• Wednesday-What'sUP November 8 - 04:11 pm

It seems like E. Neil Harri is always in the right spot at the right time. Sure am glad he likes to share these times with all of us. This is a great shot of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse from a somewhat different angle. But wait, that's not all we get. Check out the boat off to the right. Neil's second shot zooms us in close enough to see it's the USCGC Alder in the midst of lifting the Eagle Harbor marker buoy. Now this picture has me wondering where they store the buoys for the winter months. Any ideas?

Thanks again for the nice pics! Hmmm, where do they store them - somewhere on the grounds at Eagle Harbor lighthouse?

E. Neil, nice shots as always.

One of my many favorite Lighthouses! Thankyou!

I believe they are stored at the boat ramp in Eagle Harbour. Most of the bouy's that get pulled for the winter around the Great Lakes are stored at either the nearest Coast Guard station or the nearest boat launch facility....

How do you know these things Capt. Paul? Amazing.

Many of the bouys also get stored at the Army Corps of Engineers Dock area on the Portage by Lily Pond (along Hwy 203, if I'm remembering the road number right).

kosk: I was just going to say the same thing! We have to find something Capt. Paul does not know! You really need to go on Millionaire! Does anyone call Dr. Nat Tenille?

I have seen some of the buoys stored at south entry. It's amazing just how large some of them are! They don't look that big out in the water!

Maybe they store them in the buoys' locker room?

I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY STORE THEM. I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE BUOY TENDER ENTER THE HARBOR AFTER LIFTING BUOY IN MY 10 YEARS LIVING IN EAGLE HARBOR.

Good one, Therese!

I always liked to see this place as a kid,and still now when I get up that way.
They oughta store the buoys some place warm where the gurlys are and make a movie.

Well maybe they store them in Lily Pond then, but I could have sworn I've seen buoys at Eagle Harbour ramp during the wintertime??? I just remember seeing lots of buoys being stored at the boat ramps in winter time around the other Lakes. I know in Traverse City you couldn't even drive to the ramp as all the buoys out of Grand Traverse Bay were filling the parking lots.

BTW, since when did Pastycam become "Stump the Capt."?? ;-)

Besides, it's my better half that has "Dr. Nat's Fountain of Useless Knowledge".....

You could probably find out if you watched "Where the Bouys Are"!

1960: w/George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton


but check out this one, it really IS "Where the Bouys Are".
http://
www.imdb.com/title/tt0166878/

I've seen the buoys stored at the Lily Pond also.

Did you know that up until a recent hardware problem occured, you could "Dial-a-Buoy"?

Info here: National Data Buoy Center

But "Gulls just wanna have fun" (Apologies to Ciny Lauper!!)

What a "pun"ishing day this has turned out to be.....

You guys are so funny today. Maybe Donald Duck is swimming around Lily Pond saying (are you ready) "Oh buoy, oh buoy, oh buoy"

They store them in Buoy's Town!

I live in Jacobsville, or actually a suburb of Jacobsville called
White City. It's a bay at the south end of the canal. They store
the buoys across the canal from us. They pull in during day or
night, it doesn't seem to matter, and offload the buoys on the
pier. The other night, we could hear all the metal clunking as
they were offloading buoys. In the spring of the year, they come
and do maintenance on them (paint, etc) and then plant them
where they belong. The new Alder has bow thrusters now and
makes it much more maneuverable than previous Coast Guard
boats.

In fact I just ran outside and snapped a picture of some of them.
It's a rather dreary day, and I could only zoom in so far, but
here's what's there at this point (the buoys are either red or
green)...

That answers the question of where the buoys are stored, thanks Barb!
Red or green, buoys will be buoys! (Groan)

Rog1, maybe the hardware problem is that the buoy is out of the water. Here's a link to an interactive map from NOAA.
http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/WestGL.shtml

Oh Buoy!! You guys are something else today.

Kathyrn -

The link says:
"The NDBC Dial-A-Buoy system failed completely on 26 June 2006 due to a hardware failure. A contract for a replacement for Dial-A-Buoy is being established in coordination with the National Ocean Service (NOS) Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS)."

I guess I should have included in my post that you don't actually call the buoy. It sends digital data to a satellite which is downloaded to an earth station. The data is processed and made "readable" using a synthesized audio "voice" which is what you hear if you call. At least that is how I understand it.

Lol, that website Kathyrn provided looks quite familiar. I'm just wondering what that synthesized voice must say when you call in?? I bet it goes something like....

"I'm cold, I'm wet, I've been bobbing up and down out here for hours, and YOU expect ME to give you information"??? ;-)

Capt. Paul, if he didn't give you the information he wouldn't be doing his job and then I guess you could call him a La-Z-Buoy.

Buoy oh Buoy, Jh you should have set on that one.

I wouldn't want to miss out on doling out the punishment today:

Is it true that the restrooms at McLain State Park are, as in some places along the Pacific coast, labeled "Buoys & Gulls"?

Speaking of buoys, a few months back I inquired if anyone knew where I could find recordings of foghorns. How about the sounds of buoys? Never did get any information. Wouldn't it be great to fall asleep to those sounds? Bye the way...you guys are all a little wacky. Keep it up, love it all! :>)

Do you think they clean them with LIFE-BUOY?

Tim, I think they do. And then after they have dried they paint them with Dutch Buoy paint.