Well, finally out of Tobermory! It only took what, ten days before the weather cleared up? Left yesterday morning at 7:20 am - winds were still healthy, but way down from what they were. Seas were easily three feet, with a few six footers wandering around looking for someone to smack around. Since I was the only damn fool out there, they smacked me around for a bit.
As predicted, the winds died down fairly quickly, as did the waves, so it was a motorsail to Goderich - a long motorsail, I didn't arrive here until 12:41 am - just over 90 nm, or over 100 statute miles. A long day, but when the winds die down (yes, they're back, they followed me here I think), I'll have a good shot at making Sarnia. I figure sometime next May...if I'm lucky.
For the many times I've stopped in Goderich, until today I've never wandered up into the town to check it out. Since I'm stuck here for a couple of days, I wandered up the hill to look things over. This is a beautiful town, I should have done this years ago.
The path up from the marina puts you at the top of the harbour, (fabulous views from the top of the harbour looking over the lake), with all the old mansions and it's just lovely. From there, I wandered into the downtown and noticed there were quite a few properties undergoing construction. I stopped at an art shop and spoke to the owner, who happens to be the head of the BIA here. There was a major tornado here a year ago August - an F3 - that tore the town up. It stripped every tree from the town center, plus tore out a lot of the beautiful historic buildings, which are now being rebuilt.
Fortunately, wiser heads have prevailed, and the downtown is being rebuilt in the same heritage style. I'd put photos up, but my internet connection here is terrible - this will barely load, so please forgive me.
However, check the town out online, it really is very nice - here's a good link for photos. The center of town is an octagon, and all the streets radiate outwards from it as you can see. There are also some good photos of the hurricane damage, such as the one of a church with a hole right through it, and a before and after of the town center with - and without - trees. They're replanting the trees at the end of November, and investing in several that are 60 feet in height.
More tomorrow - once I can get a better connection. I'll post those photos of the harbour I mentioned. Have a great Saturday night everyone.
