The Welland Experience, Port of Rochester, Fated for Failure

After a rough ride in Erie, we took the Welland Canal through to Ontario. For those who do not know, the Welland Canal is a series of eight locks that allow ships to move 100m up and down the Niagara Escarpment and to bypass Niagara falls without having to navigate shallow, uncertain rivers from Ontario to Huron. The Welland Canal broke ground in 1824 and was initially completed in 1829. The current version of the Canal was started in 1913 and finished in 1939. It is allegedly due for a replacement/facelift in the year 2030, so there is that to look forward to, I suppose. The canal is quite something to pass through, but it sure it an antique. Crumbling rebar concrete is all around you, and the gates to each lock are somewhat shaky. Still, though, the feat of engineering cannot be discounted. I worked the sternline downbound for the entire 8 hours it took us to pass through, and I apparently did a decent enough job.

I then fell asleep, which is regrettable, because I missed the station that took us right outside Toronto at night and we were not to pass by it on the way back west, much to my chagrin, but I did enjoy my rest.

Lake Ontario surprised me with its depth. I had expected it to be much like Lake Erie, which has an average station depth of 30m, but instead, Ontario showed an average station depth of around 150m, much like Huron and Michigan. Lake Ontario also played tricks on my mind (I think). I swear that every so often, when I stepped outside, I smelled the ocean. Or some sort of brackish water mass. I swear it. Either my sense of smell is fine tuned for this particle or my mind is trying to get back to the biggest of lakes. I cannot decide which is actually the case.

In Ontario, we stopped in the Port of Rochester, NY for a day and a half for some R & R. I found it to be a cross between a retirement community (most street walkers looked like Florida winterers) and a tourist destination (beachgoers, bar patrons). Speaking of beachgoers, that was our crew of younger sailors. We went to the beach. The most regulated beach I had ever seen in my life. A lifeguard chair for every 20m of beach. A designated swimming zone (by the way, us 6 ft and up folks could WALK out to the edge of this zone, the beach gradient was so gradual and if we overshot the line by 2 feet, we'd be squawked at by a lifeguard). Want to bring a toy to the beach? Don't bother, they're not allowed. All this fuss over what? The beach was right beside a rivermouth. This means nutrient loading of the water and the result of that is algae. Lots of algae. Rancid clumps on the beach and 2-4 inches underneath your feet within the swimming area. When a lightning storm drew near (but not overhead) the lifeguards started buzzing like bees, forcing people off the sand and out of the water as if an alien invasion were imminent, coupled with repetitive, obnoxious announcements over the loudspeaker every 5 minutes, which inevitably drew mockery from us, much to the delight of obviously annoyed beach patrons. Overall, I was disappointed.

I saw a grown man ride a carousel. Oh wait, that was Russ. Never seen someone so old so hellbent on riding one. Lightning shut it down (why?) so he had to convince them to let him sit on it while not in motion (this is different that turning it on during a storm how?) so he could get a photo snapped.

After Rochester, we started our journey back west. I slept through the upbound transit through the Welland and was only on watch for one of the 3 stations designated for this graduate student. Her survey plan, which included the deployment of sediment traps in the Spring, was awfully faulty. The traps has no real marker to retrieve them by and predictably we went 0/3 on recovery. She wanted to do a net trawl, but the net for so poorly designed it shredded immediately. Wasting our time, is all we have done for her.

After a quick science team trade off in Detroit, we are headed for Ste. St. Marie and beyond into the last lake of summer survey: Superior.

Michigan, Back Alley dental deals, Huron, the city formerly known as Detroit and pea soup on Erie

This summer survey is surely moving fast!

We flew around Michigan in 4 days before stopping for the night in St. Ignace, a tourist town on the northern side of the Mackinac Bridge. It was here were two very strange things happened. Number one: I walked into a bar and they had the largest TV dedicated to NESN. What? All the others were broadcasting Det v KC, naturally. The second oddity came when Russell, the ordinary seaman, decided that enough was enough with a toothache. He called every dentist in the area before one offered to pull it (that was Russell's wish anyway) for $75 at 9.30pm. Russell showed up at the bar 1 hour later with a bloody mouth full of gauze, a drink order and one less tooth. Bridgework is undoubtedly on the horizon. He's signing Captain up to remove the stitches in the coming days. Should provide mid-cruise entertainment, at the least.

Huron flew by just as fast and we stopped in Detroit for a full night this time. Max's friends came down and took us out to the Greek part of the city...where I saw...less people than I would have thought. Apparently, Mondays are 'stay home days' for (most) bums looking for handouts and citizens of Detroit alike...if a Tiger game were occurring, the city would 'have really been alive' said Detroit residents...I'm not so sure. I agree with Captain, take a look at Detroit/Hiroshima in 1945 and then now and try to guess which one got nuked. Most would guess Detroit.

Once we entered Erie, it was mandated by higher powers (who have indeed, just stepped onboard the ship during our stay in Detroit in a science crew turnover), that we do a nice and nerve wracking Triaxus (remember this character) through a very large algal bloom in the west basin of Erie at 3 m deep in 8m deep water. The water was thick as pea soup (or a 'shot of wheat grass' as the term was by others on the boat) with the plankton. Very cool stuff to be in the middle of, to be sure.

A Summer of Survey begins

Not much has happened in recent days. A quick synopsis:

The COSEE survey finished up nicely, Duluth is still a great town (temperature was much more cooperative), 3 hours before we made it back to Milwaukee our Turbocharger blew up.

What? Turbo...did what?

Yep, blew up. The shaft fracture and ripped the unit in half, rendering our portside engine dead.

Then there was the fireball that blew the stack cover off...think: car backfiring.

We spent 4 days in Milwaukee prepping for the big shebang -- the summer survey....and waiting for our new turbo to arrive (it did, and it's working...for now)

The summer survey is a 4 week excursion through every basin of each of the 5 Great Lakes (Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Superior in order). I will be lucky to feel land for this time.

The first shift has been a spectacular display of midwest lightning storms. Thunder in the distance soon became a full on storm cell. I felt like the boat was on the inside of one of those static electricity balls looking out. Bolts of lightning were hitting the water in all 360 degrees. The thunder was rapid and deafening at times. At one point, we broke into a clearing, with the sunset on our starboard and the everlasting lightning show on our left. Once the sun did set, we were overtaken by another cell and the night sky looked like a sheet with many fluorescent lightbulbs struggling to stay on. Rapidly flashing bright, then off, then dim, then bright in a random pattern. Very cool stuff.