Sault Ste. Marie

Kemp Marina in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

The thunderstorm passed through Wednesday night and Thursday morning we left Lime Island headed to Sault Ste. Marie.  A light rain accompanied us the first half of the 45 mile journey and then fog set in.  At times it was so thick that we could see the channel markers only as we passed them.  Again we are thankful for good radar.  Goig slowly, we passed within 20 feet of a small boat with four men aboard fishing in the middle of the channel.  A small object like that does not show up on radar  and again we did not see them until we were upon them.  We were sounding our fog horn, but they did not seem disposed to move.  I hope they moved out of the channel before the Great Lakes freighter following us came through.

Red channel marking appearing out of the mist

The first thing we noticed upon entering Sault Ste. Marie was the International Bridge and the huge freighters waiting to go through the locks.

International Bridge connecting US and Canada

We fueled and then docked at George Kemp Marina on the US side.  At check-in we learned we had arrived during Engineer's Week and all sorts of events were planned.  The first was Thursday evening  when the bridge was lit--a once a year event.  We watched from the Soo Locks observation deck.

American side lit red, white and blue

Canadian side lit red and white

Friday the American lock grounds were open all day, so we visited the government buildings and had a chance to observe the enormous freighters close up as they passed  through the locks.  There are four locks on the American side--two of which are presently operational.  The Poe Lock is the largest at  1200 ft. by 110 ft. and was completed in 1968.  We watched a freighter enter that was 105 ft. by 1000 ft.  It moved  VERY SLOWLY with only a few feet to spare on each side.

View of Poe Lock as we crossed over the
bridge over the lock door.

Huge freighter entering Poe Lock

The lock closest to shore, the MacArthur Lock, is "smaller" at only 80 ft by 800 ft.  It was built in a record time of 15 months being completed in July 1943.  The construction proceeded on a 24/7 schedule even during -30 degree winter weather.  Ocean going vessels use this.  They are smaller than the great lakes freighters due to the limiting size of the locks on the St, Lawrence.  The other two locks are in the planning stages to be combined into one lock that will be the size of the Poe.  A spokesman at the locks explained that this would give two operational locks for the large freighters in the event one lock had a mechanical failure.  As it is now, if the Poe Lock goes down, shipping on the great lakes is halted by 75%.

The government buildings, open only this one day during the year, were gleaming with polished brass railings and marble floors.  There was a post office in the building that was used by the freighters, so I mailed my post cards there.

Administration building at locks

Interior of building

Fascinating chart relating the
carrying capacity of a freighter to
train and semi capacity
(click to enlarge)

Photo of building the locks

Coming back from the locks (on bicycles loaned by the marina) we stopped at the Coast Guard station and toured a buoy tender and a cutter.  The young seaman who was our tour guide was from Nebraska.  Talk about being away from home!

Katwai Bay Cutter

A tug boat parade was scheduled Friday evening and we went to view it from the breakwater near the marina.  A chilly breeze was blowing (thought I'd add that for those of you in St. Louis heat:) and the whole event seemed a bit disorganized so we did not stay long.

Tugboat parade???

Tiki tugboat

Tugboat Missouri!!!!

Today we learned that several of the fuel stops we were depending on in north Lake Superior are shut down at least temporarily.   So we are now looking at a clockwise approach, hoping that the fuel situation resolves by the time we reach Isle Royale.  Flexibility!!!  Since this change would not require us to clear Canadian customs until later in the trip, we chose to stay on at Kemp Marina a bit longer rather than move to Bondar Marina on the Canadian side.

Saturday one lane of the bridge was closed for the once a year bridge walk.  Since we had walked Mackinac Bridge with Pat and Jim on Labor Day 2012, we decided we must do this walk also.  The bridge spans 2.3 miles with the international border in the center. I'd estimate 2,000+ made the walk which ended up being about 3 miles.  We had to clear customs when we reached the Canadian side and again when we were ferried by bus back to the American side.  It was interesting to see the locks and rapids from directly above.

Border at the center of the bridge

This little guy, an Irish Wolfhound,
wasn't allowed to participate
but he was in attendance.  I think
you could have ridden him!

Sweet Adelines performing for the crowd prior to walk.
This one's for you, Shelley!

Arriving on the Canadian side

American  locks as viewed from bridge

Canadian lock
This is the main lock used for pleasure craft.
It is smaller and has less wait than the
large American locks used for freighters,

Think these people might be Canadian, eh?

St. Mary's Rapids
The locks were built to bypass these.

After the bridge walk, we walked back to the marina (another mile) in time to catch the tugboat races.  Again, these seemed a bit disorganized so we did not stay long.

One of the winners

Later that day,  the pancake barge pulled into a slip two down from us.  They served pancake breakfasts Sunday and Monday raising money for local children's charities.  We enjoyed delicious pancakes and sausages Sunday morning.

Small tug delivering the pancake barge

Sunday afternoon Tom installed a new fuel sender and we are now getting an accurate fuel reading.  Prior to this we had to guess how much fuel was in the tank based on speed and average fuel consumption since the last fueling.  This is a great improvement!  I don't know how he knows how to do all this stuff, but I'm surely glad he does!

Later Sunday we toured the Valley Camp museum ship located next to the marina.  It seems huge when standing on the deck, yet it is about half the size of  present day freighters.  It houses other maritime exhibits including lifeboats from the Edmond Fitzgerald.  Very interesting.

Crew's mess hall

officer's dining room

crew's living quarters
I''m glad I'm sleeping with the captain
on Raydiance!

Valley Camp freighter

View from the stern of Valley Camp

Tom in the pilot house

Lifeboat from Edmond Fitzgerald
found  the following day twelve miles
away from where the ship sunk.

Monday, July 1st, was Canada Day.  Tom celebrated by buying cables to connect to the amplifier to solve some problem with the bass speaker and I bought the Nevada Barr book,  A Superior Death , set in Isle Royale.  That night we sat on the front deck and were treated to a 30 minute fireworks display.  What a fine send-off.  Tuesday we leave Sault Ste. Marie and enter Lake Superior.