Being that we have already traveled both Lakes Erie and Huron we didn't plan to visit many towns like we did when we looped. There is a saying - "plans are worthless, but planning is priceless", this is why the captain always writes things down in pencil. When we leave in the morning we have several plans; where we would like to end up, where we might end up and let's get off this lake it is kicking our butts!
We have found over the years the Great Lakes have many weather patterns and Wednesday 6/9, was no exception. We traveled 132 miles from Harbor Beach to Rogers City Marina. We could hear the fog horns Wednesday morning before we even got out of bed so we knew there was no rush to leave. We waited for the sun to rise and headed out. The sun did help burn off some of the fog, for awhile...the visibility went from 1 mile to 50 feet to no more fog as the day wore on. We also went from no wind to 3' waves back to calm and as we approched Rogers City the wind came up again. We had a great view from the bridge of our boat of the lake and boats coming into the marina, which included an 85' yacht. The hailing port was Naples, Fl and she was a beauty!
The weather forecast for Thursday was high winds and the weatherman was correct. The winds were howling and the lake really kicked up. Staying in the marina allowed us time to walk the town and explore. We noticed everything was pretty dry, they haven't had rain in weeks...that came to an end Thursday night/Friday morning when the skies opened up and we were treated to a light show. This delayed our "plan" to leave first light Friday. We kept looking at the weather, let's leave at 10 then it rained again so we postponed to 11, then 12. Finally we said forget about it and decided to stay another night. It actually worked in my favor as we had a wonderful dinner at Up North 23 Restaurant and the town had an Art Walk Friday night with bands, crafts and artwork displayed on the main street in town.
While at Rogers City we had seen an unusual vessel coming and going. We spoke to a gentlemen from the University of New Hampshire that was working with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The vessel is robotic and is mapping an area of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It showed up on our AIS with the name Ben Unmanned. Ben Unmanned goes back and forth, like mowing the lawn and captures images of the lakebed. He said if a bicycle was on the bottom they would be able to tell from the imagery. He mentioned that they are also looking for shipwrecks so they can notify families of their findings. This is a 2 week project and will only cover another 1% or less of the bottom.
We had originally thought we would stop at De Tour Village but with the weather delay we decided we would go to Sault Ste. Marie, 85 miles up from Rogers City and up the St. Mary's River. Saturday morning definitely proved to be a great day for travel, only a 1/2 hour rain event with some wind but otherwise it cleared up nicely.
We will be in Sault Ste. Marie for several days as we explore the town, do a few maintanence items and get ready to go through the Soo Lock and into Lake Superior.
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