Day 25 - The Locks

Today has been the best day yet. We took Osprey through the Sault Locks. It began when Bob radioed the lockmaster and announced that we'd like to pass up. Bob held our little trawler steady in the St. Mary's River for about 20 minutes while we waited. The big, dark gates ahead of us opened and 2 boats came out. The green light told us we could proceed into the cavernous MacArthur Lock. The lock attendant passed a line over a bollard on shore and dropped the other end to me. Bob took a line at the stern. Slowly the lock filled and we took in the lines as Osprey was lifted up, up, up.
When we rose above the wall, we could see all the tourists in the stands and along the visitors' area watching the process. It was like being on stage. Bob said, "We should have worn a tux and evening gown." The gates ahead of us opened, the attendant wished us well and took the lines, and we sailed out, under the International Bridge to Canada and into Whitefish Bay in Lake Superior. Along the shore we could see freighters that had passed the marina previously loading coal to take back south.
Then we turned around and repeated the locking process - this time the water drained from the lock and we were lowered. It's much different watching boats lock and being inside that huge lock!

This comment made us laugh. It was made by tourist at the locks: "I wondered how they got that big freighter straight in the lock, but I see there's a man pulling it in!" She was referring to the dock attendant handling the lines on shore. I guess she thought that a single human could pull a 25,000 ton freighter carrying 25,000 tons of cargo!

In the evening, as we sat on the bridge of Osprey with wine and cheese, we watched the freighter, Atlantic Huron, pull up to the wall to wait for the locks. Then another freighter, the Quebecois, pulled up at the wall on the other side. We knew there was a freighter in the lock and were anxious to see how 3 freighters could fit in the passage to the lock. It just didn't seem possible. After about an hour, the Edwin Gott, a thousand footer, pulled out of the lock. What a sight - 3 freighters, side-by-side. The Atlantic Huron started pulling into the Poe Lock. Then Ojibway pull out of the MacArthur Lock, and the Quebecois was on her way. It was a freighter traffic jam!

Tomorrow we'll be heading back south to DeTour. We'll probably leave late, because they are predicting fog.