Monday, July 2, 2012. Port Huron

This morning Katherine and I drove to Belle Maer Harbor in Harrison Twp, our home marina. We unloaded supplies onto the boat and left the dock at 2:30pm. I worked the night before so we got a late start but we planned to travel a bit less than 50 miles so we thought we could arrive in Port Huron before dark. This was our first time using our Mac laptop navigation system MacENC, which worked great.

 The weather was clear, warm, and sunny. We left Belle Maer in southwest Anchor Bay and headed east to the North Channel, part of the marshy delta formed as the St. Clair River empties into Lake St. Clair.

NOAA chart 14850

Anchor Bay in Lake St. Clair



Buoy 20 entering North Channel of St. Clair River

Dickinson Island at delta of St. Clair River entering Lake St. Clair

We cruised up the St. Clair River to Port Huron, upstream against a 2 knot current. We made 7.5 knots speed over ground at 2400 rpm. This is a fair clip on our trawler, and we arrived in Port Huron in 5 hours. Along the river we saw lots of pleasure boaters including some kids on jet skis who liked to jump our wake.

Power plant on St. Clair River

Ferry across St. Clair river between Walpole Island and Algonac

We passed a freighter, Canada Steamship Lines CSL Tadoussac (730 ft, built 1972, capacity 30,000 tons). A Coast Guard Cutter, the Neah Bay, passed us going upbound. The USCG site states this vessel is 140' long, 37.5' beam, and 662 tons displacement with twin diesel engines. It is an icebreaking tug that uses an air bubbling system to force air and water between the hull and ice to lower resistance.

CSL Tadoussac

CSL Tadoussac

USCG Cutter Neah Bay

River Street Marina, Black River, Port Huron

I like river travel because the sites we pass vary and we are close enough to shore to see homes, factories, parks, and other vessels. We spent our first night at the River Street Marina on the Black River in Port Huron. Very quiet, a nice place to stay.