Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

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jserb

Chief Petty Officer
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Well since I cant seem to find a good blog about Put In Bay Ohio I thought I would document our annual trip to PIB incase another captain would like to go to the Erie islands. You can always go to www.putinbay.com for more information on the attractions and things to do, I?m documenting more for the boater who wants to venture to the Erie islands.
So?.PIB is an island 2miles by 4 miles and is home to the Nations 3rd tallest monument (Perrys monument) it stands about 350ft tall which can been seen for several nautical miles, (it makes the PIB island very easy to see amongst the other Erie islands). The island is 36 miles from my home in Michigan, 32 miles from Toledo Ohio, 9 miles from Port Clinton Ohio, and 11 miles from Cedar Point ?America?s rollercoast?. There is one airport on the island, a state campground (which you will see a lot in this trip), several bars, golf carts, pool bars, and the island winery. Like I said you can visit the website if you want to know more, this is just a quick synopsis of the island.
When traveling to PIB its important to note that approaching the West side of the island (roughly 5-9 miles from the island it always gets rough, not sure why, seems to be the wind + the depth+ the currents make it a rough 5-9 mile homerun stretch?..(keep in mind I?m coming from MI so that?s what we experience). Waves here typically rreach around 2 to 3 ft, however they are a short choppy wave and seem to constantly knocking you around.. Once you get to the harbor you have the option to dock or go off mooring buoy. We prefer mooring buoy bc we stay on the island all weekend and do not go to and from the boat, however they offer free taxi service out to your boat whenever you want up until 1AM, it?s a pretty convenient service and is much quieter on the boat to sleep at a buoy then at the docks. You will need a VHF radio to call the taxi to your boat, they monitor channel 9. Leaving the island is always ?cursed?. Personally in my years I have never had a smooth ride home from PIB. I have heard ?stories? of people having smooth sailing on the way home, but in my 20+ years going to the island I have never had a smooth ride back from PIB. Something about fighting the wind+ current never ends up being fun. So just keep that in mind, if your headed back up to Michigan odds are your going to have a rough ride back to Detroit. We will be going to Put In Bay July 29th, and returning the first of August. In this blog I will post photos of the islands we pass to get to PIb and a few island ?shots? while we are there. The purpose of this post is to show other captains how to get to Put In Bay and to discuss with other Capitan?s memories and stories of PIB, come on I know you guys have been there, lets hear those stories!
 

tcgobucks

Seaman
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Jul 1, 2010
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Christmas in July at PIB is this weekend. It's well worth a trip over there if you can make it. It will be crowded, but it's the ultimate in PIB party weekends.
 

airdvr1227

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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

PIB rocks! Haven't been this year but we're planning on a trip over in August.
 

jserb

Chief Petty Officer
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

t-3 days....
 

NOTW

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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

I've been wondering about Put-In-Bay and where to dock when you get to the island. Do they have public slips that you can dock at or how does that work?
 

jserb

Chief Petty Officer
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Nov 29, 2005
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Yes they have public docks and mooring buoys. You pull up to the docks and pay the dock master. Its something like .60 cents a running foot for your boat per day. I personally LOVe the mooring buoys bc you can just pull into the harbor and tie your boat up and call the "water taxi" on the VHf to come pick you up and take you to the island,(they run until 1 AM ). This way when you want to sleep its really quite away from all the party boats and your boat is safe(not tied off of some moron).
 

jgoeden

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 14, 2010
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Hey guys,

I'm still new to boating. I have a 19' open bow runabout. Are those 2-3' swells too big for me? I'm from Indiana, and my wife is from near there and it would be fun to take the boat and get from Cedar Point to the islands on my boat.

Am I too small?
 

airdvr1227

Lieutenant Commander
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Your boat is fine for a nice day on Erie. Nice days on Eire are few and far between. Problem is when it's not nice it gets ugly out there fast. We went from Sandusky Bay to PIB earlier this month. When we left Sandusky winds were 10-15 gusting and the ride over was 'interesting'. I remember telling the harbormaster that I wouldn't have wanted to be out there in anything much smaller.
 

jgoeden

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Aug 14, 2010
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Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Niice, thanks for the advice! Now, I'm wondering, how we go about making the determination if its a nice day before making the hour drive...it's a pretty relative term, but do you know of any decent websites that give accurate to semi-accurate surf/chop/swell reports? or should I call a local marina and take "some guys" word on it to determine if we hit up Erie or Charles Mill lake?
 

keelhauled

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
172
Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

I Use the near-shore marine forecast from the national weather service. Waves 'two feet or less' would be a nice day. Still, the lake can change rapidly so you have to keep a close eye on the sky and the water. Six foot waves don't sound big until they are crashing over your bow!
 

badkins50

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 20, 2009
Messages
676
Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

Hey guys,

I'm still new to boating. I have a 19' open bow runabout. Are those 2-3' swells too big for me? I'm from Indiana, and my wife is from near there and it would be fun to take the boat and get from Cedar Point to the islands on my boat.

Am I too small?

I have a 19' open bow and boat lake erie all the time. 2 weekends ago we went out cruising the along the coast. When we left there was about 1 ft waves and about an hour later there was at least 4 footers and let me tell you it made for a very interesting ride. I couldn't get back inside the break wall fast enough. for me and our open bow anything over 2-3 ft can get ugly quick.
 

NOTW

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
40
Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

How do you guys feel my 22 foot open bow sea ray would do on Lake Erie? I'm not talking about going miles out to where you can't even see land, but I'm talking about trips from say port Clinton to Sandusky and up and around Put-In-Bay.

36670_1536197526729_1288579710_1455343_790556_n.jpg
 

jserb

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Messages
406
Re: Put In Bay / PIB trip to the Eire Islands/ South Bass island

your 22 footer will do just fine, yes the lake can pick up, however i grew up crossing the lake from michigan to Put In Bay in my 21ft CC and it was no problem. You just will have to go slow and could end up being a long trip. You have to remember Lake Erie is totally different from any other lake bc it is shallow. You will see lots of choppy small waves....no way around these, cant avoid them, just slowing down and fighting through them is the only way sometimes out at PIB(but thats what makes the trip fun and worht while). Pt Clinton to PIB is only 9-10 miles tops, its a safe run, even in rough seas its a safe run, you are sorrunded by land, and ferry's are passing by every 20 mins. Always remember you can leave EARLY or LATE and you will increase the odds of you have a smooooooth ride over.
 
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