I finished giving the salon a coat of Cetol, and we left shortly after 6:00, headed for Winnipeg.

We made a stop for coffee, on our way out of the city, and then didn’t stop again until Dryden, where we got gas.  We arrived in Winnipeg shortly after 2:00, and stopped at the Co-op for a few groceries.  We attended the apartment’s Happy hour and birthday night- many people were happy to see us and had been following the blog. The puzzle table is being well used in the lounge, and several puzzles have already been completed by the group. It was nice to be home, and sleeping in our own beds. Arlene had all the mail waiting for us, and had been watering my Kale plant- so it continues to grow.   On Friday morning, Andy was off to full-fill his 2 blood work requests, and I went to the gym and got reacquainted with the rowing machine—30 minutes was a long time, after being away from it for almost 2 months.  I had a  Ladie’s lunch date with Andy’s cousins at Fion McCool’s , while the guys went to the Curtis hotel—we later all met on Kathie’s patio for more wine.  On our  home we ran a few more errands.  In the evening, we went up to the lounge and learned to play the horse racing game. On Saturday morning, we drove out to Tyndall to see Erin, Jason and Jack—Andy wanted to get another lesson in drone flying, as well as seeing if Jason could fix his broken boat hook, and share with Jack what he would be doing on his 10 day vacation with us.   We stopped at Princess Auto for boat oil and other supplies. That night we watched the Bombers lose yet again on TV.  On Sunday, Andy went to our other princess auto location to buy boat hooks, and he met a friends for coffee.   We lazed around a little in the afternoon, and did some cleaning and re-arranging stuff.  We also started packing our suitcases for our late September trip to Ireland.

Monday began Andy’s marathon of Doctor’s appointments and tests. He saw the thoracic surgeon at 9am, and got the green light for hernia surgery in the next six months He also briefly saw the Urologist, who works in the same building.  We then went to see our family doctor to fill out pre-op  paperwork for the hernia.  But we learned that Dr Shabayo was on vacation—Andy was told he could come back to Lakewood the next morning, and see the Dr. at the walk-in who could fill out the paperwork, using Andy’s medical records.  Next stop Monday was the Misericordia  hospital for a CT scan.  Andy did a couple more errands on his way home.  We also went out and bought British Pounds and Euros for our upcoming vacation.    We had an enjoyable supper and evening at the Cappers and learned a new dice game called “Farkle”?

On Tuesday, after the gym, I went to my crochet/knitting class—not a lot of knitting was done by me—I mainly pulled out the yarn on a towel I had been making on the boat,  that was more kite shaped than square.  Was good practice—will try to knit it correctly the second time.  We had some great discussion;  Tuesday morning crochet  is becoming my favourite activity. In the afternoon I did  more packing, and  realized we likely have more stuff to take back to Thunder Bay, than the little SUV can hold—so came up with a solution—Stuff we didn’t need immediately could be brought by Erin, when she picks up Jack on August 11^th. 

In the afternoon, Andy had an appointment with the Endocrinologist,  she was extremely happy with his progress, and gave him 5 stars and graduated him—his diabetes treatments will now be overseen by our family doctor.  Tuesday night Erin and Jack came for supper, as Jack was going to spend the night with us, so we could have an early 6am start.  We packed and repacked the car several times that evening, getting everything to fit, including Jack- although his 6 foot body was squished like a pretzel in the back seat with very little room around him.

We left before 6, and stopped at Clear water Bay, and again in Dryden for short rests and gas.

Back in Thunder Bay. While on the road, Andy got a phone call from another boater, who had hit the back of our dinghy while he was waiting to gas up a couple days before.  We said we would assess the damage once we were back at the marina.  We arrived around 2:30, and started to haul everything to the boat—it was great having a second able-bodied person to help.  I called my friend Teresa to see if she could take me grocery shopping at some point—so that Andy and Jack could return the rental car before the 5 pm deadline.

On Thursday, we left the marina and just got through the break wall, when the Starboard engine started acting up and then quit.  So back to Prince Arthur landing- gas dock.  Andy called his new friend Tim for advice, and Tim sent Cody down to assist us- likely an air lock.  We thought it was fixed, and ventured out again, only for it to happen again, Cody returned did some more bleeding on the fuel fittings on the engine, and we set off again, this time with Cody in the engine room- same fault.  On returning to the marina, we decided that the secondary fuel filters may need to be changed, and Cody did this.  By this time, the starter battery would hardly turn over- it was boosted but still weak– so we decided to call it a day, and get a slip for another night.  Cody returned in the morning, and changed the fuel separator—which was the cause of our issues—it was plugged up- so the engine was being starved of fuel.  We went on one more test run, and all was good,

We returned to the marina to let Cody off the boat, and then prepared to leave.  We cast off at 12:20 headed for Sibley peninsula and the Sleeping giant.  

We passed by  Silver islet, Porphyry lighthouse and Snaganash light house and continued on to the Loon islands—we anchored between Spain, Chapleau and Borden for the night- having gone 50 miles from TBay  Very peaceful! 

On Saturday afternoon, we moved 12 miles to Otter cove, where we had read there was good fishing, a moose  feeding ground and a waterfall.  When Andy did the fuel check he noticed that we were not using any fuel on the starboard side- and realized that the return valve between the engines was shut off.   Andy opened it so that the tanks could equalize.  We spent the day doing cleaning in some of the storage lockers.  On Sunday we moved a little farther down the bay.  In the afternoon, we launched the dinghy,  I had planned to row Jack and I to the waterfall.  Although I work out on the rowing machine at the apartment block—the movements of doing it in a boat are quite different—I was pathetic, and we went around in circles.  Jack and I switched places and he rowed us to the waterfall—the last 100 feet was very shallow, with lots of logs underwater.   Jack got us there – and I didn’t even get my shoes wet.  We trekked through the paths, found the waterfall, and I took some pictures.

Returning to the boat, we realized we were creeping into to very shallow water, so we decided to move back to some deeper water.  On starting the engines for the move, Andy found out that the Starboard engine wouldn’t start.    He contacted David, our electrical magician, for some advice, using what’s app—as no cell phone service where we were.   Andy  tried a few things and then suspected it was the key switch–  so did some by-pass work–  but still no luck.

On Monday morning, we decided to leave limping in to Red Rock using only the Port engine. It took us  about 5 hours to go 38 miles, some of which was in the Nipigon Channel, between the mainland and Fluor or St Ignace islands.  We did notice that even thought the Port engine was running, that no power was going into the house bank—which we thought was strange.  Something we will need to address for future- maybe a battery combiner?  After docking, Andy did some more trouble shooting, and realized that the neutral battery post on the Port labelled battery had melted.  He replaced this battery, with our redundant spare—and the engine fired up and it also began charging the house.  We will need to buy another spare battery in the very near future.

On Tuesday morning, after showers, Jack and I walked into town to reprovision at the grocery store,  Andy asked Bev from the marina if  she could find a home for a rusty anchor and some chain, we also wanted to dispose of the useless battery.  Both items were taken from the boat.  On our return from shopping, we moved the boat to the fuel dock and topped up the tanks.  We then departed, going back down the Nipigon channel and around Fluor to anchor or dock  at CPR slip on the east side of  St. Ignace Island in a very secure bay.   We were told that the area had been excavated years ago for the ballast used along the CPR lines. This place was similar to what we had experienced at Thompson Island a few weeks back—the island is privately owned, has a lounge area/bunkhouse,  a shared BBQ area, sauna, fire pit, trails  and several docks.  Once again rafting is the norm—we tied up to a sail boat.  The area is around a gravel spit and has protection from all sides.   Once we were settled in, we met people from the other 9 boats, already tied up.  We knew  a few already–Tim and Suzie, Suzie’s  sister Leslie and Chris, and her parents- Brenda and Dave.  There was an 86 year old, Doug- who spends a lot of time here at CPR in the summer. There was another person, Ron,  tied up on a sail boat, who actually lives at Victoria Beach, north of Winnipeg, but boats out of Ontario.  Andy chatted with him for quite awhile, as he has taken his sailboat to Newfoundland, Labrador, and done most of the Down East Loop.  After dinner there was a camp fire, and most of the kids made smores and played. Jack was really good with the younger children, here he is with Cooper at the campfire.  Once it was dark, and the mosquitos came out most people returned to their boats.

On Wednesday morning we left before 10 am headed for an anchorage at Wilson Island, about 30 miles away.  At 12:15, we ran into an issue—can you guess what happened?

We were on the wrong side of an island and encountered a rock shoal.  Not good! Andy called Tim, who found us someone in Rossport, that would come out to pull us off.  While we waited, both Andy and I got into the water.  How many people can say they walked around their boat in Lake Superior—The stern of the boat was in about 3.5 feet of water, but the bow was in about 2.5.   There was nothing Andy and I could do to move the monster. Chris and his son Peter arrived around 2:15 with a boat with a 90HP motor, after a few attempts with a single rope, we both put bridles on and he was successful at pulling us off.  We followed him to Rossport to assess the damage.  No water was coming in, however there was a vibration.  Peter took a couple pictures of the props, and they were still there.  We tied up Rossport- not knowing what to do- a sleepless night, because of worry, trains, wind and waves.

  In the morning, Jack our techno grand kid was able to get our Safaire camera working and took an underwater video, confirming that the props and rudders were intact, but each of the 6 flutes had some damage- the port prop seemed worse than the starboard. 

When the staff at the marina arrived,  we asked if we could stay a couple more nights, and possibly plug in for power as the forecast was for cloudy and rainy weather.  We decided to stay put in Rossport- known as the “Gateway to the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation area”and have Erin pick up Jack here—as we couldn’t make Marathon for Saturday- and didn’t want to move much without a full assessment of the damage. As the day progressed a plan emerged- thanks again to Tim.  He was in Red Rock for the music festival and had found a trailer that could likely pull us out to exchange the props.  Tim is really an angel in disguise, and  has got us out of all of our recent predicaments–  hard to believe  we only met him July 21^st.  Will definitely be a lifelong friend—I think Andy already has him on speed dial!

We will travel to Red Rock on Sunday, once Jack has left .  The rain continued for most of the day, but it became warm and sunny later in the afternoon.  We had a quiet night—I had book club, and it was nice to connect with the group by zoom.  It rained several times during the night, and there were only a couple of trains- so we slept somewhat better- knowing there was a plan.

On Friday, it rained off an on for most of the day, and the wind, went from calm to gusting.  Jack and I went for a short walk down main street,  Andy called the Serendipity restaurant to make a reservation for the evening.  We walked over at 5:30 and had a really good meal- Andy had the prime rib special, and Jack and I chose Greek salad with either  mediterranean chicken and spanakopita.  Food was really good.

When we got back to the boat- Andy and I watched a few episodes of Coronation—we are weeks behind.   It was a chilly night, and we kept the heater on- warming up the boat while we slept.  I can’t image what it would have been like without power here for 4 days.

In the morning, we saw this rainbow over Rossport—hopefully it is a sign that our week is going to get better. 

We heard that Erin was on the way at 8 a.m. so she should be here in about 11 hours.  We dug out the spare props, which reside under our bed and placed them in a box on the sundeck.

  At one point, a visitor on the dock suggested that instead of going all the way to Red Rock to be pulled out that we should try and find a diver that could change the props.  We spent some time doing that—one guy could come out on Sunday- but didn’t have the right tools and no guarantees that he could accomplish the task.  We decided our better bet was to limp into Red Rock- yet again, and get pulled out with the town grater and someone’s trailer. 

Erin and her cousin Shannon arrived around 7:30, and we visited and showed them their sleeping quarters in the ON BUSINESS hostel.  Jack got bumped from the V-berth to sleeping on the dining room table—which he said was also not soft enough for sleeping. In the morning after some more visiting, and a few pictures of the crew, and 3 generations of McKendry’s, Erin, Shannon and Jack left.

  They were headed to the Amethyst mine, and other sites in TBay before heading down to Duluth for a few days.

Here is Jack’s take on spending time on the boat: 

Highlight: we ended up high centre on rocks enroute to an anchorage, met a few people and had some nice times and I learned lots of things about the boat. I learned that it is always good to have a straw in your tool box, because you never know when you might need it to fill a filter- and a straw might fit.  I saw some very nice places to visit on Lake Superior.

 It was great having him aboard, an extra set of hands and technical skills that Grandpa and I lacked😊

  Once they were gone, we unplugged, fired up the engines and left at 9:20 for Red Rock at 6 MPH, we passed Simpson, St Ignace, Vert Island and La Grange,  waves were less than 2 feet for most of the journey as we were sheltered by the islands.

We went 36 miles and arrived just after 3 PM.

We topped up our fuel, pumped out, filled our water and did laundry, in hopes that we will continue our journey Eastward.

UPDATE: Unable to be pulled out in Red Rock– too risky, so we made the 12 hour trip back to TBAY at 7.5 MPH. Hope to get lifted out of the water tomorrow for a damage assessment and prop change.

UPDATE: Aug 13

Successful prop exchange- our journey will continue Eastward tomorrow.

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.

The 22 Apostle islands in Northern Wisconsin cover 24 miles.

• The islands were gouged out by glaciers, and have smooth  sandy shores, but no natural harbours
• All but Madeline Island, which has a marina and resort  are un-inhabited, but may have remnants of former settlements or fish camps. Several like Rocky have a few cottages, but once the lease is up they will revert to the park service.
• Several of the islands have lighthouses,  and about 9 have national parks docks, which you can tie up to for $15/night.  There are numerous hiking trails on the islands, as well as camp grounds.
• Depending on the wind direction and waves, there is always a place amongst the islands to anchor

Andy wanted to blog this week – so here’s the Apostle Islands , through the eyes of the Captain, I still was the designated photographer, and did add a few sentences.

Tues. July 9;   After completing our re-provisioning, we cast off from Ashland Marina to the Apostle Islands.   First stop was 17 miles away where we dropped the anchor in Sunset Cove on the west side of Madeline Island.   The light wind shifted from the east around 4:30 pm and the evening and night were calm & peaceful.

Wed. July 10;  Weighed anchor at approx. 9:45 heading for Stockton Island, said to be the most popular with boaters.   At 11:30 am, and 12 miles, we dropped the hook in Presque Bay with 8 – 10 other boats.    The Captain didn’t pick a very good spot and should have gone in closer to shore.  Although we were protected from the wind (up to 20kts) and waves from the NE. the swells coming in around the bay rocked us all night.   Did chores & worked on projects.  Twylla busied herself cleaning the deck & gunnels. 

Thur. July 11;  Weighed anchor in Presque Isle Bay at 10:00 am heading for Cat Island 10 miles away.    Dropped the anchor about 150 yards off shore, behind the sand spit on the SW corner of the island at 11:10 am.  The water is so clear with a sand bottom, that you can see the chain laying in the sand.

 We should have protection from all three elements; wind, waves and swells, assuming I got it right this time.   Twylla is back to doing her daily area scrub of the deck.   I will do the usual boat checks; oil, temp, co-ordinates, fuel, solar energy  etc.   Ahhh!!! The captain’s work is never done.

Fri. July 12;    Enjoyed a very calm night at anchor.   Slept right through from sun down to sun up at 5:30 hours.   Weighed anchor at 07:35 headed for Rocky Island.  As we rounded South Twin Island, we could see the NPS (National Park Service) dock on Rocky Island with space to tie up at the dock.    We were greeted by the NPS volunteers Gene & Kandee & treated royally.  They were so gracious that when Gene went fishing with 2 other locals, they returned and gave us 2 large lake trout fillets for supper.  Approx. three pounds of fish.   We went for a long walk along the beach and later for a swim to cool off.  Temp reached 90 deg F. today.   All -in-all a very relaxing day was had.

Sat. July 13; Left Rocky Island at approx. 09:40 hours headed for the cove on the north side of Oak Island.  Weather is calling for strong SW winds (with squalls up to 70 mph possible).   We tucked into the cove with another cruiser and 9 sailboats to wait out any potential weather event. We arrived & dropped the hook at 10:45 having gone all of 6.4 miles.    Twylla is knitting & crocheting while the captain of course has his chores.   It is close to the time we have to change the engine oil.  I will also be continuing to work on wood working projects.

Sun. July 14;  Well, the severe weather storm with potential hail & 70 mph squalls was a non event.  The lake is full of surprises, some good.   Leaving Oak Island.  We have a plan.  Spoke to Silver Bay Mn. Marina & got a slip for Monday night.   We will visit two more islands today; Raspberry & Sand Island where we will anchor for the night and head out to the west shore tomorrow.  Raspberry Island stop did not happen as the waves were crashing on the dock, and we couldn’t tie up, so we didn’t get a tour of the lighthouse.

  Shortly after passing York Island, we decided to turn back to York and anchored in the NW corner instead of going on to Sand Island. 

Mon. July 15;  Anchored at York Island last night in the NW corner for protection from the west wind.  Also, the wind was shifting to S – SE overnight.   We assumed it would shift from west to SW to S to SE.    No!  It went clockwise around the compass to N -NE- E – SE.   Spent a sleepless, rocky night.   What the lake gives, she takes away.    All-in-all, we had a great relaxing week in the Apostles and met some wonderful people. This was today’s sunrise– lovely, even though the photographer hardly slept!

   We left York Island around 8:30 today and crossed the lower part of the lake north of Duluth to Silver Bay, MN.  approximately 30 miles.

The screen shot of the lake, shows 3 states, laying claim to areas that are quite close together in Lake Superior. The photographer read that Isle Royale instead of being part of Minnesota, belongs to Michigan and these islands were gifted to them, when Michigan achieved statehood- many moons ago.

Got in & tied up before the rain & thunder showers, filled up the water and Twylla did laundry.   Met a couple who are wanting to do the Great Loop and are starting on Lake Superior going north & east along the Canadian side to the Soo.   We helped them with potential marinas, anchorages etc.    We also gave them chart books and looping guides as they really are not well prepared.    Wishing them safe travels.

 Off tomorrow for the NW coast of Minnesota, Isle Royal & back to the Great White North by the weekend.

We did not leave as we had planned-the small craft warning, along with wind, waves and rain, kept us in Marquette for another day.  The staff and facilities at Cinder Pond were amazing!

On  Wednesday, our 14^th Anniversary, we left shortly after 6 am, and travelled past Big Bay, the Huron islands and this lighthouse. The waves were at most 1-2 feet, but as we crossed the Keweenaw Bay, they increased slightly.  We travelled 69 miles, and reached the Portage lower entrance of the Keweenaw waterway at 1:15- a long 7 hours.  Keweenaw comes from the Ojibwe which means the crossing place. This 25 mile long waterway  cuts out  almost 100 miles, by not having to go around the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Since the next day was going to be Independence Day, we decided to stay tied up to the pier wall for a couple days.  Being near the boat launch and entrance to the canal, there was a fair bit of boat traffic.  On July 4^th we could hear fireworks in the distance, but didn’t see any.  We spent the day working on projects- Andy his woodworking and me crocheting poppies, I also had book club Thursday night which I could join because of Star link. On Friday morning, it was raining off and on, so we didn’t leave the pier until just after noon.  We headed into Houghton, to go through the lift bridge—our reference books, indicated that the bridge was at 7 feet, and lifted on the hour, and half hour.  Andy contacted the bridge tender to alert him that we wanted to make the 2pm lift, and that our height with antennas and star link  was 19 feet.  He informed us that the bridge was now at a minimum level of 32 feet, so he wouldn’t need to raise it for us. 

We proceeded through and down the channel to the Lily Pond,  another pier set aside as a harbour of refuge, just before the upper entrance. We tied up using the bollards and wooden wall structure.  We were joined by a family fishing, and later by some young people that entertained us by jumping into the water ( they didn’t stay in too long) or by trying to hit golf balls across the canal.  Once again with the boat traffic and boat ramp nearby, we were rocked by many wakes.   On Saturday morning we left shortly after 7 am, and headed down the channel to Lake Superior.  The wind was fairly light and the waves less than 2 feet. We travelled 42 miles to the town of Ontonagon  arriving at 11:45. The water here is a very dark brown colour, when I asked about it, they said because of the iron in the hills, that the river brings down to the Lake.  There is a definite colour difference out in the bay leading to the lake. There were fireworks in town, that we could see from the boat. Here is the old lighthouse in Ontonagon.

We  left on Sunday morning by 7:30, and had plans to go as far as Saxon Harbour, however we encountered some storm clouds on the lake, so we entered the Black River Harbour, part of a state park.  We had tired calling the number for this harbour on Saturday, but got an office in Ironwood, that was closed until Monday.  We didn’t know if there was space, but we wanted to get off the lake.  The entrance to the harbour, had some shoals, but Andy stayed tight to starboard and we were able to get in and tie up. He did see 4 ½ feet at one point, but we had 8 feet at the dock.  We tied up on the commercial dock, because they had power, however, it kept tripping, so we relied on the sun to top up our batteries.  The first thunderstorm hit at 1:00, and we were drenched.  We helped a sailboat into the harbour around 3:00 and they tied up farther back on the dock. John was able to provide some advice on the Apostle islands, as he had just spent a month there with his family.  We had the second storm hit at about 4:00, again with thunder lightning and rain.  There was a very nice day use picnic site here, and numerous trails, there was also a suspension bridge across the Black River.

On Monday morning, Andy talked to the commercial fishing boat, for advice on leaving the harbour—he said to stick to the port side on exiting.  We left at 7:30 Eastern time , and started experiencing some light fog.  About an hour and a half into our voyage, we passed by the Porcupine mountains and finally left Michigan behind, and entered into our second state- Wisconsin, where we switched back to Central time.  The winds were light, the lake was fairly flat and the temperature were finally rising. Just the way I like it!

 The fog continued for quite awhile, and at one point, a small fishing boat at full speed, came out from a fog bank, and nearly hit us. We had our first glimpse of the Apostle Islands, passing by the south end of Madeline. We called the Marina in Ashland, to find out if they had a slip for us, and we proceeded down Chequamegon Bay for over 2 hours to reach it.  We filled up with fuel, water and got pumped out.  We walked up to the grocery store to re-provision, and in the afternoon, the marina staff gave me a ride to the laundry.  I had to walk back which was almost a mile.   In the evening, we walked over to a nearby Chinese food restaurant and then to the Liquor

Today, July 9th –we are off to the Apostle Islands, not sure how many of the 22 islands we will stay at– but will likely see them all.