We are startled by the sound of thunder in the morning. That changes all the plans. We are staying put. After breakfast, its still raining with the sound of the occasional thunder. We all pile into Bonnie and Jim's car and drive into downtown Sarnia. As we tour the sites of Sarnia (refineries) we end up downtown. We find a mall which is pretty much empty, most of the stores are closed. We end up at a pub and have lunch. For dinner, I make a pasta with sausages and we have a great dinner on the boat.
September 5, 2012
The rain has passed so we are off to Windsor. Bonnie and Jim stay on board and Belinda drives the car to Windsor. It is pretty exciting to motor under the Bluewater bridge, with the current we are doing 9 kts. The winds are light from the SSE so we motor all the way. Downhill is definitely easier than uphill. Apparently there is a 30' drop between Sarnia and Windsor. We pass 3 big freighters during the day with 2 of them passing at the narrowest part of the St. Clair river. We are careful to stay on the Canadian side of the river so that we do not have to report into border services upon arrival at Windsor.
As we motor across Lake St Clair, we come across a regatta. They are sailing Etchells, a 3 person sail boat. There are several Canadian boats. I thought that one boat was Hans Fogh, which was later confirmed. Apparently, the regatta had not yet started so this was a practice race.
We arrive at Lakeview Park Marina and tie up on the Federal Wall. The marina does not have WiFi so we have to go to the local restaurant Lilly's Kazzillys to get onto the internet. Before dinner we drop into the Windsor Yacht Club for a drink. The one server remembered us so we had no problem getting a drink.
September 6, 2012
Bonnie has decided to drive around to Leamington with Belinda. Jim and I leave Windsor and motor down the Detroit River.
Its Navy week in Detroit and the brig Niagara is tied up in front of the Ren Center. As we motor down the river, the US Coast Guard radio informs us that the Niagara will give a cannon salute to commemorate the war of 1812.
As we get down to the south end of the Detroit river we start seeing black clouds in the west. The US Coast Guard radio indicates that the line of thunderstorms are moving north east. After a couple of miles, the sky clears for us so we are OK.
We exit the Detroit river doing 9 kts. again (mostly 7 kts. along the way). We have seen only 4 freighters all day.
Lake Erie is flat so we motor eastward towards Leamington and make very good time. We are tempted to continue on but there are no ports to stop 10 to 20 miles past Leamington. We arrive at Leamington marina and Belinda and Bonnie have just arrived to greet us as we refuel and pump out.
We tie up behind another Tartan 4100 Excalibur. We had seen this boat in Vermillion and Putin Bay, Ohio, earlier this summer.
The original plan was for Eriks R. and Jim T. join us as crew and we would sail the length of Lake Erie to Pt. Colbourne (about 180nm), the entrance to the Welland Canal. The forecast included a strong wind warning so we decided to stay put and Eriks and Jim stayed in TO.
For dinner we went to Ray's Ribhouse. Great ribs and chicken wings.
September 7, 2012
Checked the forecast this morning. Not just a wind warning but a gale warning. I let Eriks know that he should wait another day. Organizing crew's schedules with weather is a very difficult thing. We will take it day by day to see if we can get crew and a weather window.
Jim is checking on the hurricanes that are travelling up the Atlantic coast headed for Newfoundland. Bonnie is getting annoyed at us for obsessing about the weather and storms. Despite the wind warnings, the winds are light here. Very tempting to leave and head off to the next port. Over night the winds had been light so the lake is flat. But the distance to the next port is much.
Bonnie and Jim leave to start driving back to Holyrood, NL. They will stay at our house in TO on the way through. Jim will give Princess a big belly rub so she will be very happy. Thanks to our neighbours Mark and Anita who will be away allowing Bonnie and Jim to park in their driveway.
We spend the morning cleaning the boat up. After lunch we head off to the Walmart and Metro for some reprovisioning. The gale warning has been downgraded to strong wind warning tonight. Some really ugly clouds went south of us today. Glad that we stayed put. Still not looking good to leave Leamington any time soon.
Its Friday and its Happy Hour. Enjoying a martini and the weather seems to be clearing, now waiting for the strong winds to start blowing.
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