Winter River Pictures

Cathy K. is a Facebook friend of mine. She takes great pictures of the St. Marys River and the boats. She has graciously allowed me to post these pictures so all of you can enjoy them. Cathy says that she takes to the pictures to show "how the ice and snow change everything about the boats ...how they navigate, their lacy ice shirts and their ice clogged 'noses'. Great description Cathy. Thank you for sharing with us.

This is the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. She's a 1,000 footer owned by the American Steamship Company. You can read about her at Walter J. McCarthy Jr.

The Charles M. Beeghly is a 806 foot vessel owned by the Interlake Steamship Co. We frequently saw both ships this summer. But what a difference there is for these ice covered vessels.

The shipping season is drawing to a close and the Soo Locks will be shut down on January 15. But that means that spring is just a few months away. My grandson is talking about going to the Soo to see the first boat of the season. I can't say no to a request like that.

W

Mother Boat & Baby Boat

Last Thursday around noon, I saw two boats coming down the St. Marys River and it looked to me like a mother boat and her baby. It was actually the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. and a tug and barge. But it was a cute sight. I'm sure that the tug didn't feel like her mother was behind her with that 1,000 footer bearing down on her.

New Traffic on the River

Yesterday was a moderate day of ship traffic but we had a different mode of transportation out in the river in the afternoon.



Our neighbor here on Scenic Drive has a hanger and a plane which he occasionally takes up. We have front row seats to watch. It takes a while to get the plane off of the water and into the air.

Other than that, we saw
Down bound
Mackinaw
Michipicoten
H. Lee White

Up bound
James R. Barker
Canadian Leader
Indiana Harbor-I heard a master salute from down river and I think it was the Indiana Harbor saluting someone on Neebish Island

The only traffic this morning has been the American Mariner up bound around 9 AM.

Favorite Spots for Boat Watching

Sault Ste. Marie has to be the best spot in Michigan for boat watching because it offers such a variety of places to watch from and most of them are never crowded or busy. Here is a list of my top 5 favorites (actually there seven because I couldn't narrow it down to 5).








1. My cabin-we're located between Six and Seven Mile Road. Although the St. Marys River is wide at this spot, we still get a good view. If we want a picture of a boat, we must take our wave runners out to get close. This is a little dicey because you are doing two things at once-hanging on the wave runner and also operating the camera. My worst experience at this was when one of the tall ships passed by. Tom drove me out there for pictures and I took many. Even got close enough for the crew to wave. Once we got back to shore, I found I had the lens cap on for the whole time. Not fun. I never told Tom what I had done!



2. Sugar Island Ferry Dock-The ships slow down for the turn in the river plus the river is narrow at this point. There are great parking spots plus Clyde's Drive-in which is located here has the best hamburgers in town.


3. 4 Mile Park-at the end of 4 Mile, there is a small public park where the ships come very close. In fact, if you are swimming there, you must get out of the water when the ships pass because of the current and wave created that will pull you out to deep water.




4. West Pier-the west end of the Locks used to offer a great boat watching spot before the condos were built there. It is still a good spot plus there is West Pier Drive-In with great burgers. Some people think the best in town but I have another favorite. See #2 above.



5. Soo Locks Boat Tour-I took the above picture while on the Soo Locks Boat Tour. You get up close and personal on the tour. I like to take the tour once a summer. We usually wait for friends to come visit from out of town.





6. The Locks-This is where you will get the closest to the boats and you can even chat with the crew while they lock through. We always take guests there plus we often go just to walk through the park. The Visitor's Center is a must see for guests too.





7. The Rock Cut/Neebish Island area-This location just south of the Soo has a good eating spot as well as a close up look at boats.

Now I want to hear from you. What do you think is the best boat watching spot in the Sault? I'd like to learn a few new ones for this summer.

Happy New Year

I was sorting through my pictures section on my computer today and saw this photo. Doesn't it make you anxious for summer to return? The St. Mary's River is very beautiful and I can't wait for next summer when I'll have time to sit and watch the boats.

Happy New Year wishes to all of you. I appreciate my faithful readers. If you have any suggestions on topics, or improvements, please let me know-either through the comments or email me at
saultboatwatcher@gmail.com

Thanks, Brenda

Recent Ship Pictures

I found these photos of the Roger Blough on VisittheSault's Facebook page. She took them from Freighter's Restaurant at the Ojibway on November 29th at 3:30. It makes me lonesome for my little cabin on the river watching the Blough slide by.

If you have any photos to share, please send them to me at saultboatwatcher@gmail.com

Thanks,
Brenda

Monday, November 10 is the 33rd anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald off Whitefish Point in Lake Superior.

There is a memorial service at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point at 7 PM that is open to the public and free.

You can see more information at Annual Fitzgerald Memorial Service.

I'm reading a great book on the Great Lakes right now. The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis is the story of a sailing trip through the Great Lakes but it is more than that. I will discuss it more in a future blog. What good books have you read about the Great Lakes and/or the Edmund Fitzgerald? Let me know by commenting here or emailing me at saultboatwatcher@gmail.com.

Thanks

Summer's End

October is a beautiful time on the St. Marys River. The maple trees of Sugar Island provide a beautiful backdrop for the blue ribbon of water of the river. My hydrangea bush is in its full glory. The white blooms are now turning pink. This bush was planted by my grandmother many years ago and was her favorite. It is my favorite also along with my sweet peas which are now done blooming.
Shipping still continues at a fast pace.
Unidentified tug and barge.

Coast Guard cutter

Have you ever seen the river looking more beautiful? Each season has its highlights and I hope you enjoy these photos taken by my husband.

Web Cams

I have had to leave my peaceful cabin on the St. Marys River for a few days. So I have been trying to find Internet ways to view the river and shipping. Now a web cam is not a great substitute for actually sitting in the front yard and watching the boats go by. But for right now, that's the best I can do. I'll be back at the Soo late next week.

I will put links to the web cams in the sidebar of the blog.

Please feel free to share any web cams that you have found with our blog community.
Thanks, saultboatwatcher@gmail.com

Boat Watching Habits

How do you keep track of the boats you have seen? Or maybe a better question is, Do you keep track of the boats you have seen?

I don't admit this to many people but I do write down every boat I actually see. It started with a notebook list. The first few years were done by hand. But as I got more computer literate, I began a spreadsheet listing the names, whether they were up bound or down bound, and any interesting facts noted. I am now in my 10th summer of this list making.

I know this is probably obsessive but I enjoy it.

If any of you have interesting methods, please share it with us.

Yesterday was a busy traffic day. The Cason J. Calloway was up bound and shortly north of here it sounded three long and two short whistles. This is a formal salute. I was expecting to see a boat coming down bound that the Calloway was meeting but it never happened.

I'm thinking that maybe the Calloway was saluting the summer cabin of Roger LeLievre, the editor and publisher of our favorite ship book, Know Your Ships.

Other ship sighted were
Edward L. Ryerson
Joseph L. Block
Walter J. McCarthy Jr.
American Fortitude

Three Generations Enjoy the Soo

Yesterday was a very fun day. My son, his wife and four children are here from down state so we all took a Soo Locks Boat Tour. The kids got to see the Locks up close and were fascinated by our time going up while the lock filled with water. The Soo Locks are really an engineering marvel.

We also viewed several freighters up close. The American Victory was heading down bound as we left the Tour dock giving us a great view. The we saw the Yankcanuck being loaded with steel coils at Algoma Steel. Later in the day, it passed our place on the river. That gave the kids a good look at commerce on the river.



After the Soo Locks Boat Tour, we went to the LSSU Aquatic Research Lab. Here the staff does research on Atlantic salmon and raise them for later release into the river. They currently have 50,000 + 8 month old fish that will be released in the future. You can see their fish cam which is in the river outside the lab for a fascinating view of river fish. (http://lssu.edu/arl/fishcam.php) You will see lots of salmon but also an occasion sucker, walleye, carp and anything else that swims in the river including lamprey.

There is never a lack of activities for the grandchildren to enjoy here. Today we have Art Festival, John Johnston House with David Stanaway and Susan Askwith. Tonight we're heading to Brimley for our annual fish dinner.

Later in the day, we also saw the Kathryn Spirit which was my first sighting of that boat under that name. It anchored out front about 9 PM last night and was gone this when we got up this morning. The Coast Guard ice breaker the Neah Bay was up bound possibly returning from the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Han. Also sighted was the Lee A. Tregurtha, CSL Taddoussac, and the Algosar.