Recommended to us as a day trip we took the ferry to Put-in-Bay, Ohio, which is actually a city on South Bass Island.
Named so because the schooners sailing on Lake Erie would “put into this bay” to wait out the bad weather on the lake.
We got off the ferry and were faced with our first choice of the day. As there are hardly any cars on the island it was either the “downtown bus” or renting a golf cart or bycicle. Never having been here, we opted for the bus that took us to the sleepy little downtown.
We were told to check out the Boardwalk by Jack in Sandusky, so we did. Kirsten has been trying to talk me into buying a wind breaker for a while, so we checked the Lobster Trap Boutique on the Boardwalk were we not only bought a windbreaker but met Donna who (after recognizing Kirsten’s accent as German) asked us to meet with her husband Berni (the Harbour master) who was born in Germany and needed to practice the language (according to Donna).
We went down the boardwalk and had a more than pleasant discussion with Berni about his dad leaving Germany for a job in the U.S., why he chose Put-in-Bay as his residence and how quite the Island is after the tourist season is over. Please keep in mind that according to the 2010 Census, the island had 138 inhabitants. And we just met two of the loveliest people on the island.
We then headed for lunch and were advised that local fish was walleye and perch, so we ordered one of each. Delicious!!
We were reminded that we were far away from Florida
but close to Canada (way in the background)
So we started on our way back and took the bus to the Ferry when we discovered that there was a lighthouse on the Island with seeing.
Since we had not done the golf cart, we dedicated it was time to check out another famous Put-in-Bay attraction – there are golf cart rentals on every corner of the island -.
A very different lighthouse to what we are used to seeing.
We hopped back on the golf cart and took the short ride to the ferry after a very, very enjoyable day on the island. It was pure coincidence that we met two lovely people in Donna and Berni, and we will definitely stay in touch.