After fueling and a pump out on Tuesday morning in Silver Bay , we set off for Taconite Harbour, which was 25 miles away, passing by the Pallisade Rock, with the tower on it. The wind was going to increase in the afternoon, so this would be far enough for us. The refuge harbour consisted of 3 mooring balls surrounded by a break wall. No wind issues here. We selected the closest mooring ball to the entrance, and tied off. One minor casualty- I broke the end off Andy’s locking hook, while pulling it out of the mooring ball loop. (He’s hoping that someone with a 3-D printer might be able to make him a new one.)
Later in the afternoon, the captain decided this would be a good place to replace the oil in the engines, as we were at 108 hours of use since leaving Buckhorn. So, he pumped out the old and replaced it. We had a peaceful afternoon and evening, and watched a fishing charter captain, with 2 of his groups for the day and their catch.
On Wednesday morning, we left at 8:30 and proceeded up the Minnesota coast to the Grand Marais marina, this was a 33 mile trip. We arrived around noon, and ran into the crew from the Princess Margaret, who were getting fueled up for the next leg of their Great Loop adventure.
In the afternoon, we walked up to one of the grocery stores for a few supplies, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back- as it has been weeks since we last had ice cream- it wasn’t Kawartha- but it was cold and creamy.
On Thursday we had originally thought we would head over to Isle Royale, however the long term weather forecast was not favourable for this trip, as we might not get off the island for several days in good weather. So, we switched to Plan B- continuing up the Minnesota coast towards Grand Portage, and ultimately the Canadian Border. Once again because of weather, we only went 21 miles to Horseshoe Bay. Dave at the Grand Marais marina, had told us about this new facility ( it was not in the Bonnie Dahl Superior Way reference book that we have been using for this trip).
The L-shaped dock, had an outside crib and inner dock, because we were uncertain of the depth inside- we tied up to the outside of the crib, tying our lines around the wooden structure and lag bolts. Even though the winds were blowing out on the lake the bay was very sheltered.
I got off the boat, and took some pictures of the site. Several people came and talked to us by the boat—we had a long conversation with a couple from Nebraska. In the evening, we were rocked by the swells coming off the lake, I slept OK, but the captain slept very little.
Because of a small craft warning for the area between Grand Marais and Grand Portage, we cast off just after 7:00, and continued down the coast. We had learned that one of the marina’s in Grand Portage, was not taking transients as their dock was being rebuilt, and the marina at the Casino site only took small boats. Andy checked the possible anchorage in the Superior Way, to find out what would have the best protection from the SW winds. He decided on Clark Bay, so we traveled 21 miles to get there, and arrived at 9:20, and anchored in 18 feet of water. It was a very sheltered bay- the wind started to blow around noon, swinging us around for most of the afternoon. The wind died down by 7:00, and we had a pleasant night at anchor. The bay was located less than 2 miles from Canada.
On Saturday morning, we departed Clark Bay, and went 14 miles arriving at Little trout Bay. We transitioned from the USA to Canada, and reverted from Central time back to Eastern. Here’s our first view of Canadian waters, near Pigeon Point—I can’t tell the difference.
We went around the point and anchored in 15 feet of water, it was overcast, with a slight breeze. We called the Canadian Border Security Agency to report that we were back in Canadian waters and at anchor. We were given a clearance number that can be used until we land in Thunder Bay, provided we don’t go ashore.
For the USA portion of our Lake Superior loop, we spent 24 night in 3 states- 10 at Marinas, 6 at Harbour of refuge (no fees),7 at Anchor , 1 Dock in apostles islands. We have travelled 591 miles by boat along the Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota coastlines. Each state was very different, the sandy beaches of Michigan and Wisconsin changed to rocks and trees in Minnesota. We really enjoyed the Apostle islands, they remind us very much of the Parks Canada, Thousand Islands—but less rocks, as most of the Apostles have sand bottoms.
In Little Trout bay we were joined by a Loon and later in the afternoon an Eagle, the recent sunny days are helping my tomatoes to ripen- hope to eat these before we head off to Winnipeg. On Sunday morning we left the anchorage around Noon and headed closer to TBay. We learned it is not good to anchor near a Beaver house, or where logging had occurred in the past- as we pulled a log up with our anchor.
We had read about Thompson Island, were residents from TBay had set up a community in the 1970’s. This site is in a long Bay- called Wray Bay, and has docking, a shared BBQ area, Sauna building and outhouse, and here it is OK to raft boats together. When we arrived the only space available was too shallow for us, so one of the boats- Piper, allowed us to tie up to them. There was a sailboat ahead of them that was going to leave in the next hour or two – so we could have their space. Once the sailboat left, Piper moved up, and we took his space instead. When Piper left a little later, the space was filled by Knot Today, a 50 foot Bay liner, owned by Tim and Susie. We later learned that Susie’s parents were some of the people that developed this site. In talking with them further, we discovered they were planning to do the Great Loop in a few years—so they had some questions about it. Susie had asked some questions about charts—which provided us with the opportunity to share some of the dead weight that was taking up space in our hanging locker. We gave them all the charts for Florida and the East coast, as we had already given the Rivers charts to Princess Margaret earlier in the week. We went for a short hike to the rock shore on the other side of the island and spent a pleasant Sunday night on the dock. On Monday morning 3 of the boats left, so we decided to stay one more day. We did some cleaning and re-arranging on the boat, and started packing up stuff to take home to Winnipeg. On Monday night the wind picked up a bit, and we had some waves in the Bay. In the evening, we saw Tim flying a drone, so Andy pulled his out—which he had never got working, and Tim was able to figured out the software, and help him to send it on its maiden voyage. Tim advised not to run it from the boat, only on shore. After the boys were done playing with their toys, we partook in a Thompson Island tradition, and went for a sauna.
During the night there was some rocking and rolling, as the waves continued to pound the shore.
On Tuesday morning, Andy helped Tim clean up the sauna area, and then they burnt some boxes. Just a small fire. Around noon, it was time to take off and head to Thunder Bay, with the wind and waves, still coming from the East, there was still some big waves out in the Bay. We followed Knot Today, through the Thompson Island gap, and waves were a little less on the other side, we continued on passing by Pie Island. A couple of times, Knot Today, slowed down, so they could bail out their dinghy which was filling up with water. As we approached Tbay, we could see the sleeping giant, once we were through the break wall, the grain elevators were all visible on shore, many of them with names on them- that no longer exist- like Agricore United.
We arrived at the marina, and called in to customs again to let them know we had landed in Tbay. The women that Andy talked to said that it wasn’t necessary to call in again, as we had on Saturday—he thanked her and hung up. We got our slip assignment, which was next to some sailboats, and we tied up and plugged in to power. I went up to the marina office and checked out the wash machines, and later went back for a shower.
Around 5:30, Teresa and Maureen showed up, as we were joining them for supper—the first place we tried was closed, so we went to the Thai Kitchen- where the food was very good. They then drove us around a little and we went up to Hillside park- here’s a view of the bay and the sleeping giant. We then went to their house, and we got to meet the pets. We got back to the boat around 10:00.
On Wednesday morning, I did a couple loads of laundry, so I wouldn’t have to take it back to Winnipeg. I then spent some time cleaning the outside decks, while Andy worked on his wood projects. My plan is to give the salon floor a coat of Cetol clear when we leave in the morning- so it has a week to dry and cure before we come back.
In the afternoon, Tim came and brought us a few presents- step for upper helm, fender cage, impellers, he also changed the two fuel filters, which hadn’t been done in a few years.
Andy went and picked up our rental car from Enterprise- a Buick encore. We went out for dinner with Tim and Susie to the Prospector steak house—great food, and the buns were amazing- just like Teresa had said the day before.
We then walked over to the main stage in Marine park, where there was entertainment, we also stopped and had ice cream.
On coming back to our dock, the security door was broken, so the door will be left open. We will be leaving for Winnipeg as soon as we wake up in the morning, and the floor has its coat of Cetol.
Cruising ON BUSINESS 