Paul and I crossed the last 9 miles of open Lake Michigan in 3 to 4 ft. waves. That bounces some and kicks up spray, but it's not uncomfortable. Once we were inside the calm waters behind the Calumet breakwater, Paul ran the boat around for 45 minutes while I went up to the flybridge to fold down the hinged radar arch so we could clear a 19 ft. bridge.
Running the first 5 miles of the Calumet River is always interesting because it has large lake freighters tied up to the commercial piers. Paul is trying to master Kathy's trick of looping and tying off dock lines in a neat bundle, now that we're in calm waters and passing a freighter.
The whole trip today was through very commercial areas. Here, the Arthur M Anderson (no relation to the consultant, Geoff) has it's 150 ft. coal unloading conveyor hung out over the river while a 3 story coal loader on the dock fills up the ship's holds with coal. We went right under that conveyor.
On the other side of the channel the "Algo Marine" was unloading mountains of salt for Chicago's next winter.
After you go under the first fixed bridge, there are no more freighters, just dozens of barges. When the channel gets tight, sometimes your stuck between a barge with a million pounds of coal and the rock walls of the channel. There was actually about 8 ft. of space on both sides of Nonchalance in this picture, but you sure hope that barge captain doesn't veer over any.
Low bridge.. Everybody down! At 19 ft. 1 inch, this bridge at mile 300 of the Illinois Waterway is the lowest fixed bridge on the entire Great Loop Route. We made it under by about a foot. Standing on the flybridge, we could reach up and touch the bridge as we went under.
Paul took his turn at the wheel every now and then and even fixed lunch.
We passed this marina near Chicago with gas prices at $4.49. Ouch! I filled up Nonchalance with diesel in Benton Harbor at $2.81.
We also passed the area where they have put an electric charge in the water to try to keep invasive Asian carp and bighead carp from migrating up the rivers into the Great Lakes. So far, they have been successful.
We were very lucky with the locks, waiting only about 10 minutes at two and fifteen minutes at a third lock. We also beat the Joliet rush hour bridge closings by about 5 minutes, saving an hour of waiting time above Joliet.
We arrived at Harborside Marina, safe and sound at 6 PM today. We left this marina last October going South on the river and we returned today from the North. The only way to do that, is via Key West and New York City. Wow!
It's an adventure, not a vacation. I longed to have Kathy complete it with us, but she was first mate and Admiral for all but the last 6 days of cruising. Her mom is doing well and Kathy will be coming home soon. Sometime she'll have to sort out her large collection of seashells from this trip. It was really one great trip, and an experience we'll never forget.
2 comments:
Congratulations, we came late to your journey, last month, but read all your posts in order. Your wonderful commentary has inspired us to add the great circle, or at very least, the Great Lakes to our cruising plans. We too will probably make our trip in an older Hatteras like you did. Thank you for letting us travel with you.
Hello
Enjoyed the pic's of your trip,I have a question for you. is the boat a 53 Hatteras classic you were on,and did you have the radar arch hinged yourself,we are buying a 1984 53ft Hatteras with a fixed arch,but want to bring it thru the NYS canal to Oswego NY,so would have to have the arch hinged,was that a complicated problem ?
Thanks,Phil philmeup52@hotmail.com
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