• Wednesday-What'sUP January 11 - 07:19 am

The shipping days on Lake Superior are numbered, as the Soo Locks will be closing for the winter season on January 15th and then will reopen on March 25th. For the moment though, the boats are still traveling the shipping lanes, sometimes having to take refuge from the winter winds around the Keweenaw Peninsula. Recently the St. Clair was spotted by our "eye in the sky", E. Neil Harri, as it was waiting out a wind storm near South Portage Entry. She must have been in some good size waves before getting here, since it looks like her bow has a thin coating of ice across it.

In Neil's middle photo, that white arrow is pointing to a second freighter further south. Then Neil circles back and zooms in a little closer to the St. Clair, so we can get a better look at her name on the stern. I cropped it in even closer here below to be sure what ship we were looking at.

Great shots Neil! Wouldn't that object in the distance be down toward the village of Keweenaw Bay? It looks like Pequaming on the left hand side of the photo.

A couple of different views of the "St. Clair" as we saw it from the end of our road on the St. Clair River!

Well-- Trying to post 2 images on one post didn't work. It "timed out" Sorry!

Here is the zoomed second image:

Great pictures!

Thankyou Neil and Russ for the great laker pics, and for my feighter fix!

I saw them both on Thursday as we were driving along the bay from Baraga on our way to visit my mom who was, and is still in, the Portage hospital.

Cool! Boats are always a welcome sight on this site. Okay, that was weird!

David, what's wrong with Connie??

As a boatnerd living in West Virginia, any shot of those beloved ships is welcome. Great shots!!!

Cool boats, passing in the night!

Shedding some tears right now for the Lewis family. May GOD give little Ali a big hug for all of us. Such sad news to start the day.

Hi
Margaret, judging by the ice, literally a cool boat. OK, cold.

Seriously, it was very interesting to see the freighter from above, with the ice coating.

Would this have been a close-up of the freighter in the background? I took it while traveling towards Copper/Eagle Harbors the afternoon of Jan3,08. It didn't seem to be moving and I continued on my way.

I miss seeing the freighters slide through the Straits of Mackinaw and around Drummond Island - especially at night, they are nearly silent, and resemble big city blocks, slipping quietly by. Thanks for the pictures!!

Drove through Duluth a couple times over the last week, on our way to/from the UP for a little time with the family in Gwinn...

Much of the harbor is iced up, but they're still breaking the shipping channels to get the big boats through. This little reprieve from the super-cold weather is helping out quite a bit, I'm sure. The tugs and breakers are pretty busy! Quite a sight to see, but gets a little interesting when my desire to get a good look at the boats interrupts my driving...

One of these days I'll plan ahead and make sure I'm the one in the passenger's seat.

Thanks again for the great freighter pictures.

Here's a link to more 'lakers':
http://dlund.20m.com/index.html

Wish I was snug in my cottage with my binoculars viewing the ships across the bay!

Great boat pictures. I love looking at boats on the lakes. Now I watch them on the Columbia River. I had wanted to work the lakes, but graduating in 1980 was not the time to get a job on the boats.

When I was a kid in Escanaba in the 70s, they used to keep the port open year around. I believed they used a bubbler system in those days. If I remember, they stopped the practice because of environmental concerns. Does anyone know if they still keep the docks ice free with bubblers?

I don't know if the still do, or not, but I was told a few years ago that the Arnold Line ferry boats (for Mackinac Island) were stored, I think it was on a river, in Wisconsin, with the bubbler system keeping the water from freezing. That's a good question, Cherokeeyooper, as to what is going on now, and whether bubbler systems are still allowed.

Thank you for the great pictures, Neil, Russ, and Mary! I am especially intrigued by the ice over the bow of the St Clair. That's pretty scary. I can see why she sought refuge in the Bay! But, I love seeing close ups of the freighters.

hey Deb...I sent you an email a day or two ago.

Hey Richard Barclay ... I bet you were right behind us as we drove past the roadside park...
Dark Maroon Pacifica with Wisconsin plates...
There was a vehicle behind us that pulled over about that area....around noon or so on Thursday.

Never got it Dave!!

Dave S. ...my camera says it was 2:38 when I snapped that picture, red Chevy pickup truck, they've (the freighters) been cruising by one after the other going both ways between Copper and Eagle Harbors, must be the end of the season rush.

aw thanks for the freighter pics! grrr if only i lived on that end of town lol oh well i got my fix of boats for now. there was also a bunch of boats on the 3rd in marquettes harbor... for the boatnerds here thank rod burdick for that pic. http://boatnerd.com/news/newsthumbs/images-07-4/hcjkebM_1_3_08_rb.jpg

hope everyones new year is going good!!

and yes the soo locks close at midnight on the 15th so they are rushing to do all they can between now and then. they reopen around march 22nd, so i guess those of us who love the freighters will have to tough it out lol speaking of theres some pics posted at http://cu.miningjournal.net/pages/gallery.php?gallery=298579 also... happy looking!