Bayfield and Kincardine

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

044-10.500 N
081-38.220 W

Ahoy from Kincardine, Ontario!

I'm happy to report that we've been working out way up the western shore of Lake Huron and are now in the delughtful town of Kincardine. One of the things that we noticed as soon as we entered Canada was that the pace of life slowed way down and everything felt more relaxed. I have a hard time quantifying what changed, but it seems like people take more time to interact with one another on a person to person level instead of rushing around with cell phones constantly bonded to the ear or texting away. It's more than that, but it's very refreshing.

The first location that we pulled in to was named Bayfield and it was one of the most unique marinas that we've been to. Basically it felt like a camp ground where the campers and tents have been replaced by boats. We happened to be there on the Sunday of a 3 day holiday named "Civic Day", but no one can tell us what the holiday is about. Despite the vagueness of the holiday, the campground...oops, marina...was packed with people having picnics, fishing and playing on the water. The marina staff offered to bring us a grill and/or wood for a camp fire. They also have a fire truck that they use to take you to town, which is about a mile away. The town is a very nice collection of shops, galleries and restaurants.

The only issue that we had was that BlueJacket was a very large boat to bring in there. The finger piers are only 15' long, which makes getting off of the boat a challenge and you have to tie 4 ways to the dock and pilings. The pilings are 30' from the dock, which is very short for a 40' boat and they're only 15' apart, which is once again very tight for a boat with a 13.5' beam. But we squeezed in.

The next day we headed to Kincardine, which is a very Scottish town about 50 miles from Bayfield. We had a very relaxing sail for most of the trip, although it was a bit damp at parts. However, by the time that we pulled in the rain had stopped and we quickly headed out to explore the town. Out of all of the towns that we've stopped in during this trip, Kincardine was probably one of our favorites. Everything about it just felt nice. The buildings were well maintained, houses had beautiful gardens, people were friendly, there was a jazz concert going on in the park and the town just had a warm feel to it.

There are miles of *soft* sandy beaches that run along the lake. According to the locals, National Geographic rated this coastline as one of the top places in the US to watch the sunset. So, we headed down to the lake to watch it go down. Based upon tradition dating back hundreds of years, every night they have a bag piper play from the lighthouse. They have these huge chairs along the lake, so we crawled up into one and enjoyed the sunset and the bag piper. What a wonderful way to end a day!

Today we're making a short 22 mile trip to Port Elgin and tomorrow we'll head to Tobermory, which is at the entrance of the Georgian Bay.

-- Geoff & Sue

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For the cruiser: Dockage at Bayfield was $1.75/ft. As described, it's quite a unique location. They do have an unheated pool and the bathrooms are adequate.

The marina as Kincardine is very nice and dockage is $1.40/ft. The docks are in excellent shape and are easy to get in to. Note that the channel to Kincardine is very narrow and could be quite exciting with following seas! The marina has private bathrooms, but if you want to shower you have to use the public beach facilities which are right next to the marina. They might be a bit sandy, but are in very nice condition.

Log ID: 1375