We left the Algonac Harbor Club about Noon. We had a lazy morning after the long day yesterday, and the Admiral went back to bed since she had not been sleeping well. She has also finally recovered from some low level bug so she must have needed the extra sleep. As we departed the marina, we passed 2 families of swans, which was quite a treat. The first family performed marvelously for the camera.
The second family was a little more camera shy, but I stopped Lucky Us and backed about 100 feet down a side channel to get a little better picture (at right).
The trip to Port Huron was only 28.8 miles, and we knew that we would be slowed by the 2 to 2.5 mph current in the St. Clair River. However, we were also slowed a bit more by 20+ mph headwinds. We arrived at the River Street Marina in Port Huron at 5:45 pm. Our normal cruising speed is just over 8 mph, but for the entire trip we averaged more like 5 mph.
Normally, a 20+ mph wind would create waves up to 3 feet, but there were enough bends in the river to keep the waves generally below 1 foot.
The picture at the right shows the Canadian flags being whipped by the wind. We did note that there did seem to be something of a contest over which country was more patriotic with many flags on both the American and Canadian sides of the St. Clair River.
Since we were in the shipping channel, except for entering/leaving marinas, we passed lots of commercial vessels. The picture at the left shows the up bound lake freighter Atlantic Huron passing us. You can see the huge bow waves, and also, you can see how the strong head wind is blowing spray off of the wave crest.
Most of the up bound freighters that passed us were going more than 10 mph faster than Lucky Us so the passes were pretty quick. I like the picture at the right because it almost looks as if the two freighters are going to collide... However, it is an optical illusion since they actually passed at a very safe distance. For the record, we did get out of the main channel when being passed, especially when two ships were passing at the same time.
In case you have not gathered by now, most of our views for the day were of ships. There were some small towns and lots of non-descript cabins and houses, but in general the riverside scenery was not great.
So, I will spare you any more freighter pictures after this one. It was one of the largest of the day. This picture was also taken near the end of our trip, and you can see how the sky had started to clear. However, the wind was predicted to remain high through tomorrow.
Okay, so I said that the photo above was the last freighter picture, and indeed this is another one of the freighters that is actually a barge pushed by a huge tug. This one was traveling 1.1 mph faster than Lucky Us, and it took forever to creep by Lucky Us.
When we reached Port Huron, we turned west into the Black River and had a series of three bridges to pass before we reached our marina. The first one was easy since it is a railroad bridge that is permanently locked in the up position (picture at left). The river has several marinas and a yacht club.
Even before we heard the weather predictions for tomorrow, we had planned on spending an extra day in Port Huron thanks to a recommendation from our friend Ann M. from Lorain.
The next two bridges had to open before we could pass through. The bridges were only about two blocks apart, and they coordinated their openings so that you passed completely through one before the other one would open. The picture on the right shows the first bridge (Military Street) closing after we had passed through.
By the time that we passed through the second bridge and docked it was nearly 6:00 pm.
After we had registered (and paid) at the marina office, we headed out to Military Street to a BBQ restaurant that was really very good. There was a nice waterfront walkway, including a tunnel under the 7th Street bridge. Of course, I just had to have my picture taken at this neat park bench. The red armrest/cup holder in the middle is a ship model. Unfortunately, my hand was empty at the time...
Tomorrow, we will do some touring around Port Huron.
No comments:
Post a Comment