I hate to say good bye to Lake Superior, it sounds so final...so it's so long, see you later because you never know when we will meet again.
After a wind delay Wednesday, we left Isle Royale Thursday 7/8 and traveled 57 miles to Copper Harbor. It's a small town with a population of 85 (2019). The marina is about a mile walk from "downtown" and has loaner bikes to make getting around even easier. We expected the little town to just be an unexciting stopover to refuel and get a good meal that we didn't cook after spending 11 days on Isle royale. The town was bustling and for such a small town we wondered why. Copper Harbor is one of the ports that takes people to Isle Royale, it has also become a nationally-renowned outdoor tourism destination for mountain bikers and offers kayaking and hiking. Every car that passed either had bikes or kayaks.
There are several restaurants, a brewery (remember town of 85) and a general store along with a couple gift shops. What it doesn't have is cell service, which we were very surprised about. The skinny on that is the townspeople don't want it. They have wi-fi and if you don't have wi-fi calling you can go to the top of the mountain and make your calls. From our perspective it has to be one of the friendliest towns we have been to. We enjoyed talking to a young couple vacationing there to fish and bike and the marina manager was one of the best! We also enjoyed Thursday night music in the park after going out to dinner.
With a great weather window of low winds forcasted for several days we left Copper Harbor on Friday 7/9 and headed 109 miles to Grand Marais, MI., Saturday from Grand Marais to Whitefish Point, 54 miles and Sunday 42 miles from Whitefish through the Soo locks (Canadian side) and back to Sault Ste. Marie.
With a population of 85, no need for a bigger school
We've had our boat to Miami, Fl and now we've had
our boat to Copper Harbor, MI. Those are the places where
US 41 ends and begins. To all of our friends who we have
spent our last several winters with in the Ft. Myers area,
now you know where Cleveland Ave./Tamiami Trail begins.
This is Brickside Brewery, small place, big on character.
Known as Michigan's northern most brewery.
Thursday night Performances in the Park.
This Thursday it was a local acoustic guitar
player playing his original pieces intermixed with
covers of well known artists.
Copper Harbor State Marina lit by a brillant sunrise
as we pulled away. Though small, this marina was
the cleanest, best well kept and run by the friendliest
harbor master we may have met in all of our travels.
Gull Rock Light
Stannard Rock Light
We would listen to weather reports and they would
announce conditions at various places around Lake
Superior. It always seemed as though the winds reported
at Stannard Rock were some of the highest on the lake.
Luckily, the day we went by we had winds W at 2 knots.
The land seen in the distance are the Huron Mountains, some 40 miles away
Sunset on the beach at Grand Marais, MI
We had talked about stopping at Whitefish Point
and viewing the museum prior to going into
Lake Superior...I think it was better to visit
the Shipwreck Museum once we were leaving.
The stretch of Lake Superior from Whitefish point
to Grand Marais, MI is known as Superior's
"Shipwreck Coast"
The original bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald
After raising it to the surface, they sent down a replaca bell
with the names of the lost sailors engraved on it
as a replacement and final grave marker for the 29 men that went
down with the ship November 10, 1975.There were no survivors.
Since that day it has been listed as a protected and solemn
site by the Canadian government, and is off limits to any diving
and nothing in the debris field can be disturbed. No bodies were ever recovered.
The ship lies 530 feet down just over the International boundry
in Canadian water.
Whitefish Point - great place to watch the ships and
look at all the driftwood!
Cinnamon on the St. Mary's River
Entering the Soo lock on the Canadian side.
Pleasure boats can use either the American locks or the
Canadian locks but it is preferred by traffic control that we
use the Canadian side because the American side is extremely
busy with ship traffic. No problem going into Canada to
lock through during these Covid times, just can't get off the boat
or tie up to a Canadian dock, just lock through and keep going.
We used the American side on our way into Superior as the
Canadian side doesn't open until 9 A.M. and we were passing
through at 6, so we got to use both.
The shipwreck museum is a little sppoky.
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