Cruising to Port Huron and Meeting Our Canadian Friends

Detroit River light

South Bass Island light

We left Lakeside Marblehead and headed across Lake Erie's western basin for the Detroit River. We had perfect conditions for traveling, although it was unseasonably hot throughout the area. We passed several U.S. and Canadian islands that dot this portion of the lake and finally made it to the Detroit River light which starts the Detroit River. The river current surprised us at around 3 kts. which slowed our progress somewhat. Large interlake ships frequent this passage, and we had to remain alert as to where this traffic was. We passed downtown Detroit to port and Windsor, ON to starboard then made our way up to a marina opposite Belle Isle. This put us nearly at the beginning of Lake St. Clair.

Detroit skyline

The next morning we crossed the lake and went up the St. Clair River, passing several large ships as we made our way to Port Huron. The current in the St. Clair River was even faster than that in the Detroit River and it took us the better part of a day to make the trip. Also, unknown to us, there was a major sailboat race, the Port Huron to Mackinac race, scheduled for the weekend and we found several of the marinas full. We finally found a marina with space, but had to pass through three bascule bridges with restricted schedules to get to it which took over an hour. After getting the boat in her slip, we contacted our Canadian friends, Jim and Marie Foubister who live across the river in Sarnia, ON. We met Jim and Marie several years ago on a cruise ship and stayed at their house when we did the motorcycle trip in 2008. They agreed to cross over and meet up with us the next day.

Jim, Jane and Marie

The Canadian delivers the Canadian!

The following day turned out to be a real scorcher with temperatures into the mid-nineties. We took advantage of the marina's pool while doing some laundry, then returned to the boat to get ready for Jim and Marie. We had a fantastic reunion with us telling loop stories and them telling about their extensive travels and cruises. It was great to see them and catch up. We went downtown to a restaurant that was recommended by a fellow boater and had a good meal, then we returned to the boat for some more visiting. Near dark, Jim and Marie left to return home. We're not sure when we'll meet again, but then we never really expected to have seen them on two different occasions since our first meeting. One never knows what will bring people together.

The Foubisters and Bavarian Cream