Thursday, August 25, 2005. Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

We left Hancock / Houghton, Michigan in the Keweenaw Waterway on Monday, August 22 at 9:30. The strong northwest winds that had kept us in the waterway for 2 days had subsided, but there was still a strong enough wind so that we sailed down the waterway and through Portage Lake to the lower entrance back into Lake Superior. On the way, on the banks of the Portage River, we saw a doe and her fawn feeding along the shore.

A doe and fawn

As they made their way back into the bush, an eagle flew across our bow, just a couple of boat lengths away and just about 15 feet above the surface of the water with a fish in its talons. The camera was just too slow to capture these images that are in our heads.

We were in the big Lake Superior again at noon.

Entering the Lake once again … our last navigation aid for a while

The waves were still large; the swells were 7 to 10 feet with white cap waves on top of the swells due to the 10-15 knot winds. The wind was from the northwest, and we were headed east, so it made for relatively easy sailing. The waves provided the biggest challenge.

The trip to the Soo

The forecast was for the winds to diminish, but they held until Tuesday late afternoon when we had to lower the sails to prepare to go through the lock.

Our arrival at the Soo Locks and some folks on the tour boat that locked through with us

We arrived at the Roberta Bondar Marina in Sault Ste. Marie at 7:30 PM on Tuesday evening. Our voyage through Lake Superior has concluded.

We now plan to sail down the St. Mary’s River, and then spend some time around the east end of St. Joseph Island and Bruce Mines before getting back into the prime North Channel cruising grounds. We will not provide another update to this site until late September when we are ashore and can find an Internet connection.