This weekend was the first time ice formed locally on Lake Erie.

I know the calendar says it is late January, but things should be warming up considerably this weekend at Catawba Island Club. The last weekend in January has traditionally become the annual “Sailors Winter Rendezvous”. In past years, there have been activities and speakers of note, but nothing like this year.

Tom Corogin is home safe in his Catawba Island Township home after his sixth attempt to sail around Cape Horn at the tip of South America met with disaster. Corogin, 84, had to abandon his sailboat in the Pacific Ocean after storms dismantled part of his vessel. He was rescued by a Japanese commercial frigate after a combined rescue effort on the part of the U.S. Navy and Chilean Navy. Corogin still practices law in Port Clinton and is the owner of Harbor Park Marina on Northeast Catawba Road. Photo courtesy of The Toledo Blade/Jeremy Wadsworth, photographer

The rare snowy owl has been spotted recently around Ottawa County.