28 Jun 17

Dawn was clear and cool and the wind was fair for Bayfield, ON, so we leaped out of bed for an 08:00 departure. After stemming the stream at the head of the St. Clair River (where all of Lake Huron starts its run to Lake Erie), we headed out into great Lake Huron for a 48 N-m run. The water color in Lake Huron is a beautiful turquoise blue; you would swear you are in the Caribbean. The wind stayed lighter than predicted, around SW8 all day, so we motor sailed, arriving at Bayfield at 15:00. Clearing into Canada was a pleasure, as always. We passed “Soul Mate” along the way and they parked right next to us, along with a buddy boater of theirs, “Encore”. They are all headed up to the North Channel, so we may run into them again through the course of the summer. The Admiral and I walked up into Bayfield, which is a lovely, old Ontario town, now given over to B&B’s, boutiques, pubs and restaurants. After happy hour on “Encore”, we walked up to the Black Dog Pub & Bistro for dinner.

43-34.125’N, 081-42.346’W; Log = 50.0, Sub (2017) = 905.5 N-m

29 Jun 17

The rains fell and the wind rose and changed direction during the night, but we were snug in Bayfield Marina. However, the forecast in Lake Huron for today was a bit blustery and we needed to do some grocery shopping, so we decided to stay for the day. After shopping, I spent a couple of hours planning out the next few days; we have not had any trouble with marina space so far, but this weekend is Canada Day and the 4th of July combined, so all the locals are finally out and about. We had a spot of bother, but finally got a slip in Kincardine for tomorrow and another in Port Elgin for Canada Day. After that, we may be on the hook for a while, which is OK, since we have only anchored once so far this year. Our new friends on “Soul Mate” and “Encore”, on slightly bigger boats, were not able to get into Kincardine, but we may catch up with them in Port Elgin. Naturally, since we sat tight, the afternoon turned out to be lovely, but it was nice to have a lazy day again. I did help Rob on “Soul Mate” tune his rig up a bit. We had dinner on the marina patio together with our new pals. Later, Rob and I played guitars and sang a bit, but had to stop early as they are headed all the way to Port Elgin tomorrow, nearly 60 miles.