Another Day in Whitefish Point Harbor

Day 25, August 24 

Whitefish Point Harbor Breakwater

Well, best laid plans of mice and men!  We planned to get up at 4 this morning and sail away at around 5:00 but at about 2:30, I was awakened with the wind rattling and whistling in the rigging and the boat bumping the dock in an uncomfortable strange way.  I got up and found that the wind was blowing quite strongly and the boat had moved a fender off of a post on the dock and the boat was bumping the piling.  Back in bed, before I got back to sleep, the thunder began and so did the rain.  I dozed off and on until about 3:30 and conditions only got worse.  I finally got up and turned off the alarm.  Back in bed, I slept until about 6:00.  I got up and turned on the marine weather radio and the day did not look promising.  The winds were to be blowing up to 17 mph with gusts to 24 mph.  Not pretty.  They were calling for waves from 1 to 4 feet.  I went out onto the breakwater and was impressed that the waves were slamming into it with real gusto.  SO, we debated whether or not we should try it and finally decided that it would not be a good idea to head out onto such a long passage with such variable weather.

As the day went on, it rained and stormed all day and by mid morning, they were predicting winds over 25 mph in Sault Ste Marie.  Trying to pass through a lock in such winds would not be fun and probably quite difficult.  We made a good decision.

I spent the morning going through all of my trip photos deleting duplicates and labeling the remainder.  We also compiled all of our expenses and if we were to leave out two high ticket items, our daily cost was just under $78.00.  That is the best we have done on any trip, however, it is a bit off because we will add in the costs of gas and expenses to get back home and with the rental fee for the car, that number will climb significantly.



M.M. Drake Rudder and Tiller



After lunch and long naps, we again walked back to the lighthouse and ship wreck museum.  This time, we wandered around the well manicured grounds and read plaques and took a few more pictures.  The rudder and tiller on display is off of a wooden freighter that, in 1901, was towing another ship when the second one began to take on water.  The M.M. Drake cut the tow, the Michigan, free and went back to rescue the Michigan crew.  The storm was fierce and the two ships collided sending both to the bottom.  Two nearby vessels saw the warning signals and rescued the crew just moments before the Drake sank.

Whitefish Point Watchtower

There is also a well preserved steam foghorn building, and a Coast Guard crew quarters that have been modernized and available to rent as a motel.  It even has internet service which is somewhat rare in this area. 

From the light station, we again entered into the bird sanctuary where there were a number of signs indicating that there is a number of nesting piping plovers which are extremely rare.  We walked to the edge of the lake and talked to a couple of birders who had not seen anything of interest this afternoon.  We then walked back to toward the marina via the beach and about ½ way back, we saw 8 small wading shore birds which on checking out our bird book turned out to be the piping plovers.  Neat little birds.  Also along our walk we picked up a fairly large number of agates that glow in the surf amongst other rocks. 

When we got back to the boat, the air was fairly warm and we decided that we could use a bath so I talked Janine into joining me for a dip in the icy Lake Superior.  She was a bit of a chicken but I did get her to sit down for about a half of a second before she stood and began backing for shore.  From the bath to the boat and dry clothes, we began preparing the boat and Dink for an early morning departure for Sault Ste Marie.