Keweenaw to Bayfield

Thursday morning July11, we left Houghton and headed west on the Keweenaw Waterway for about 10 miles before we entered  Lake Superior.  The water was again quite calm.

Fishing  boat

Leaving the Keweenaw Waterway

The only other boats we saw that day were a Coast Guard Zodiak racing along and this fishing boat.  We spied through binoculars as the fisherman pulled in the fish caught in his nets.  Whitefish is the largest catch in this area of the lake, second is lake trout.  Fishing nets here are strung underwater between two buoys marked with 2 foot poles topped with red flags.  In between there are often several orange or white floating balls holding up parts of the net.  Although they are supposedly far enough below the waterline that we would not catch them,  we try to go around them.  Still not as bad as the crab pots down south!!

Our stop for the night was a small marina at Ontonagon, MI.  As we came closer to the entrance,  the water changed from the clear blue of lake Superior to a muddy reddish color.  Looking at our wake, it was interesting to see that this red water stayed on top of the cold blue Superior water.  We learned from the harbormaster at Ontonagon that 65 feet of water had been released behind a dam upstream so that repairs could be made to the dam.  The result was lots of red clay silt emptying into Superior.

Line of blue Superior water framed
by red river water in our wake.

A distinct line between the river
water and the Lake Superior water
at the entrance to the harbor.

On Friday we had a long run of 70+ miles to reach Bayfield, so we headed out at 6:30 a.m.  Again the water was friendly and we ran some stretches at high cruise, around 17 mph.  We arrived at the outer edges of the Apostle Islands around 2 p.m. and decided to cruise around a few of them before heading into Bayfield.  We were  surprised at the size of the islands and the distance between them.  Both greater than we had gleaned from the charts.

Bayfield

 My parents used to visit friends in Bayfield and I can remember them talking about how pretty the area was, so I was anxious to see it. It is a lovely little town with a nice marina.  Being a power boat we were definitely in the minority.  We enjoyed our stay there and took advantage of the restaurants.  One in particular, Maggies, had been recommended by a friend, Nancy Broughton, who lives in Duluth.  Their specialty is whiteish livers.  She assured me they did not taste like liver, so I took the challenge and ordered them as an appetizer.  I can't say I would order them again, but they were tasty and hinted only slightly of liver.  Tom, who detests liver, could barely stay at the same table!