At the last minute, we were invited by our friends Kevin and Olena to spend the Canada Day long weekend with them on
Pelee Island where they had rented a cottage, after their original travel companions had to cancel. Happily accepting, my husband Rich and I decided to extend the trip by a day. We would leave on Friday morning, first stopping first in
Port Dover and then
Port Stanley on the shores of Lake Erie. We had visited each of these port towns before, in 2010 and 2013 respectively and really enjoyed ourselves so we decided it was time for a return trip. This would also break up the drive to
Leamington, where we would meet up with our friends early Saturday morning to catch the 11am ferry for the 1.5 hour ride to Pelee Island.
From our previous trip to Port Dover back in 2010, we still have fond memories of our fresh perch meal at the
Erie Beach Hotel and so we made reservations to have lunch there again. Not much has changed since our last visit. The famous perch (or pickerel) meal still comes with toasted celery bread and our own personal “Cove Room Salad Cart” which offers multiple salad choices whose recipes date back to the 1950s. These included the horseradish jello (my favourite and much better tasting than it sounds), marshmallow and mandarin orange salad, sliced cucumbers in mayonnaise, green bean salad, cole slaw, and a plate of pickles, beets and pumpkin cubes. The perch main course comes with either 3 or 5 fillets of perch, a heaping bowl of tartar sauce, choice of potato and steamed (overly cooked) vegetables. The only thing missing from our previous meal here was the group of elderly waitresses dressed in their 50’s style uniforms, white aprons and rubber sneakers that seemed to come straight out of the movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Too bad they have now been replaced with much younger wait-staff in sleek, black uniforms that just don’t give that same cool retro vibe.
As hinted at by its name, the Erie Beach Hotel is situated on a boardwalk strip leading to the Port Dover beach. The strip is lined on both sides of the road with shops selling t-shirts, beachwear and tacky souvenirs, as well as ice cream parlours. In honour of Canada Day, Rich bought a rosy red coloured t-shirt with a maple leaf and the words “True North Strong and Free” emblazoned upon it. After our lunch, we visited the
Ice Cream Tank for dessert and claimed a couple of Muskoka chairs under a shaded patio to enjoy them. When we saw that they offered Moosetracks, we thought we were eating Kawartha Dairies Ice Cream but it turns out that the flavour “Moosetracks” is offered by multiple creameries including London Ice Cream Company which supplies for this parlour. I had a double scoop of Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mudpie and Coffee-Ferrero Roche, which Rich also chose along with a scoop of cinnamon.
Prior to our lunch, we spent some time wandering up and down Port Dover’s Main Street, which boasts many fun shops and eateries. It was an extremely hot day so we started rating and ranking the stores based on the strength of their air conditioning.
Trish’s Bakery failed the test as the hot ovens made the small enclosed space even hotter than it was outside, but the bakery did offer “butter tart bars” which Rich coveted. We withstood the oppressive heat just long enough to buy a couple to heat later in the day. By contrast, the
Dover Cheese Shop had very strong air conditioning, which was required to keep the cheeses cold and so we lingered as long as we could, slowly “browsing” all the offerings in the shop. We tried their feature lavender flavoured cheese but preferred the bright green wasabi gouda, which we bought a small chunk of to eat later. We also bought some cauliflower crisps and “maple moonshine” candy-coated pecans. We ended up snacking on all of this for dinner at our hotel since we were too full from lunch to eat a full dinner. We wandered into
C-Squared Home and Décor to look at antiques and furnishings,
Cozmic Candy store to check out the old-fashioned candies and chocolates for sale, and
On the Fringe Leather and Accessories, which specialized in wardrobe for motorcycle riders. For some reason, Port Dover has become a haven for motorcyclists. A contingent of them congregate in the town on any month where the 13th day falls on a Friday. We were informed by the clerk at the cheese shop that on Friday 13th, only motorcycles are allowed into Port Dover. No automobiles are allowed unless the driver holds either a resident or work license and the license is only good for 2 people per household!
Following our afternoon in Port Dover, the plan was to visit
Port Stanley, wander around its Main Street, watch a play at the local theatre and then spend the night there before heading to Leamington in the morning to meet up with our friends and catch the ferry to Pelee Island. Since this was such a last minute trip, we could not find availability in a Port Stanley hotel that suited our needs and price point. Instead, we booked a room at the Comfort Inn in nearby
St. Thomas, a 15 minute drive from Port Stanley. Our intentions of touring the streets of Port Stanley also fell by the wayside since it was too hot to be outside. We bought tickets for the evening showing of a
Norm Foster comedy called
Lunenberg, ducked into a coffee shop for an iced frappe and then headed to our air-conditioned hotel where we would chill, rest and eat our Port Dover snacks before returning for the show. We had watched other plays by Norm Foster in the past, but Lunenberg is by far our favourite. The writing is both hilarious and touching with three well-rounded characters played by 3 excellent actors who had great fun delivering Foster’s witty dialogue. The Port Stanley Festival Theatre is located on the main drag and has an upstairs terrace with a great view of the harbour.
Early on Saturday morning, Rich and I wolfed down a bit of the free hot breakfast offered by the hotel before setting out for the 2 hours drive from Port Stanley to
Leamington where we were to meet our friends Kevin and Olena at the coffee shop across from the ferry dock. The plan was leave our car at the Leamington ferry parking lot and travel to the island in our friends’ van. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up for gas just outside of Leamington and found Kevin pumping gas at the pump right next to us! When we arrived at the ferry dock, we were shocked and a bit alarmed to see the area inundated with rather large scary-looking bugs that we later learned were called “
fish flies” or “
May flies”. As their name implies, the end of June is very late in the season for these bugs that show up for just a few days per year and then die off. Luckily the bugs do not bite and will fly away if you swat at them. But it was still really creepy to see so many large bugs congregated on the parked cars, light poles and walls at the dock and on the windows and walls of the Pelee Islander II ferry that took us to Pelee Island. We continued to see these flies throughout our 2.5 day stay on the island but learned to ignore them. We did not realize their power and impact until the Monday when we were due to depart the island on the 4pm ferry, but that story will have to wait until the end of this blog.
Our reservation for one vehicle, four passengers and four bicycles on a bike rack was for 11am but we were told that we should arrive and be online to board at least 1 hour in advance or else our spot might be given away. We got there just before 10am and got into line as advised. Very shortly after, we were told to drive onto the ferry, park the car in the lower hull and exit to the seating areas above. We happened to be parked right behind a gorgeous vintage 1935 Auburn that we would see again later on the island. As we settled into our seats, we were surprised by how many people were already on board since we thought that we were quite early. Olena and I decided to go up to the top deck to get some fresh air and wait for the ferry to depart. To our surprise, the ferry started sailing and it was only then that we realized that somehow, we had made it onto the 10am departure! The sailing was so smooth that Rich and Kevin did not even realize for a while that we were moving. This was all very fortuitous since it gave us an extra hour of vacation time on the island. We also got lucky with the weather which had been calling for rain the whole week leading up to the trip, but miraculously the forecast changed at the last minute and we were treated to three warm, sunny days!
Pelee Island is the largest
island on Lake Erie and is the southern-most point in Canada. Its climate is amongst the mildest in Canada
and the community is mostly agricultural based, growing soybeans, wheat, corn
and grapes. It is 19km in length and 6km
in width with a circumference of about 28km of relatively flat roads that are
good for cycling. There are several
restaurants and ice cream parlours, a winery, an excellent bakery and several
public beaches on the island. We landed
on the West Dock and our cottage rental was a very short distance from there.
The cottage that our friends rented, called “On Pelee Time”, was situated on the west shore of Pelee Island and we could see the waters of Lake Erie just across the road. It was huge with four bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a powder room, a fully stocked kitchen, dining room table and large living room area. But the best feature was the screened in porch that allowed us to get fresh air while providing protection from the bugs. We enjoyed this area so much that other than sleeping at night, we spent most of our time at the cottage in this space.
We ate all of our meals on the porch, and sat there to read, listen to music and chat with each other. At night, the bugs came out in full force and the sky was visibly filled with swarming mosquitoes and fish flies. Accordingly I was perfectly happy to stay indoors at night since we could comfortably watch the sunset from within the porch. Rich and I could even watch the Canada Day fireworks which were being launched at the West Dock just down the road from us, although we didn’t have as good of a view as Kevin and Olena, who braved the bugs to go to the docks and captured some beautiful photos of the firework displays bursting in the sky over the glimmering water.
Our cottage was perfectly situated to watch the
Canada Day Parade since the vehicles and floats gathered in the field right next to us and the parade passed right by our porch window. It was here that we saw the 1935 white Auburn again, since it was participating in the parade. There were cars decked out with Canadian flags, balloons, streamers and other decorations. A Tractor pulled a float loaded with what looked like a group of farm-hands while a Shriner’s Hospital truck and a golf cart decked out like a Hawaiian dancer with a grass skirt went by. Trailing the procession were several people on foot dressed like birds. It wasn’t a very long parade but it was fun while it lasted. It was interesting to see people holding both Canadian and American flags (including one flag that seemed to be an amalgamation of the two). Americans come to Pelee Island via a ferry that leaves from Sandusky, Ohio.
We went for a
bike ride on each of our 2.5 days on the island and managed to cover most of the trails along the circumference as well as a few offshoot paths. The first day was supposed to be a scouting expedition as we were looking for a nice beach that we could go to the next day, as well as eateries and other points of interest. We started north along the west coast and thought that we would ride around the coastline of the entire island. But we took a wrong turn while coming back down the east coast and ended up taking one of the roads that cut through the middle of the island. It was actually a blessing since it was so hot that day and we would have tired ourselves out for the next day’s ride, when we explored the lower half of the island. We saw some interesting sights including a tree decorated with a bunch of sneakers tied together by their laces and a little miniature of a country home named “Vin Villa” with the sign “For Rent – Perfect for Small Family”. We passed by the island cemetery and saw a plaque dedicated to William McCormick, a member of the Legislature of Upper Canada and a founding father of Pelee Island, building its first permanent settlement in 1834. We also saw some beautiful scenery including a lovely pond filled with lily pads.
In our search for a nice
beach, we were disappointed to find that the beaches closest to us on the west coast were closed due to high water levels washing out the entire sandy parts of the beaches, leaving either small pebbly surfaces or worse, large rocks. At several of these washed out beaches, we were so hot that we took off our shoes and socks and waded into the water to cool off. When we rode along the east side of the island, we finally found a beach with enough sand to lay down a beach mat, so we decided to return here the next day. When we arrived, we found nice sand and warm, shallow water but unfortunately, the water was filled with moss and dead fish flies! Rich and Kevin wandered out for a quick dip while Olena and I lounged on the beach but the guys decided it was too buggy and shortly after, we packed it in and returned to the comfort of our cottage porch.
One of the first places that we encountered on our initial bike ride was “
The Bakery” located at the north-western part of the island. Here we found a wide array of pastries as well as lunch options including pizzas, savoury pies and salads. You could buy frozen lasagnas and other take out food items to reheat and eat later on. If we came back to Pelee Island, we would not have to bring as much food as we could just buy a few meals from The Bakery and just supplement with fruits and vegetables. As a little treat, Rich bought a butter tart and I chose the chocolate peanut butter cup with the graham cracker crust that was so delicious that we decided we had to return for more. We stopped by again on our last morning to get the chocolate peanut butter cups for all of us and also decided to get their breakfast croissant. This was a freshly made-to-order warm croissant with fried egg, melted cheddar, shaved ham topped with house dijonaise. It was delicious!
We also found
Pelee Island ArtWorks, a small shop selling souvenirs and gift items as well as refreshments! I was ecstatic when we came across it towards the end of on our first day’s bike ride since I was out of water on a scorchingly hot day and was in desperate need of a cold drink. Sadly, the “Closed” sign dashed my hopes, but we did return the next day when the shop was open and Rich bought some local strawberry rhubarb jam (yum!), wisely foregoing the rhubarb, pineapple and ginger jam (Bleah!). The shop also offered internet services which would help Kevin and Olena, who got spotty Rogers cell service, but Rich and I didn’t need it since our Bell cell service worked perfectly. I found this interesting since we did not have good cell service when we were in the Port Stanley/St. Thomas area.
Following the disappointment of not being able to get refreshments from the Artworks shop, we came across salvation when shortly after, we came across the
Pelee Island Vineyards Winery, which appeared as if an oasis in the desert. The first thing we encountered after entering the winery was a big ice cold dispenser of lemon infused water. We spent several minutes there, greedily gulping down the water and refilling our water bottles multiple times. While the others went for free wine tastings, I settled into a large Muskoka chair and was soon blissfully taking a quick nap. There is a photo of me sound asleep while my insensitive husband is mockingly pointing at me, but this photo will never see the light of day unless the perpetrators want to start an “embarrassing photo war” of epic proportions! The winery was the perfect place to cool down and rest before the final push back to the cottage (a mere kilometer away but it would have felt much further had we not been able to stop).
On our last day, we returned to the winery for a closer look at the huge metal contraption in the back, which we spotted during our bike rides. This turned out to be an old no longer functioning brandy distiller that the owner had found and bought as a curiosity piece. We took some photos inside large wooden barrels and then watched sympathetically as an employee stood in front of a blazing wood burning oven preparing pizzas on another super hot and sunny day. Out in front were samples of the vines of different types of grapes used to make different types of wine, but none of the vines actually had any grapes on them, so there was not much to see. Kevin and Olena bought a case of their favourite wine from their tastings—the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc VQA which was nicknamed the “Ladies” wine and showed an image of women in long skirts picking grapes on its label. This is described as a light and crisp white wine with apple and citrus flavours. Rich was going to buy some wine as well, but then the fish fly debacle (remember that? The story is coming soon …) quashed that idea.
Our second day’s bike ride around the lower part of the island actually turned into more of a hike, as we found a hiking trail that would take us around the southern-most tip of the island. We locked up our bikes and headed onto the forest, not knowing what quite to expect. We saw much flora and fauna as we marched through the woods, including a variety of trees and plants, different types of birds, “terrestrial snails”, little wiggly snakes and a cricket frog in a bright slime-green marsh. We also saw many giant trees that had been uprooted by inclement weather. The terrain of hard-packed soil eventually turned into sand as we got closer to the coast.
Our intended route was a loop that would take us south along the west side of Fox Lagoon by the Fish Point Natural Reserve, follow near the eastern edge of the point to reach south-most spot on the island, and thus also in Canada, then return north along the western edge of the point to get back to our bikes. This plan hit several snags. First of all, we thought we took a wrong turn and fell off the trail since we couldn’t get as far south as we thought we should. Thank goodness for our Bell cell service and Google Maps or we might have no clue where we were at some points. As it turned out, we did reach the south-most point of the island but it was much further north than usual since the high waters had covered the long sand bar and part of the tip of the island. To prove it, Olena bravely wandered out into the water before we called her back, fearful that the waves would sweep her away! Soldiering on, we walked on the beach along the western edge of the tip, grateful that we had escaped the bugs in the woods. Since she was already wet, Olena strolled in the water while we walked on the sand beside her. This was a lovely walk until we discovered a short distance away from completing our loop that the water levels had gotten too high and we were unable to continue along this coast line. Not willing to blindly cut across the wooded interior in search for our starting point, we decided to turn back and retrace our steps. This turned out to be a longer hike than we expected, but still an enjoyable one, full of different terrain, sights and experiences. When we got back to our bikes and finished the ride of the lower part of the island, we came across mulberry bushes and happily feasted on the fruit before continuing on our way.
Now finally, for the fish fly story. All during our stay, we were wondering why the island seemed so empty since the weather was fine and it was the Canada Day long weekend. We found out the reason a few hours before our scheduled boat ride back to the mainland on Monday afternoon. Apparently either late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning, the massive influx of fish flies clogged the water cooling system of the Pelee Islander II, taking it out of commission for several days. This was one of the larger ferry boats that could take up to 40 vehicles in one trip. The second large ferry boat, the Jiimaan, was sent as a replacement but in an amazing stroke of bad luck, it also ran into mechanical issues early Monday morning shortly after picking up a boat load of passengers from the mainland. These people were truly unlucky since they were stranded in the middle of Lake Erie for 5 hours and required food supplies to be transported to them while they were trapped. This all happened while we were blissfully enjoying our time on the island. By the time we found out what happened and checked on our return ferry reservations, we learned that only the small Pelee Islander I ferry boat was in service and since it could only take 10 cars at a time (as opposed to 40 for each of the two larger boats), there was a massive backlog of vehicles trying to head home. It was not looking possible for us to get our car onto the ferry that day and we mulled the possibility of staying over an extra night. Unfortunately Olena had to get back to work the next day, so we needed a plan B. It was decided that Kevin would stay overnight with the car and most of our gear including our bicycles, while Rich, Olena and I traveled back as “walk-on” passengers, since the bottleneck was the vehicles and not the passengers. Then Rich and I could take our car parked in Leamington to drive Olena home while Kevin would search for an extra night’s accommodations and return the next day. We sadly left Kevin and made our way onto boat for the 5pm departure (delayed an hour from our originally scheduled 4pm booking). Imagine our surprise when we got a text from him about an hour into our sail. The Pelee Islander II had been repaired, passsed testing and was ready to set sail again at 6:30pm. Miraculously, Kevin made it as the second last vehicle to board this ship and would land shortly after 8:15pm, a mere 1.5 hours after us.
We had always planned to have a final meal at
Birdie’s Perch “Bus-taurant” in Leamington prior to our drives home, so we decided to go there while we waited for our reunion with Kevin. Serendipitously, I had read an ad for Birdie’s Perch in the LCBO magazine just prior to our trip and it sounded so much fun. The restaurant is located in the bottom of an old double-decker bus, while the top deck was turned into restaurant seating. Too bad it was way too hot for anyone to sit up there, so we joined the other diners at the tables outside, shaded by umbrellas. The place was packed and as it turns out, it would take us over 45 minutes to get our food since there were so many people who had ordered ahead of us. This worked out perfectly since we were waiting for Kevin anyway. Had we not had the fish fly experience, we probably would not bothered with such a long wait and would have missed out on some deliciously fried perch, crispy fries and excellent cole slaw. Kevin arrived just in time to eat his share while it was still fairly warm. As the perfect end to our Canada Day long weekend adventure, we were asked to take part in a Canada Day video made by the owners, where we all sang “O Canada” while waving our water bottles or anything we could get our hands on. Thanks to Kevin and Olena for inviting us to a fun-filled weekend!
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