December 2006 Great Lakes Sailing Trip

December 14 - So here I am preparing to take another trip aboard the Algolake with my husband Anders, to be with him for the upcoming Christmas Holiday. The weather has been pretty nasty lately, so once again my ETA is somewhat unsure. Trips this time of year change like the weather so we figured I' ld board this time around instead of waiting for him to go back out to Superior and back again since that might keep him until after the Holiday. It would keep me aboard a pretty long time though, but at the time all I wanted was to go aboard and stay until lay up so I could bring him home with me. We had an idea of when this trip was all going to come about but not really sure on the date. Anders was coming into Nanticoke ( Coal plant right down the road from our house) , then to Ashtabula, Ohio to go to Courtright Ontario,where I would drive to meet him . The ship was laying up in Sarnia, Ontario right up the road from there so to have the car nearby would be handy ( so we thought anyway :o)

At the time I wrote this (Thursday night the 14th) there is a 30 Knot wind blowing out on the Lake (Erie) The ship is heading to Ashtabula, Ohio. Anders told me they 'ld be there around 9 or 10 tonight. Because of the strong winds blowing here at the house my mind races wondering - will he get in past the piers? Will he have to Anchor the ship? If he has to anchor will the Company cancel the trip and send him straight to Superior? ( If so I' ld miss the boat so to speak) I chat with some friends online probably driving them crazy too until the phone rings about 4 hours later and my heart races when I hear Anders voice on the phone telling me they are safe and sound in Ashtabula! yeah!! All that worrying for nothing!! Whew!!

By Friday night the 15th Things are in motion, the kennel had been arranged,and I was all packed and ready to go.(Who am I kidding I had been packed for days.:o) Eta should be around 1AM Saturday morning in Courtright, Ontario. ( Coal Fired Power Plant where the ship will discharge the cargo of coal it is picking up in Ashtabula, Ohio.) The plant rests on the St. Clair River which borders Ontario, Canada and Michigan, USA. The River connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie. I try to take a nap in the afternoon since I' ld be leaving by 9PM, its a 3 hour drive from home, its pretty hard to sleep though when your stomach is full of butterflies ! Course by that afternoon the wind is whipping up again and I'm watching the lakes water level rise over here on the eastern end where we live. That's not a good thing because if our level is rising then the level on the other side is dropping. Our lake is like a sloshing bathtub the only Great Lake this happens to. The wind will push the water from one side then it will slosh back when the wind stops! So I go on the internet web site that shows the water levels of the rivers etc and see the level is dropping by the minute. The ship will have to go up the Amherst burg Channel which is a channel dug for ship traffic to transit from Lake Erie into the Detroit and St. Clair River system. I had already asked Anders how low the level could drop before he' ld have to anchor since there wouldn't be enough for the ship to transit safely. He told me +14" (that's not +14" of water its +14" above chart datum of the average level of water for this particular spot in the base of the Detroit River.) I sat there clicking to refresh the chart for quite some time and watched it go down and down and down, finally reaching +13.8"....I'm wondering okay...has he already made it up through the channel or are they going to have to anchor???? Are you starting to realize I am a "worry wart" ? :o) Anders called around 6pm that afternoon and told me they had made it up through the channel, he had arrived there right when the water started to come back into the western basin..whew!! So things were a go so I went to bed to see if I could get a few hours of sleep...yeah right, I think I slept about an hour and decided I' ld rather sit in the car waiting then hanging around here . So I got ready to go and left around 8:30PM , stopped on the way to get a bite to eat and arrived at the plant around 12:30AM on the 16th. Now I wait! :o)

I wasn't there too long before Anders called to see where I was and I told him I was there waiting for him. He told me he' ld be there at 1:00 so I decided to stay put rather than drive down the river and follow him up like I usually do. I was pretty tired and I guess to lazy to get back in the car! I got out though and walked down as close to the river bank as I could get so that I could see the ship as it got closer and it wasn't long before I could see the lights coming towards me! Now once he got docked I swear it felt like hours while I waited. Of course the ship has to be secured. Then he has to call customs and get it cleared before they can start unloading cargo. While I waited he kept flashing the spot light on me so I was waving and bowing and being silly. After wards I told him next time he does that I'm going to start tap dancing or something. Now THAT would be funny, I'm sure anyone watching would enjoy that...ha ha ha!!! Soon I saw him walking down the deck to come meet me. Now that in itself takes awhile as the ship is no small petunia.:o) My butterflies are growing with leaps and bounds!!!

We left my bags behind the security gate then took the car over to park at the garage at the plant. Then carried all my 2 bags , sack and camera equipment across the bridge to the ship, up the gangway, across the deck, through a couple doorways, then up one flight of stairs, past the galley, down the hallway, up another flight of stairs, around a couple corners, up another flight of stairs, across the hall to where the sign points with an arrow up to Captains Quarters. Whew! then I collapsed!! :o) By 2:00Am we were in bed sound asleep. Got up at 8:30Am...why???? time for breakfast down to the galley, course breakfast is over by then so we got some good leftovers. Jackie always has some awesome homemade muffins..yummmm!!

Anders had to do some Captain guy work, part of which included signing me in on the ship as a passenger on the ship on two different computers. Then he had to do some other work at his desk. By 10:30 that morning the constant droning sound of the unloading gear was starting to make me really sleepy. I can't wait until we leave and get out on the Lake , sleeping will be awesome! We had a bowl of homemade soup for lunch around 11:30 and then I was just about tired enough to fall asleep standing up but we would be leaving soon so I figured I could make it a little while longer! :o) Photo to left was a view I saw across the river in Michigan, imagine living having a coal plant in your back yard then having one across the river. I'm not sure the river view would be worth it for me.

Here is the Generating Station where we were in Courtright. Called Lambton Generating.

Here is Anders doing some of his Captain guy stuff. Seems like every year I go aboard with him he has more forms that he is in charge of filling out for every load and every port.

Photo below shows 3rd Mate Audrey and 3rd Mate Jimmy watching the cargo. This is Jimmy's first ship so he was sort of shadowing Audrey.

Good view of the bow thruster tunnel. The Bow thruster is the propeller that makes life easier for the Captain guy, controls the bow of the ship side to side.

Photo below is showing Boatnerd Headquarters in Port Huron. A very busy place most days and most of the time we get a greeting from Frank when we go by!

Photo is the Cheecheeman a ferry that is here for some work. That's the coast guard cutter Risley in there in the foreground.

One of my most favorite things to photo when I'm on the ship. The flag of my native country the USA and the flag of my new home Canada. They were both being flown at half mast in respect for President Ford and his passing.

Below is I think my 2nd favorite. I have a lot of photos of this lighthouse! Always think of Theresa in Tennessee when I see lighthouses!

We were out on Lake Huron by 3:30 that afternoon. It was a pretty quite trip in the river only meeting that one ship and the Tug and Barge that passed by us. Now it was time to relax. We ended up taking a nap seeing as though neither us had much sleep the night before. So we slept a couple hours and missed dinner. The galley staff had nicely set dinner aside for us. Saturday night is steak night on the the Algolake "coolbeans" so it was BBQed Steak for dinner. It was also Hockey night in Canada tonight..hmmmmmm Good thing I brought stuff to do while Anders watched it! Anders is a dedicated Maple Leaf fan and flies their flag on the bow of the ship but the crew purchased a Canadians flag so the pressure was on, if their team won then they would get to fly their flag instead! The wind picked up to about 30 knots later on that evening so the ship was rocking a bit when we went to bed around 10 that night.

We woke up around midnight to the sound of doors banging and stuff falling off Anders desk.The ship was rocking back and forth pretty good. Anders jumped right up to go find out what was going on. I have to admit it scared the crap out of me for a bit as it was the middle of the night and I had no idea what was going on plus I had almost been rolled out of bed! When he got back he told me that the guys upstairs had been making a course alteration and the ship got stuck in the trough ( the dip between the waves) Quite interesting to say the least! It took me a bit to fall back to sleep but then slept really well with the ships rocking.

We were up around 7:30 the next morning we would be at the entrance to the St. Mary's river in a hour. It looked to be a pretty nice day and soon we saw the Detour Lighthouse on our "Port" side.

Some of the sites along the river. Federal Ship Anchored, Cathy's place in the distance and meeting a ship near Round Island .

Hmm guess from the picture here below the ship we met in the river was the Charles M Beegley and there she goes!

Another shot of the Charles M Beegley , that's Round Island and the lighthouse that was restored there in the middle, we think its for sale again as it looks pretty vacant again. So if you want to own and live on your own Island here is your chance! Last photo is coming around Johnson Point ( good thing Anders is sitting next to me as I work on this on my new laptop he got me for Christmas! Its very helpful as I can't remember the names of some...well ALOT of these places.:o)

More views along the rivers shore, had to attempt to photograph these bald eagles Anders spotted , they were ALONG ways away though and with the ships movement was pretty difficult to get a sharp photo. Did my best though..they sure are beautiful.

Photo below is showing the range lights the ship steers on. the set to the left was the set we were steering on. The ones to the right are for the shallow channel. I thought it was interesting to see how big they are in comparison to the house next to them!

There's Sam the AB steering the ship up the river with Audrey and Jimmy discussing what they were going to write in the logbook. Middle photo is the ship right before a course alteration, amazing how much it looks like we are going to hit that crib light!! But I know we were a lot further away then it looks! There was a CSL ship coming down the river on the other side of MUDLAKE don't remember which one though , do you know? :o)

Some houses we see along the river, one in the center.an igloo?? Its a neat house, definitely different! Two hot tubs on the deck..his and hers! The we come to the ferry crossing where every time we are approaching Anders has to comment about the two other times I was here when the coast guard called him on the radio to tell him to check the ship down since they needed the ferry for an emergency crossing for an ambulance. Anytime things go wrong they always blame me.:o) No ambulance this time...whew!

Soon we were approaching the locks,there was a lot of traffic today and there were ships in both locks already and we had another ship in front of us up bound. Anders was hoping he was going to check the ship down slow enough so he wouldn't have to wait and tie up to the wall. The Federal Margaree was leaving the lock and the ship ahead of us was The American Valor.

We slowly approached the Poe lock wall as the American Valor slowly entered the Lock itself. the mate up forward gives spots to Anders to let him know how far off the lock wall the ship is.

Below now we have another AB although we are still in the wheelhouse. The AB and the mate only work 4 hours at a time in the wheelhouse, there are 3 AB's and a first, 2nd and 3rd mate. Only one Captain guy, he's in the wheelhouse the entire time in the rivers and docking. So today we knew we' ld be up in the wheelhouse about 10 hours. Sometimes he has a mate that knows the rivers well enough that he can go down below to relax a bit but he doesn't relax that much, Always knows where we are and looks out the front window with most course alterations and also heads up if need be. Tom is the AB on the wheel now, he is retiring after this season, I am going to miss him! Other photo shows Anders making the wall before the lock, he has one hand on the bow thruster and one on the "gas" :o)

Soon we were right up to the lock wall and landing a couple men to walk the ship into the lock. You may notice the ladders on all the light poles, a new thing I learned they are there incase someone falls in the water so that they can be slid over the side for a quick exit from the water. This time of year someone could not be in that water for long for sure. Dangerous business but safety first here for sure. I always think this looks like so much fun although I'm not sure I would want to drop that far down on a rope. About 30' ..no thanks!

So they two deck hands catch the lines and walk the ship up towards the lock, the American Valor was taking longer than we were so Anders told the "boys" we' ld be tying up to the wall to wait.

Soon she was out an underway down the river, another ship is approaching up bound behind us.

We met the Paul R Tregutha as we entered the river on the other side of the locks.

We went downstairs after that but Anders kept a close eye out the front window as the Ryerson was coming down bound and we' ld be meeting her at "Light 26" ( no I didn't remember that I had to ask the Captain guy). I have to admit as I looked out the window and behind me at Anders looking out the same window and I saw both ships heading to what appeared to be the exact same place I thought..hmmm I wish Anders was up there doing this.:o) But of course if he thought there was a problem he would of been up there in a flash, everything was fine and we passed by and on our way to Lake Superior.

I have to admit I had never seen this ship in person before and as ships go, she was pretty nice. Very different then most of the others.

We had dinner downstairs tonight after we had cleared the river. We ate in Anders dining room with the Chief. There was a drawing tonight for the crew for some prizes donated by the company for their United Way campaign. The ships crew had raised almost $4000.00!! They were all hoping to win the award again this year as they had 3 years in a row. They have a plaque that the crew is pretty proud of as well as the big United Way symbol painted on the side of the ship to show that the Ship won the award for raising the most money. The ship is rocking a bit again this evening its supposed to settle down though later. Anders gets up frequently to check how things are going. At once point he went up to the wheelhouse and "checked her down" (Sailor guy talk for letting off the gas) He did this as the ship was taking a pretty good pounding from the waves. When he slowed her down a bit she slid though them a bit easier. We went to bed around 9 that night and slept so very nicely until around 7:30 (12/18) when he got up and just turned on the lights. I said what ARE you doing? I've got work to do at my desk and I'll be there all morning. So that was it I got up and he was indeed at his desk all morning doing all the paperwork he is required to do. Its pretty dark and gray on the lake. I am looking out the window and I can see a ship in the distance just on the horizon, its a neat image to see in person as in the photo I can't really show you ALL the lake. This lake is so very huge, its pretty amazing to be out in the middle of it and not see land anywhere. Only the occasional passing ship. At this point I could see a few lights on our port side from some town way out in upper Michigan. Soon the ship altered course and we are on our way down the lake to Superior, Wisconsin. I found it really weird as I was looking out the front window that the ship was actually bending because of the waves. I wish there was some way to photograph it but I don't think this photo really shows it unless you look really hard to see that from the middle to the bow it would bend down then up with the waves. Amazing that steel and something THAT big could bend like that!

We had a delicious lunch of BBQ 'ed short ribs which after eating I felt so very tired! Its just so very relaxing on the ship. Between the motion and the constant little chugging of the engines it just makes me so very sleepy! I'm ready for a nap! I hear we are going to be at the piers in Duluth around midnight so sounds like a good time to take a nap. :o) So we slept from around 3 to about 6 later on that night. Oh its so very nice taking naps on the ship! Later we went down for some dinner left overs and watched some TV. We found out later that there was a bit of traffic congestion in Duluth as the St. Clair wasn't done loading at the terminal and the American Mariner ( The ship in the horizon in front of us) was going to fuel at Murphys Oil first before loading after the St. Clair. The American Mariner was done fueling by the time we got there but the St. Clair still wasn't finished yet so the Mariner moved up the dock to wait and we took her spot at the fuel dock around 1:30AM ( 12/19) We then waited for immigration to come aboard as I have to be cleared ever time I enter the country ( even though its my own?) Oh well, after they left we went to bed, I was more than exhausted! . Below a couple night images of us approaching the piers and then the Duluth Ariel Bridge

We got up around 7:00Am the Mariner was still waiting but it wouldn't be long and they would be on their way to the dock to load coal. Murphys said we could sit here to wait since they weren't expecting anyone else here for awhile yet I guess. The harbor had a bit of ice in it but guess a lot had melted since the last time the ship had been here. The sun was coming up and it looked to be a lovely day to be in Wisconsin or Minnesota! Below are just a few of the views I was seeing as I was standing in the wheelhouse while Anders did some work and waited for our 1 hour notice from the Mariner.

We finally got to Superior Midwest Energy Terminal ( SMET) around 11AM. Its pretty neat watching Anders work here. First he takes the ship into the harbor and turns her around and backs her up underneath the big bridge there. I took a quick photo of what he's seeing when he's backing her up. Hmm I wouldn't want to be doing it!!! The middle shows the bridge we were going to be going under Anders centers the ship between the two big bridge abutments. Then we are under the bridge I swear I am so close I could touch it if I went up on the "roof" ..:o)

Photos below show a very cold American Mariner getting ready to head back out on the lake. Amazing how that ice builds up when the waves crash up there in the winter. They call it Freezing spray, its something they try to avoid at all costs but sometimes can't be done. You'll find the guys out there chipping away at it trying to get it off the decks and hatches often. The right photo is the trains of coal that are gong to load the ship.300 cars thats a lot of coal!

Below the American Mariner heading out , snow making machine in Superior! ( they spray the coal with water frequently to keep it cool, since it was so cold the water was turning to snow!) , that's Richard helping to tie up the ship, hard work pulling those heavy cables!

Below: Mariner has made the turn and heading into the harbor in Duluth then head out on the lake, ship getting loaded up with coal, then there's Richard again this time checking the soundings in the ballast tanks while the coal is going in the ballast goes out. Everything has to be done just right for the ship to travel evenly. Last photo here showing everybody working down on deck while the loading is going on.

By the data on my photo I see we were leaving SMET at 3:51 on the 19th of December. The weather forecast wasn't a good one but anders said we were going to head out and have a look at it. So that's what we did, on the way out he startled a flock of ducks near this old dock. Soon we were heading back out under that bridge again, its pretty neat to see the trucks and cars over your head! One of tugs in the harbor heading to go break up some ice somewhere or help some ship somewhere I guess!

Below are a few different views of some of the ships in the harbor that we saw on the way out. The American Valor was waiting to take our place at SMET and the Walter J. McCarthy was coming into the harbor to go to the fuel dock and then wait for the Valor to leave! Busy day!!

The Walter J. McCarthy was coming in off the lake and she sure had a lot of ice on her bow too! The American Valor waited for us to get by her then started her turn into SMET. Soon we were heading for the Duluth Ariel Bridge again but this time going the other way.

Heres the ship heading towards the Duluth Aquarium where there is actually a live web cam ,I watch the ship in the harbor online when I'm at home and my sailor guy is at work. Now we headed towards the bridge and towards the big Lake Superior, low and behold but who should we spy on the pier taking photos of us while I was taking photos of him? Its Ken Newhams of the Duluth Shipping News!

And here is the photo he took of us! He actually put it in the Duluth Tribune Newspaper! Now that IS coolbeans..:o) Thanks Ken!!

Soon we were out on the lake and underway up the lake, but after looking at the forecast Anders turned the ship around and put her to anchor, we would wait it out here and it wasn't long before we had a few other ships either anchor or go back into the harbor to tie up to a dock and wait on the bad weather. Photo below is the city all lit up at night while we were "hanging out"