    Winds were to be from the NE, but once again, Lake Erie has a mind of its own and we had a rather lumpy ride (15 miles out of the NW) back to Port Clinton.   However, when we were just 2 miles out, I got a phone call from Ryan in Edinburgh, Scotland.    Oh my....sounded so good and close by.    He had toured the Britania today which was the getaway yacht for the royals back in the day.   Queen Elizabeth supposedly vacationed there from 1950-1997.   It's now a luxury floating hotel.    He'll be back home Tuesday after a month flying packages here, there and everywhere!

Got thru the 10:30 bridge and tied up shortly after that in our new spot - #20 Les Chaneaux Islands.

Catrina's new home in Port Clinton

Quiet afternoon for us and not much happening here at the marina.    We went to 5:00 Mass at Immaculate Conception on this feast of the Assumption of Mary.    The director of music liturgy (Molly Ryan) plays the piano and/or organ at the masses whether we go on Saturday night or Sunday.    Tonight she played a wonderful rendition of "Ave Maria" on the violin accompanied by the cantor playing the piano.   It was beautiful.    Another good homily by Father Jonathan who always incorporates a personal story with the gospel reading.

Decided we wanted an Italian fix, so after checking Trip Advisor, etc., we drove 15 miles southwest to Fremont and had a wonderful dinner at Scarpetta's - wine, bruschetta, spaghetti and 5 homemade meatballs for Mark and chicken parmesan for me!    VERY good and hope we can go back sometime!!!

Pretty pink sky tonight

Red sky at night - sailors delight!