Andrea Guerriero from DRE Designs Great Lakes Marine Products had her drone out the end of last week after the winds and snow let up in the Soo. They received 3 feet of snow in just four days there, with the winds bad around Thanksgiving, so the boats were mostly taking refuge in Whitefish Bay. When the weather broke, she went to town for supplies and brought her drone along capturing the Edwin H. Gott pulling up to the Poe Lock as the Shoveler was in the downbound channel after having left the Poe Lock. You can see the gates remained open in the Poe Lock, so the Gott could go straight in. It looks like the Gott will never fit but that's because the lock is quite a distance away and the ship was right in front of Andrea. The Gott is 1004' long and 105' wide and the Poe Lock is 1200' long and 110' wide, so it's a tight squeeze for the footer but Great Lakes Captains make this look like the easiest thing ever and no wind that day also helped a lot.

In the second photo we see the Shoveler, a salty from Navarone SA Marine Enterprises based out of Limassol, Cyprus and is a part of a fleet that is apparently all named after various ducks. Many of the fleet come up through the locks here in Sault Ste Marie to head to either Duluth, MN or Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The next three photos come to us from Andrea, but were snapped by Sissy Payment, the Chief Steward (Chef) aboard the Mesabi Miner. She fixes a feast like you wouldn’t believe for the crew for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and often while underway. But last week they were anchored waiting out the storm, so the feast was made and enjoyed in calmer waters. Sissy snapped the snowy photos on the Mesabi and seeing the footprints in the snow on deck the question was asked if they have to shovel on board. Andrea answered that, saying yes they do and sometimes they have snow blowers on board. When it’s icy they either sledgehammer it off or use high powered hoses with hot water to melt it away. The bottom photo is the Kaye E. Barker who was also anchored waiting out the storm, nearby the Mesabi Miner. Such neat photos and information shared by both Andrea and Sissy. We wish the sailors “fair seas and following winds”.

Speaking of fair seas...we have a video from Spotlight Features telling us about Why Lake Superior is so Amazing, with facts to back it all UP... but we already knew Gitchie Gumee is something special.

Nice set! The first pic looks like 5 o’clock
rush hour in Metro Detroit.
And it looks like the Mesabi Miner needs a
Shoveler to clear the snow off it’s deck.
Luckily there is one available. Could be a
back breaker, though.

I love freighter pictures. And
these are great. My favorite is
the last one, though. I love
seeing them out in the harbor like
that. They're so cool looking.

A long, long time ago, I lived w/my bro in
Newberry. One day, some friends took me to
Paradise, the Soo Locks, and all around that neck
of the woods...we watched ships going through the
locks. It was an awesome day!

Hi
I enjoyed these. The Mesabi Miner shots look like
the definition of cold, even without harsh wind and
waves.