The day began with two Coast Guard pan-pans on the VHF, One warning about a partly-sunk Sea Ray on the Calumet breakwater, very near to our location. We looked for it on the way out of the harbour, but could not see it as it was on the far side of the breakwater. The other pan-pan was about an overturned boat near Lakeshore drive, which was a long way from us. Lake Michigan can get really rough really fast.
From our marina we had a short run to the Calumet river, where we encountered our first lift bridge. Steve asked them on the VHF what their overhead clearance was and they said 18 feet. Our boats were set up to be able to clear 16 feet, and this bridge did not look like we would clear it. So, Steve asked them for an opening and through we went.
Miss K going through a lift bridge.
Miss K going under a bridge.
We passed a couple of other lift bridges, then our first tow. This river is heavily commercial, and goods are shipped by barge. These barges are pushed by big tugboats specifically designed for operation on the river. Some of these tows were massive, a single tug boat pushing 12 barges. Since the tug boat pushes the barges, of course the logical name is a tow. Our AIS systems really started to come into their own here. AIS, or Automatic Identification System is a special VHF radio that transmits data about your boat's position, course, speed, size etc. All commercial vessels are required to carry them. Many pleasure craft also have them, both to help the big boats see us and to ID the big boats. The AIS transponders both send and receive, so we can "see" the tow boats around curves and at long distances. Very handy because you can call the tows by name on the radio to make sure it is safe to pass, and to find out the best way to pass. Anyway, as we passed each one we hailed them on VHF to ask which side they would like us to pass on. They use a numbering system for this. "On the one" means pass them on their port side, "on the two" is a request to pass on their starboard.
One of the tug boats. Like the name.
We saw lots of abandoned wrecks on the early part of the river. The boats sink at the docks, and uninsured owners abandon them. Raising them is too expensive because of all the regulations, so the marinas just leave them in place. Kind of crazy, but lots of rules create unintended consequences.
We had one lock to go through today. These are very similar to the ones in the Saint Lawrence, but they all seem to use a floating bollard system to tie to. Much easier than the ropes they throw you on the seaway.
One of the floating bollards in the lock. You loop one of your lines around this to hold you in place.
This marina consisted of connected floating cottages. Each one has a boat slip for a small boat. I guess its a good way to own a cottage without taxes.
Along the way we went past a giant oil refinery, a big landfill, a huge gravel pit, and some sewage plants.
"The claw decides who will be chosen."
We had some trouble in a narrow canal section. Both shores were concrete walls which reflected our wakes. This created "diamond" and "pyramid" waves that made the boat difficult to handle. Was a tiring couple of hours because we could not use the autopilot, and we were constantly having to make adjustments.
We also passed by the lowest fixed bridge on the loop - 19' 6", which is a railroad bridge near mile 300 on the Illinois river. When you take a boat on the loop, you need to have one with a vertical clearance that will allow you to go under this bridge, otherwise it will be the great U-turn.
We passed a few of these artificial waterfalls along the way. Our guess is that these are outflows from water treatment plants, and the falls are final aeration.
Another one of these. They were all fixed up and manicured like parks.
One other interesting feature was the electric fish barrier near Romeoville, Illinois. This is an electrified section of the river, which has been put in place to keep the Asian Carp, an invasive species in the Mississippi system, from entering lake Michigan. The water is electrified with AC current here, and so very important to stay in the boat.
Fish barrier warning.
Entering the barrier zone.
Out of the zone.
I wonder how long it will delay the carp from getting into the great lakes?
As we approached Joliet, our destination for the day, we encountered the final three lift bridges. Steve called them to request an opening, and the operator asked where we were heading. Steve answered "the Joliet wall" whereupon the operator told us they would synchronize the opening of all three bridges. So we passed through the next three lift bridges easily, and got tied up to the Joliet wall.
This is a concrete wall that the city makes available to boaters. The concrete is rough, but they offer free power. We had some trouble connecting, as the breakers kept tripping off, but with some persistence, Louise and I figured out the right sequence to use to get some juice. Happy we did this as it was 34 degrees C and we needed AC.
The town here was pretty rough, even the nearby casino looked run-down, so we did not go far from the boats. Fortunately there was a big police presence here as the wall was beside the police station, and police cruisers were always nearby. Later in the afternoon another looper arrived called Ur N Heritance. We visited briefly with them before dinner. After dinner we planned out our next day with Ur N Heritance, as we wanted to travel together. On the river, the lock operators want the recreational boats to travel in flotillas, as this minimizes lockages. As it got dark, Louise and I re-watched an episode of the Lord of the Rings series in preparation for watching season 2.
The next morning we were all up and ready to go, and launched just before 7. As we were getting off the wall, a tow was coming through the nearby lift bridge, and we needed to pass him before getting to the bridge. This turned out to be a bit of a mess, as not all of us could hear the tow on the radio. We pissed him off as he had to slow for us, as we were completely disorganized. Shaky start, but we were started.
Our next barrier was a lock. These are really big locks, like those on the seaway. Luckily, we did not have to wait long for our lockage and we completed our first lock in fairly short order. Our fender balls were really useful here as we had to tie to floating bollards which brought us fairly close to the concrete wall. We had a short wait for a tow to lift up with some barges, then we entered the lock. The lock operator told us we would be waiting for a bit as the tug boat was dropping off his barges before locking down with us.
Locking with tug boat.
As we were getting set in the locks, Jermane, one of the lock operators, stopped by and asked us for a boat card. He had noticed we were all loopers, and was interested in the loop. We noticed he likes fishing (Bass Pro hat), so we talked with him for a bit about boats and fishing while waiting for the tug. Really nice guy and talking with him made for a really pleasant lockage, almost like the Rideau. Maybe he will become a boater and go on the loop some day.
iFloat in the lock. There was lots of debris in this section of the river, we were constantly avoiding logs and weed mats.
We made pretty good progress after this lock, as there were no more lift bridges to deal with, and soon arrived at our second lock. This lock we also transited without any drama, and only a short delay, so things were looking good! We had a two-hour run to the last lock, and then our planned destination for the day, Heritage harbour, which would be only a couple of km beyond that. Louise had already called them, and we had reservations and were all set.
"SMOKERS!"
About 2 km away from the lock, we could see on AIS that a tow boat was entering the lock, so we called the lock master on VHF to let him know we would be arriving soon, hoping to get a lockage. The lockmaster replied that after the down-bound tow, that there was a "double" coming up, and that the wait would be a couple of hours. Ur N Heritance got on the VHF to request instructions about anchoring nearby, and the lock master told us we could either anchor, or tie to one of the dolphins near the lock. Since we were going to be late arriving at Heritage harbour, Louise got on the phone to update them about our status. From the sounds of the conversation, this was a pretty normal situation.
Dolphins are large, round structures that ships tie to. They are also used as barriers for things like dam openings. One of the dolphins close to the lock had some bollards, so Miss K tied onto the dolphin mooring style. We rafted up on them, and waited things out together. Now came the fun. A double is a large tow, that has too many barges to fit into the lock all at the same time. When entering a lock, the tug boat puts some of the barges in, these are then locked up and removed from the lock using a pulley system. The lock is then lowered, and the tug goes up with the remaining barges. The lock master told us he would lock us down after the first batch of barges. Ok, sounds good.
Up came the first batch of barges, which were huge. The lock staff pulled them out of the lock using a cable and pulley, and then told us on the VHF to enter the lock. There was a pretty narrow opening between the lock and the last barge, so we had to thread the needle and zig-zag in.
Miss K threading the needle.
Once inside, the lock master told us to raft on a single bollard. No problem, we have done this many times in the Saint Lawrence, but Ur N Heritance had never done it. I think they were a bit stressed, but everything worked out fine, although I think they ended up taking one of Miss K's lines by mistake.
Rafted up in the locks.
When the lock doors opened, we had another narrow channel to go through to pass the tug boat. As we went beside him, there was a huge current flowing sideways! The tugs don't use ropes to hold them to the dock, they run their engines to keep them pinned against the wall. These tugs are basically giant engines, and the current was insane. We had to rev up our engines to get past, and got tossed around pretty badly. Not much fun.
A couple of more km, and we arrived at Heritage harbour around 6 pm. They were extremely helpful on the radio, and talked each one of us into the harbour and to our slips. The place was beautiful, with a pool and really nice manicured grounds. We were pretty tired after our long day in the locks, so pretty much just went to bed once we were set up. We were planning to leave the next morning, but Louise and I were secretly wishing we could stay an extra day or so, since we were pretty tired, and this was a really nice place. Well, be careful what you wish for...........
Boat name of the day: Flippin Crazy
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