Thursday July 29, 2010 to Friday, July 30, Tobermory to Bayfield Ont.

This is our last leg in Canada.  It was my first visit to Lake Huron, in spite of the fact that I was raised in the Detroit area so many years ago.  This part of the trip was down the Canadian side of the lake from Tobermory to Bayfield.

We had in mind to link up with Ron and Sally aboard their Summer Star at Bayfield.  But alas, not to be. They got as far as Goderich, Ontario and called it a day.  They were beat up a bit by following seas.  Not so much effect on us because of our speed, allowing us to stay ahead of the wave chains.

A note about waves.  It was this ride that gave me the incentive to explore on the Internet a bit about waves and their speed.  I found an excellent surfing site, (water surfing) that explained waves and their movements in terms usable by the surfing crowd.  NOAA in their weather forecasts and data gives two parameters for waves.  One is their expected or measured height and the other is the time between crests.  It is the time between crests that is interesting.  It turns out that if you multiply the time period between crests in seconds times 3, you get the speed of the wave along the surface in knots.

So if a wave forecast is for 5 seconds between crests, that means that the wave chains are traveling at 15 knots across the surface and if you can not go at least this speed, you can not stay ahead of the waves chasing you from behind in a following sea.  15 knots is about 17 miles an hour.

Bayfield is just a bit north of Sarnia, Ontario. Sarnia  is right across the St. Clair River from Port Huron, MI   The marina we visited at Bayfield was the Harbor Lights Marina.  A most pleasant place to relax and regather your strength.       http://www.harbourlightsmarina.on.ca/ .

Looking back at the north end of the Bruce Peninsula with a large ferry boat heading toward Tobermory.  There are a lot of ferry boat routes that serve the many ports on Georgian Bay.

Looking back at the many islands at the north end of Bruce.

Looking ahead as we begin turning south down the shore of Canada on the east side of Lake Huron.

Here is a definite charted hazard to navigation in the form of rocks just breaking the surface.  They are far enough off shore that they would be unexpected were it not for the excellence of the available charts.  Any photo can be enlarged for better detail by clicking on it.

"On Plane"  We are traveling at 22 knots, nicely ahead of the building following seas which are not really visible in the photo.  We traveled at this speed from 11:17AM to 4:33PM when we arrived at the entrance to the Bayfield River.  The marina is located on the north shore of the river about half a mile in.

A view of Goderich, Ont. as we passed by.  Goderich is home to a large Compass Minerals plant and mine.  They mine the huge salt deposits deep down, providing the majority of the salt used for deicing roads in the winter in the entire Detroit, Windsor, Sarnia, Port Huron area.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goderich,_Ontario .

In port.  Safely tucked in

Different view of the harbor from the deck of the Salt Shaker

A big stanchion to the left of the Salt Shaker.  It was once used to support a roadway across the Bayfield River.

The entire marina grounds were park like and well cared for.

A museum fire truck that resides at the marina.

Leaving Friday AM after fueling up and passing our slip on our way out.  The trip from Tobermory to Bayfield used 485 liters of gasoline or about 128 gallons.   Notice the stanchion mentioned earlier.  Next stop Port Huron, a visit from US customs and officially back in the US.