We departed at 7AM for our crossing to Thunder Bay. The air was brisk, the seas calm, and a slight breeze out of the East. Excellent travel conditions for a crossing. We navigated around Blake point on the NE end of the Isle Royal and set a NW heading for Thunder Bay. When navigating one should never rely on a single source to identify your current location. We use a combination of GPS, Line of Sight, and paper charts. When we came out of the fog and entered Chippewa Harbor our GPS was very off and at one point had us on land. If we would have blindly followed only the GPS we would have ended up on the rocks. Later I talked to a fellow boater and his GPS had him on land also. I suspect the charts the GPS uses are wrong rather then the coordinates.
The winds and waves picked up and we sailed with a full Genoa into the Thunder Bay harbor. On entering the harbor conditions calmed down a bit. Other then a large ship passing on our starboard we saw no other vessels making the crossing. We met many Americans on Isle Royal, most from Wisconsin or Minnesota. We did not meet one Canadian.
Entering Thunder Bay is quite the unforgettable experience. Large Island cliffs on either side, the city of Thunder Bay (Superiors Largest) can be seen in the distance, and the waters of the bay are huge. The books say entering Thunder Bay is aw inspiring, we agree!
Dinner tonight at Hoito a Finnish Restaurant. We felt like we were in Scandinavia. Most of the folk we met on Isle Royal had such a Scandinavia look to them. It is interesting how they have settled up North here, guess it feels like home.
This concludes Segment one of our journey around Lake Superior. Albion is tucked away for a few weeks. Boat chores tomorrow and then we fly home on Saturday. Mark and I will be back to Thunder Bay July 29 to begin the most remote section of our journey. The logs will really be few and far between for that segment. The Thunder Bay harbor master told us the weather up North here starts to decline the beginning of August. So we shall see, could be a cold one. I am taking home the short sleeves and bringing back long ones along with a few more wool socks.
Shirley has agreed to add a bit to the log, so that will be coming. Till around the 29th....Paul..
