Lake Superior Factoids

[Jammer]

More shipwrecks per unit area than anywhere in the world including the Bermuda Triangle, Florida Keys, etc.


We spent a week in the Apostle Islands last year. Our boat is for sale and we are planning on purchasing a boat more suitable for Lake Superior and keeping it at a slip in either Superior or Bayfield.


I have SCUBA dived several of the wrecks and have been swimming in shallow and deep areas. You have to be tough and utilize a wet suit, either 7mm for SCUBA or a triathlon wetsuit for swimming, unless you are picky about place and time of year.


Some years ago my wife and I were engaged on Park Point.


Much to see and enjoy

[JPA Cate]

A kind of timeless thread.

How very nice.

Thanks, everyone!

Ann

[GordMay]

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened, last Thursday, for the 64th navigation season, with ships already making their way through to Sault Ste. Marie.
The Canadian Coast Guard cutter Samuel Risley has been making headway, this week, in breaking up more than 15 inches of ice, around the Welcome Islands near Thunder Bay, Ont.
However, as the vessel works closer to shore, it will encounter 30 inches of solid ice, and 40 inches, in the elevator slips.
Two ice cutters, from the U.S., are also expected to arrive, to aid with the ice breakup.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened, last Thursday, for the 64th navigation season, with ships already making their way through to Sault Ste. Marie.
The Canadian Coast Guard cutter Samuel Risley has been making headway, this week, in breaking up more than 15 inches of ice, around the Welcome Islands near Thunder Bay, Ont.

Ah the Riz... I lived right on the shores of Thunder Bay for a decade, and seeing the Riz working the ice was always the sign of a coming spring. And then later they'd be back to reset the buoys which had been dragged around by the winter ice.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Ah the Riz... I lived right on the shores of Thunder Bay for a decade, and seeing the Riz working the ice was always the sign of a coming spring. And then later they'd be back to reset the buoys which had been dragged around by the winter ice.

I spent 2 seasons on a buoy tender/icebreaker on the U.S. side of Superior. You might be interested to learn that we (and I presume the Canadian's as well) pull out every buoy bigger than a can or nun every fall and replace it with a can or nun because the bigger buoys would get destroyed by the ice (or snowmobilers, we had a couple incidents of that). Then every spring we have to go reattach every larger buoy again. The upside is that since we relocate every buoy twice a year, versus once every few years outside the lakes, your buoys are far more likely to be on station in Lake Superior than elsewhere!

As an aside, we had agreement with the Risley to cover for each other when there was unexpected maintenance or other issues, so I got to spend several weeks in Thunder Bay one winter breaking ice. The coldest of my time on Superior, our radar pedestal oil turned the consistency of grease and we had to put heating blankets on it in order to be able to come home. You could watch the water freezing behind the boat as you stood on the fantail after just breaking the ice in front.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

I spent 2 seasons on a buoy tender/icebreaker on the U.S. side of Superior. You might be interested to learn that we (and I presume the Canadian's as well) pull out every buoy bigger than a can or nun every fall and replace it with a can or nun because the bigger buoys would get destroyed by the ice (or snowmobilers, we had a couple incidents of that). Then every spring we have to go reattach every larger buoy again. The upside is that since we relocate every buoy twice a year, versus once every few years outside the lakes, your buoys are far more likely to be on station in Lake Superior than elsewhere!

Interesting... I did not know that. Thanks . Although I can attest that the one red can visible from my home on shore was left in place through the winter. Except, of course, it wasn't in place (on-station) by the end. And it wasn't just the ice that moved it around. One season I reported it well off-station after a nasty Superior storm.

Originally Posted by redneckrob

As an aside, we had agreement with the Risley to cover for each other when there was unexpected maintenance or other issues, so I got to spend several weeks in Thunder Bay one winter breaking ice. The coldest of my time on Superior, our radar pedestal oil turned the consistency of grease and we had to put heating blankets on it in order to be able to come home. You could watch the water freezing behind the boat as you stood on the fantail after just breaking the ice in front.

Do you recall what year that was? I definitely remember seeing US breakers in the bay. I think it happened more than once while I live there, from 2005 till 2015.

And thanks for the reminder of how cold the Big Lake is. Even in the heat of summer one had to guard against hypothermia when crossing the Lake. Good times .

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Even in the heat of summer one had to guard against hypothermia when crossing the Lake.

I raced across lake Michigan a few times in the '70's. Winter jackets were part of out gear. The night watch had to be wet-suited and life vested. The wet-suit was more to keep you warm than afloat. We figured if someone went overboard at night, without a wet-suit, they would probably succumb to hypothermia by the time we recovered them.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Do you recall what year that was? I definitely remember seeing US breakers in the bay. I think it happened more than once while I live there, from 2005 till 2015.

I think that was Dec of 96, might have even been January because I think the Soo locks don't close until Jan 15th and then we gave the lakers who were wintering over in Superior a few days to get there and into their berths before we froze up ourselves in our berth.

The boat I was on wasn't as capable or reliable as the Risley (it was built in 1944!) so it was nice to have them around to bail us out when necessary and it was a nice change for us to spend some time in Thunder Bay when we did the same. I've heard Thunder Bay is actually much nicer now than it was 25 years ago, so I've got it on my list of places to visit again at some point.

[GordMay]

AFIK: American ice breakers help out, in Thunder Bay, pretty much, every year.


Coast Guard icebreaking service on the Great Lakes, and connecting waterways is delivered in close co-operation, between the Canadian and United States Coast Guards. By working together, the two Coast Guards ensure scheduled vessel traffic can move through the shipping channels, and into [and out of] community harbours.

Canadian, U.S. Coast Guard leaders recommit to partnership in binational ice breaking in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway
➥https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-co...nationali.html

[Bullshooter]

We had a cabin on the rocky shore of Lake Superior in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, almost at the northern tip of the Keewenaw peninsula (which sticks out from the Upper Peninsula).
We only swam in the summer, mostly July, and I remember going numb right after jumping in, and not thawing out until drinking hot tea or hot chocolate in warm dry clothes after.

[GordMay]

The 2022 shipping season started a little later than expected, but the honour of opening navigation [‘Top Hat’ prize] in Thunder Bay goes to the “Michipicoten”, led by Captain Adam Barnes, and Chief Engineer Ralph Reeves.

The self-unloading bulk carrier, owned and operated by Lower Lakes Towing, docked at the Superior elevator on the Mission River at 4:30 Wednesday morning.
It was followed into port, just a half hour later, by Algoma Central Corporation's bulk carrier, “Captain Henry Jackman”.
Both boats' voyages, across Lake Superior, were held up by gale-force winds, that kept a number of vessels waiting, in Whitefish Bay, on the weekend. Both vessels are taking on grain shipments. Michipicoten is currently receiving 9,000 metric tonnes of oats, at Superior Elevator ,and will depart overnight for Toledo, Ohio.
About half a dozen more boats are expected to arrive in the next few days.