Ocean Breeze: Port #3: Visiting With Friends from Loop #1...

Great Loop II Date: 8/5/2014

Day #6 (Tuesday): 45 miles ( 153 total miles)

Port #3: Charles F. Moore Harbor (St. Clair Harbor), St. Clair, MI

I didn’t get up as early this morning and didn’t know why Todd didn’t wake me up. After I looked outside, it was apparent why he let me sleep a little longer. Rain and thunderstorms were heading our way. We tried delaying an hour to wait them out. The storms were taking a more northerly direction. Our options were to cast off and hope for the best or stay in port and wait…and wait…and wait. We decided on the former.

We left Keans around 8AM and didn’t find any rain until we were well into Lake St. Clair. The skies were dark and visibility was about a mile. With radar and AIS (Automatic Identification System), we were able to pick up the freighter traffic well ahead of seeing them. Our Waterway Guide gave us the channels to scan on our marine radio so we could hear the freight traffic talking to control points in the rivers and lake. We were able to notify them of our position, as well.

We're on their water highway!

By the time we hit the middle of Lake St. Clair, the rain was pelting down and we were rolling pretty well. We had 2 to 3 foot waves on our port beam. Charlie was unhappy, I was trying to keep busy updating the blog and Todd was trying to keep us on a vector that would lessen the impact of the waves. Once we entered the St. Clair River, the seas flattened, eventually the clouds broke, the sun appeared and everybody was happy.

We passed one of the biggest laker freighters just below St. Clair. The M/V American Century is 1001feet long, has a 105 foot beam and draws 56 feet. In comparison, Ocean Breeze is 47 feet long, has a 15 foot beam and draws a little over 3.5 feet. We’re just little fellas.

There's a man under that arrow!

See...there he is!

There are only 13 lakers over 1000 feet long. The largest laker is the M/V Paul R. Tregurtha at 1013 feet. None of them can go through the Welland or the Soo locks. They only work in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie carrying coal and ore pellets.

We arrived at the Pine River Bridge a little early and had to tread water until 3:00PM for the bridge opening. Once OB was tied to her dock in St. Clair Harbor for the night, good friends Joan and Jerry Muhme came to visit us. We had a fantastic dinner with them at Murphy’s Inn, a cute little Irish Pub and Restaurant in St. Clair.