7/5/17: Our leg from Windsor to Leamington was uneventful. We passed a couple lakers, saw a bunch more fisher-people, some power boats, and a couple sailboats. We really don’t have much to say about Leamington because of our short stay, but the marina itself is worth mentioning, and we went to our first Canadian Tire store!

Today was the day we officially entered Lake Erie. Everyone we’ve ever talked with has not had a lot of good to say about the lake, so we have been a little anxious about crossing it. It’s extremely shallow, which allows the waves to build quickly without much wind. On this particular day, we saw 7 knots winds kick up about 2-3 foot waves. We are normally used to 1 footers or so with that kind of wind. Other than the minor waves, the trip to Leamington was relaxing (despite not quite enough wind to sail there in a reasonable amount of time).

The marina layout was one of the better that we’ve seen so far. The fairways are extremely wide, and the space between docks was huge. In past marinas, we’ve felt a little like sardines, squeezed in between or next to boats with only a foot or two of space between, and not much maneuvering in the fairways. Here, we had at least 15 feet to the neighboring boat, and 40 or more feet across the fairways. It was a welcomed relief in the morning when it came to backing our of our slip!

On our way to the marina, we discovered that we had no water when we turned on the faucet! After a quick inspection, we quickly found the problem. Under the kitchen sink, one of our water lines had burst, causing the pump to come on, and emptying our entire 90 gallons of water under the cabinet, into the bilge, and out into the lake! Bummer! We needed a new water line. But where to go? As luck would have it, a cab driver in Goderich told us about Canadian Tire, and there was one in Leamington!

Canadian Tire is an interesting “big box” store. Think tire store meets NAPA meets Ace Hardware meets Home Depot. Yes, you certainly can buy tires and have them changed (or rotated). And while you’re at it, you can get spark plugs and oil filters and any kind of fuel additive you can imagine. But you can also get plumbing repair parts, electrical repair parts, home furnishings, candy, clothing, pet food, nails, screws, etc… And you can also get 5/8″ extra strength flexible vinyl hose! One quick taxi ride and another hour’s work (and 90 more gallons of water), and we were back in business!

From what we did see, Leamington was a nice town, but we only spent about 5 or 6 hours there. It was our first stop on Lake Erie, but it was also just a quick in and out. We did hear very nice things about our next stop, Erieau, so we are looking forward to that stop!

Pics of Leamington