42°1′35″ N 82°35′48″ W

The wind forecast on Lake Erie for Friday was not at all encouraging so we decided to stay an extra day in Leamington.

The silver lining for us was that we got a chance to sleep in a bit and the marina had a very comfortable boater’s lounge with a large flat screen TV. So, we got to watch a couple of World Cup Soccer Matches.

The soccer took up most of the morning & the first half of the afternoon plus a few beers, a couple of bags of chips and a few handfuls of pepperetts. By the time the second game was over all of us were ready for a nap!

Following an afternoon siesta Pennie whipped up a great pasta dish for supper.

The crew made short work of that delight

& before we knew it, it was time for bed!

Saturday we set out for the marina in Erieau. It’s about 7 1/2 hours travel time. The wind & wave forecast looks promising so we’ll make a run for it.

Cheers everyone!

42°13′13″ N 83°6′17″ W

We made an early start on Thursday morning. The weather forecast for Lake Erie on Friday & Saturday was not at all encouraging so we wanted to get a little further along the way and stop in a marina that offered some nice amenities in case we had to stay put somewhere for 2-3 days. The marina in Leamington looked promising so we cast off at 6:45am & headed towards Lake Erie.

The weather was considerably nicer than the previous 2 days so we were able to shed our fleeces – at least for a little while & enjoy the sun.

We were still in the Detroit River so there was more freighter traffic coming our way. Pennie took the photo below of a sailboat that was approaching a freighter on a tack. From our viewing perspective it looked like the outcome was not going to be good for the sailboat. What was the sailor thinking!

It turned out that the sailboat tacked behind the freighter – but we had a few anxious moments until we saw the final part of the his manoeuvre.

We were now approaching the mouth of the Detroit River. The photo below shows a freighter headed upstream in one channel while we were going downstream in the neighbouring channel.

Shortly afterwards we finally exited the Detroit River into Lake Erie. The wind was blowing steadily but it had not stirred up any significant waves so we continued to maintain a good speed towards Leamington.

We arrived in Leamington at 12:30 – well ahead of the strong winds that were forecast for later in the day. Our first stop was at the marina fuel dock to top up our diesel tanks & secure a slip for the next couple of days.

The staff at the Leamington Marina were very efficient & welcoming. In no time flat we were all fuelled up & tied up at our slip. After celebrating our safe arrival with a few cold refreshments we went out for a great dinner at a nearby pub.

Even though the weather was deteriorating we still had an amazing sunset & arrived back at the boat just st in time for Pennie to take the photo below at the perfect moment.

We will stay in Leamington for at least another day while the winds blow themselves out.

Cheers!

42°59′43″ N 82°25′6″ W

Tuesday was a long day on the water – 9 hours – so we decided to have a slow start from the marina in Sarnia.

Pennie whipped up some awesome omelettes for the crew so we would start out with a full tank for the next leg of our journey.

By the time we polished off the breakfast it was 10:00am so we were keen to get underway.

As soon as we entered the St. Clair River we got a very nice speed boost from the current and were moving along at 8-9 knots. That’s a considerable improvement over Santosha’s “normal” cruising speed of 6.5 – 6.8 knots. Last fall when I was taking the boat to Goderich my average speed on this part of the river (going against the current) was about 3.5 knots!

Once we entered Lake St. Clair our speed dropped a bit but we were still making very good time. We encountered the first freighter right at the junction of the river & the lake.

It also wasn’t long after that when a Canadian Coast Guard helicopter took a close fly past us.

I guess they figured we were ok ’cause they didn’t stop or circle & kept right on going by.

It took us about 2 hours to traverse Lake St. Clair & enter the Detroit River. Through the day we took took turns at the helm. Pennie was in charge as we passed by Windsor & Detroit. The Windsor Casino seemed to have a magnetic draw on the boat as we passed by but we managed to escape it.

Traffic on the Ambassador Bridge was very backed up but we pretty much had the river to ourselves.

Our original goal was to make it to the Colchester Marina on Lake Erie but it was becoming obvious that we would have to keep going until 7 or 8 pm so we decided to find another marina on the Canadian side of the Detroit River just south of Windsor at LaSalle.

This was our last night before we would enter Lake Erie. Our passage from Sarnia was a great day’s journey. Time for some R & R.

Cheers!

43°44′53″ N 81°43′5″ W

After many weeks of preparations we finally cast off from Goderich.

Mike & Pennie Meadows are traveling with me from Goderich to Port Stanley.

Mike & Pennie are members of Goderich Yacht Club & we have known each other for many years. However, this is the first time we have travelled any distance together on the same vessel. Should be a great adventure!

We left Goderich at 8:00am on Tuesday morning & as soon as we were out of the marina we noticed that there was a fog bank moving down the lake towards us from the north. It caught up to us after we had been underway for about an hour but it was not too heavy as we could still see at least 1 kilometer all around us.

This was a pretty easy course to navigate. Once we were out of Goderich Harbour it was a straight line for about 60 nautical miles to the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia. We encountered a couple of freighters at anchor while approaching the bridge.

We arrived at the Bridgeview Marina around 5:00pm, arranged for a slip and then settled in for the night.

This was a great start to our journey.

Tomorrow we head for Windsor.

Cheers!

43°44′53″ N 81°43′5″ W

Ahoy there!

After many months on the hard, Santosha is finally back in the water!

She has been stored outside on jack stands since last October. It was a pretty tough winter but she came through it well – other than being filthy with wind blown dust (turned to mud by the spring rains) & quite a few bird droppings on the flybridge b’cause the bimini frame was a perfect roosting place for them. Oh well, a couple of hours with a pressure washer & scrub brush resolved those problems.

Now she’s sitting pretty at her dock & almost ready to go.

It’s been a struggle these past 8 weeks. In April I caught a miserable cold and am just now starting to feel “normal “ again.

Meanwhile, I had several projects on the go, including installing new packing for the propeller shaft, a new battery charger, new vanity taps & new electric flush toilets in the fore & aft heads and new taps & drain connection for the galley sink.

While I was working on those things Catherine was busy with getting all of the cushions for the galley & the mattresses for the beds recovered and she made new curtains for all of the windows.

Just about everything on a boat takes 3-4 times as long to do (compared to doing the same things at home) but that’s part of the fun of boating, eh!

Anyway, we are in the water now & gearing up for departure from Goderich next Monday or Tuesday.

Mike & Pennie Meadows, long time friends from Goderich Yacht Club will be traveling with me on the first leg of the journey from Goderich to Port Stanley. Mike has also been helping me wrap up the last of my projects. He & Pennie will now be able to enjoy all of the new conveniences.

Our passage to Port Stanley should be lots of fun. Keep an eye out for daily postings on the blog.

Cheers!