Adventures of Boreas: August 2019

July 26, 2019 - DeTour Village to Duncan Bay Boat Club

One final leg on the Lake Superior trip. Weather forecast were a bit confusing last night with wind and wave forecasts not matching up properly (too big of waves predicted for the velocity of the wind). It appeared however that an early start would be the best if we decided to go. We were up early and after a check of the weather decided to go for it.

Skies were clear and waves were less that two feet which is acceptable travel weather. We just have to manage which side of the boat the waves connect on (almost anything but straight on the sides is okay).

We took a tour past Spectacle Reef Lighthouse and then into our slip at Duncan Bay Boat Club. This has been an amazing trip! We enjoyed every harbor we stopped at and we would visit any and all of them again. Each harbor/marina/town had interesting features or things to see and do. We both agreed that another trip to Lake Superior could easily be in our future.

Spectacle Reef Lighthouse

Our view from the back of Boreas at Duncan Bay Boat Club

July 25, 2019 - Sault Ste. Marie to DeTour Village

We had a beautiful trip down the St. Mary’s River. The sun was out and the winds were light.

One of the most interesting things we saw all day was the loading of goods onto a freighter. Have you ever wondered how the freighters in the Great Lakes get the food and supplies they need? Do they pull over and stop at a Walmart when they are near one? Of course not, what really happens is that a supply boat pulls up next to them, then, using a crane on the supply boat, transfers a pallet of goods to the freighter. I got some great pictures of this transfer just after the freighter “Great Republic” left the locks.

The second most interesting was the frogs and toads at the DeTour Village Harbor. Just after dusk the critters come out and hang out on the sidewalk looking for snacks. The big guy in the picture is about eight inches long (without his legs extended) and about six inches tall to the top of his eyeballs. He is REALLY good at catching bugs!

The supply boat getting in position next to the Great Republic

Supplies getting lifted on to the Great Republic

The West Neebish Channel - a man made portion of the St. Marry's River

A "critter" at DeTour Village Harbor

The "big guy"

July 24, 2019 - Grand Marais to Sault Ste. Marie

It is a long day from Grand Marais and it includes going through the Soo Locks, so we were up early and off the dock before 7:00am. Our waiting for a better weather day worked well and we had great conditions. We saw a few rain clouds and showers off in the distance, but nothing along our route.

On our way into Lake Superior we chose to go through the American Locks due to their 24 hour a day schedule. On the way back to the St. Marry’s River we decide to go through the Canadian Locks because there was lots of freighter traffic on the American side. The Canadian Lock is much smaller and similar to the Canadian locks we experienced on the Trent-Severn Waterway when we did our Loop Trip in 2012. We locked through with a mid-sized sailboat and one of the Soo Locks Tour boats.