We have conquered Lake Huron!

There is a lot to  be said about Lake Huron. The most beautiful sunsets in Ontario. Great beaches and camping grounds that even I have camped in. Cute little towns with amazing restaurants and shops. Lovely clean water and great fishing. But ...
I have always had this fear of sailing down Lake Huron. We have been spoiled by sailing Georgian Bay all these years with the 30,000 Islands, pristine waters and anchorages behind little uninhabited islands where there is just us and the loons.  Bad weather? Tuck into one of thousands of little bays and you are safe and sound. But where do you go on Lake Huron? I don't think  I saw one Island along the east shore the whole way down. And it's BIG.  If the winds are blowing, the waves can get pretty spectacular. Why does anyone have a sailboat here??
So it was with much trepidation that I headed into Lake Huron. No choice if we want to get to Lake Erie. And it didn't disappoint.
Our first leg from Tobermory to Kincardine was a wild and sometimes scary ride ( Hugh loved it, me, not so much!) . The winds were more than predicted, big waves and blinding rain. Yikes! And yes, we survived. (See Hugh's post).
The reason we went to Kincardine so quickly was we had to rent a car and get home. Home??  Yep, our outboard motor had died and we needed to get it back to the dealer because it was under warranty. But apparently Kincardine is a smaller town than we thought and no rental cars were available. So... back out to Lake Huron to sail down to Goderich. We left bright and early with nice winds and some waves. Just as we got out I noticed a huge bank of " rain" coming right towards us ... so we quickly buttoned up the canvas and prepared to go into another downpour, only to find it was FOG!! Luckily it didn't last too long and we were able to find our way into the treacherous entrance to the marina.
Goderich is a lovely town and extremely nice people who were very helpful in getting us a rental car. So off we went ... on a lovely drive through the countryside ... home. 

How weird that felt when I had already said goodbye to my house and left it in the good care of our son, Trevor. But, it was so great to do four loads of laundry, (for free!) watch some TV (we do have one on board but channels are few and far between!) and a long shower. It was great!  I won't bore you with the outboard details as I'm sure Hugh will, but I can say it was worth the trip to KW!
So back to Goderich, and spent the next day there with the company of our great friends Bruce and Laurie who drove over from Stratford for a visit and lunch in town. Another unexpected but great treat!
And yesterday we finished sailing Lake Huron. We left Goderich with a lovely north wind, even put up our bright orange spinnaker, until the wind died and we had to motor the rest of the way to Sarnia.
We also had our first encounter with Great Lakes Freighters. Yikes ... they are big! You can't miss them, but they can sure miss us so a new thing to look out for.

And just as we were arriving, the sun came out for the first time in days! A very nice welcome!!
Bye, bye Lake Huron ! You certainly lived up to my expectations!! 
And so we start the next leg of our journey ... St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River to Windsor. And then into Lake Erie.
More adventures to come ... One day at a time!