Home sweet home!! We made it!!
Don’t worry…we’re smiling here, so there must be a happy ending to this story…. But first–
We woke up in Lion’s Head and were amazed that we could actually SEE! There were houses on a hill and a playground and fish in the water and the sun was shining. It was beautiful and refreshing after seeing nothing but fog the day before. We checked the VISIBILITY and realized that fog would cover much of our day again, and so we had a little discussion about what to do….sit and wait? for how long? just go and cross our fingers? hmmm….it looked like this fog was going to be a problem for several more days, so we decided that if we could make it through one day with fog, why not two?! We finally got started north along the eastern shore of the Bruce Peninsula around 10am. We were rewarded with a clear view for about half an hour –got to see the lion’s head!! And just when we were thinking this wasn’t too bad, then came the fog.
Dense fog for about an hour+ made us remember the torture isolation fun of the day before. Mike looked on the bright side when he said he would be happy to come back this way again later on this summer because really we didn’t get to see much of it, anyway. True, true. Just when we were getting to the tip of the peninsula, the skies cleared and we were treated to a very clear view all the way from Cabot Head to Tobemory. What a welcome surprise!!
As we turned west and headed toward Lake Huron, we crossed the wake of a giant sight seeing boat and took some waves over the bow. That was exciting!! and also showed us that our flybridge windows leak a bit…. I was definitely glad I could see where that giant wave came from–it wasn’t scary because I could see, but I really didn’t want to experience waves like that in the fog. We cruised by some islands, played tag with another big pleasure cruiser (we really aren’t used to seeing boats or anything really at this point, so this provided some excitement), and then realized that we were headed into more fog. I thought about calling it a day, but Mike decided he likes driving in fog. No, really, he knew we needed to take advantage of the smooth waters and that we were safe as long as we kept our eyes glued on the radar screen. We entered a thick blanket of fog just after clearing the narrow channels around Tobemory (good timing) and pretty much hung out in the clouds for the rest of a very… long… day.
About 5 hours later, the skies suddenly cleared! We could see windmills used to generate power (Oh, Canada!) and shoreline and beautiful calm waters all around us. It is amazing what being able to see can do for your soul after hours and hours of living in the clouds. I was just getting done with my research about where we were going to stop for the night (planned on Grand Bend) when I decided to check a different weather app to see what the forecast was. Hmmm… interesting… since I had been looking at VISIBILITY all day I failed to notice that there was a squall warning for our area and that squalls were coming across the lake. WHAT!? Not good!!
Of course since we were on the water, my app wouldn’t load and I was starting to panic, so some quick texts to friends and family to check the forecast soon led us to throttle down and get outta there! We did some quick calculations (like 20 times), comparing the radar forecast with our expected area of travel and saw that we should be able to stay just about half an hour ahead of the storms if we kept her at top speed for a while. This is good for me. I like this plan. I do not like storms on the water on my new boat in Lake Huron–no way. Mike goes along with this plan and floors it. He puts up with my anxious pacing and constant checking of the radar vs our progress on the water. Soon, though, he realizes that we are burning fuel at a much faster rate than anticipated on this marathon day since we are unexpectedly going at top speed. Being one to think things all the way through (thank goodness), he did some calculations (again–like 20 times) and decided that he didn’t think we would have much extra fuel to get us to our planned stop for the night. He proposed that we stop– immediately. And so we did.
We made it 140+ nautical miles in about 10 hours, mostly through blinding fog, partly running from a thunderstorm, and docked her in a semi-panic thinking we were about to run out of diesel. And there were rain drops…not many…and the sun was shining, but the storm just had to let us know it was right on our tail as we pulled in to Bayfield, Canada. But the strangest thing happened as we CALMLY docked the boat and all got along VERY NICELY while doing it–the skies cleared and we were treated to the most beautiful sunset. After that long day in eerie isolation, that gorgeous sunset was an amazing view!
Bayfield was a welcome calm, safe harbor after a long day of adventuring. Unfortunately, all of the pizza places were closed, so we were forced to eat boat food and drink our last two beers before heading right to bed.
Monday we woke up to a clear, sunny day with fish jumping behind the boat, geese honking everywhere (not Candadian Geese when you’re in Canada, FYI–just “geese,” we’re told), and sailboats being put in the water for the season. We took the courtesy car to get breakfast and decided that if we could make it through the two previous days, we could do anything. So we went back to the marina, spent $923598750982 on diesel, and headed out for the final leg of our journey. And you guessed it–the forecast called for FOG!!
Couldn’t scare us, though!! We are pros at fog (as long as there are calm waters to go with it– and we’re almost home!!). So we played war and practiced tying knots. We saw a weird boat and some strange floating things. We were amazed at how flat the water was…maybe even glassy! I’ll take it!
After a while, the fog burned off and we could see! We could see a freighter! Again–I’m glad it was clear enough to see it with my own eyes, and it gave us a little more confidence in our radar to see what it looked like there, too.
Before long we could see the Blue Water Bridge in the distance and it felt like we were home. Of course, we had quite a way to go still, but we were back in familiar territory. A very welcome sight! But being close to Michigan (and out of the fog) brought new challenges–1) it was HOT! 2) it was BUSY! 3)we had to clear CUSTOMS!
The customs part was really no big deal except that they called Mike right at a really busy spot on the river and he just got up and walked away from the wheel. I was like, “What?! I’m driving now?!” I drove plenty through the 3 day trip home, but this was one of the busiest spots in Lake St Clair AND I had to go from cruising speed to no wake…all by myself… It was a little hairy, but I probably got an A-. All that driving and not waking and not getting in the way of other boats really hindered my picture taking skills, but I did the best I could.
After Mike got off the phone, he got to deal with the rest of the drive through Memorial Day traffic on Lake St Clair in 90* heat. It was busy. It was choppy. It was hot. It was NOTHING like the whole rest of our trip. It actually felt like the dangerous part, with all these boats coming from every which way, instead of being alone way out there and blinded by fog. But it is HOME and that felt good and familiar, too. Our plans are taking shape and this was a big trip down the river for us to complete the trip home and get the boat parked in her new spot.
We got her parked (again–very CALMLY with all that traffic and current and customs officers waiting for us on the dock). We got cleared in. We got all sweaty tying her up in her slip and realizing the power to our slip wasn’t turned on ( so no AC). We got to eat pizza. We were glad to be home, but anxious for the next adventure. We are so excited for every step of this journey and so thankful for your outpouring of support and love!! Thank you for reading all of this (if you made it this far!!) We can’t wait to fill you in on the next adventure!! INNTW!!
Sunset on the river on the first night back in Michigan.
