Wednesday, July 20

An exciting day today! First we locked trough the Canadian side of the Soo. What an adventure that was. We came in from St. Mary's River and locked up to Lake Superior. We secured the boat and waited for the lock to fill. Before we knew it we were talking to the lock folks nd pedsterians who stopped to watch. So cool!
We continued on and finally reached the Big Lake of Superior. The wind picked up and we were  able to sail for about 3 hours. It's the first time we've had wind in several days. We were sailing along when a Coast Guard boat past us; about 20 minutes later another Coast Guard boat past us.  Then a Coast Guard helicopter  flew by.  An hour or so later we realized they were doing rescue practice.  We soon saw the helicopter  hovering over the smaller boat.  It's so good to know they practice rescuing.  Hopefully we won't need them.
A while later we heard a may-day call to the Coast Guard. A power boat was in trouble. About the same time we heard another call from a  sailboat that had run aground going into a harbor called Little Lake Harbor. Most of these harbors are the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers. They are responsible for dredging these harbors - some on a regular rotation; some as needed. But Lake Superior, because of the current and weather, silt builds up  making it difficult to maintain and for sailboats to get around.
Later there was another issue with a boat on Lake Michigan that had overturned around Traverse City.  The radio was busy today! And the Coast Guuard wven busier.
We came into Whitefish Point Bay and tied up to the dock. There are no facilities here but the view is beautiful. The wind was picking up at that point. Around 9pm that winds were at 20 knots. I was glad we were in a safe place. Two other sailboats joined us. This particular harbor is a "harbor of refuge"; a place to duck into in bad weather.
I for one was glad we were here for the night.
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip
PS pictures from the locks were posted earlier. Check them out!