42°17′11″ N 81°53′47″ W

The weather forecast for the area between Erieau & Port Stanley included early afternoon thunderstorms so we decided to stay in Erieau another day.

It was my turn to cook breakfast and I was looking forward to impressing Pennie & Mike with my culinary skills. Unfortunately there is no Spam on board so we had to make due with extra thick cut bacon with fried potatoes & poached eggs. They hid their disappointment about the Spam well & happily accepted the meat substitution.

I’m sure I will be able to pick up a few cans of Spam in Port Stanley & be able to make it up to them before they head home to Goderich.

It was an odd weather day in the marina. Throughout the morning heavy dark clouds passed by overhead but none stopped to dump any rain on us. Later in the afternoon we had a couple of light showers but they only lasted a few minutes & then the sun came back.

The marina is very well kept & has great amenities.

It was a good day to just relax & enjoy the surroundings.

The marina offers free internet access but unfortunately they limit the number of devices per password. It took a bit of effort but I finally managed to set up my wifi hotspot device so we could share access to several devices at once. High Fives all around.

Santosha appears to be content in the spot we were assigned & so are we – close to the showers & washrooms – a plus for us seniors!

Tomorrow (Monday) we will try to get to Port Stanley. That segment of our journey is about 42 nautical miles & should take about 6 1/2 hours.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good so we will cast off around 8:00am.

Cheers!

42°1′35″ N 82°35′48″ W

(Depart – Leamington Marina)

42°17′11″ N 81°53′47″ W

(Destination – Erieau Marina)

The weather forecast looked promising so we prepared to cast off for Erieau.

Our first stop was going to be at Leamington‘s pump out station ‘cause they give you a free pump out if you stay two nights in a row. Who could pass up on a deal like that!

Unfortunately my happiness for such a great deal was short lived because the cap on our holding tank was stuck shut & I broke the handle while trying to force it open. We sprayed WD-40 on it to try to get it to loosen up but no success. Oh well, enough time spent on that little problem – Erieau awaits!

There were scattered clouds in the sky but the weather looked like it would hold for us.

We had a pretty smooth ride out to the end of Point Pelee but the waves were not in our favour when we made the turn for Erieau.

Shortly after we made the turn the waves started coming on the starboard side of the bow & generated an uncomfortable corkscrewing motion. The motion was not strong enough to be cause for concern but we had to be very careful moving around. Then, add insult to injury, it started to rain! We retreated to the main cabin & settled in for a few hours of rock ‘n roll.

Fortunately the rain did not amount to much at all and only lasted about 45 minutes. Once the sun came out again we headed back to the flybridge only to be greeted by hundreds of black flies!

We formed a swat team and the battle was on.

By the time we were approaching Erieau the carnage on deck was pretty gruesome! Hopefully that will be the last we see of flys on the flybridge:)

We arrived in Erieau around 3:00pm and were given a comfortable spot on the marina’s main wall for the night. There were lots of Purple Martins in the marina near our berth & they were feasting on the insects around the boats.

I wonder if they would come along with us if we set up a nice house for them on the flybridge?

We decided to have supper ashore & walked to a nearby brew pub that overlooks Rondeau Bay. Great tasting beer & food too!

The weather forecast for Sunday is not encouraging so we will re-evaluate our options in the morning & decide whether we stay put in Erieau for another day or we make a run for Port Stanley.

Cheers!

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!