We pulled out of Kemp Marina around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 2, in order to catch the first opening in the Canadian lock. This is the lock used by pleasure craft and small tugs as it is too small for the freighters. We went through right at 9 a.m. with a tug/fishing boat that was headed to Michipicoten Island. I was tending the front line so I had a chance to visit with the crew on the tug. They had lots of questions about how we had arrived at this point. Their boat had been in the races and they invited us to join them next year. You never know!!!!
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| Canadian Lock sign |
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Canadian lock with international
bridge in the background |
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The fishing boat/tug that went through
the lock with us. |
The Algoma Steel plant takes up most of the shore just past the locks.
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| Algoma Steel plant |
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| Channel marker on the St. Mary's River |
Just past this light we saw a salvage ship near an orange buoy. The night before a 45 foot Corps of Engineers tug had sunk as it was being towed. We heard the radio chatter between the Coast Guard and the salvage boat. Think somebody's head will roll for this!
Soon we came to the large Gros Point Reef Light marking the entrance to Whitefish Bay and Lake Superior. This is believed to be the oldest lighthouse on the lake, built in 1849.
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| Lighthouse marking entrance to Lake Superior |
We decided to skip Whitefish harbor and go straight to Grand Marais, a stretch of 92 miles. The lake was flat and it couldn't have been a better day to travel that distance.
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| Whitefish Bay lighthouse |
Just north of this point in 500 feet of water lies the Edmund Fitzgerald. The night she went down in gale winds and 10 foot seas, this light was out. Add that to the loss of both of her radar stations and a disaster was inevitable. This part of the lake is known at the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes". Even though we were perfectly safe, I was glad when we passed this point.
Along this stretch of the lake we started seeing sand dunes like along Lake Michigan. The difference is very few people are swimming. With 58 degree water that is not too difficult to understand.
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| Sand dunes run for miles |
Grand Marais Marina was filled with three large 50+ footers, so we anchored in the bay. It was a gentle night and the bottom was sand, making for a fine evening. This was the virgin use of our new 50 lb. anchor and 120 feet of chain (replacing 40lb and 40 feet). We plan to stay put when we anchor this year! Soft chimes started at 9 p.m. and sang to us for 15 minutes. What a beautiful way to end the day!
The next morning we pulled anchor and headed to Munising. Just west of the entrance the dunes get higher and soon we were looking at miles of Grand Sable Sand Dunes Park. One of the dunes had a sand slide known as Devil's Slide "once used in logging days to transport logs down the dunes where they were then floated via log booms to mills at Grand Marais".
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| Grand Sable Sand Dunes |
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| Perhaps Devil's Slide |
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| Au Sable Point Lighthouse |
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