Day 71 – Monday, August 2, 2010

45° 59.801’ N
083° 53.972’ W
De Tour Passage, Michigan

Leaving Sault Ste. Marie

Ore carrier we followed

Today our master plan didn’t work to well! We postponed our departure until noon which was going to allow extra time for the bad weather to pass over head! It looked like the plan was working as the skies started to clear, so we got under way close to noon. As we left the harbor we followed a large ore carrier down the river and decided to follow it to De Tour Passage. We hadn’t been underway very long when a rain squall hit------ completely blocking our vision and making our radar useless. It rained so hard that our visibility was limited as if we were in heavy pea soup fog. We slowed to a crawl and worked our way down the river until some visibility returned.

At best the skies were very over cast with light to heavy rain, haze or light fog every mile we traveled. The scary part was that we were in a major shipping channel with large ships that couldn’t be seen as well as fisherman in small boats moving in different directions just trying to get out of the storm. In many areas the water is very shallow just outside of the buoys that mark the channel! As we moved down the crooked river I knew the ore carrier was ahead of me from his wake even though I couldn’t see him visually or on my radar. This was the most crooked stretch of water we have encountered this summer. We were much relived when we arrived safely at our destination.

Typically as this 41 mile “ADVENTURE” came to a close the weather cleared and it’s actually pleasant tonight.

Tomorrow light rain is predicted but we will wait and see if we move on to St Ignace!