Summer of 18-#44-Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Lighthouse & "The Wright View"

Thursday August 23rd, 2018

We decided that we wanted to go on a shipwreck tour.  Whaaattt!!!  Am I mad?  Ok, don't answer that.  We're going on a glass bottom boat, that is going to go over shipwrecks.  I can't swim & I don't like water on my face.  Oh well, let's do it.

I booked tickets at Alpena Shipwreck Tours for their 1pm tour.  It was a nice sunny day, with no wind and so we were surprised, when we turned up for the tour, to find it had been cancelled.  Apparently there was a storm brewing in Thunder Bay, and they wouldn't risk going out.  I was glad that they obviously take safety very seriously here. We opted to reschedule for tomorrow for the 10am tour, as they said the early tours are more likely to go, before the weather starts to play up.

This description is on the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary website and describes this area much better than I ever could.
"Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Located in northwestern Lake Huron, Thunder Bay is adjacent to one of the most treacherous stretches of water within the Great Lakes system. Unpredictable weather, murky fog banks, sudden gales, and rocky shoals earned the area the name "Shipwreck Alley." Today, the 4300-square-mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects one of America's best-preserved and nationally-significant collections of shipwrecks. Fire, ice, collisions, and storms have claimed over 200 vessels in and around Thunder Bay. To date, nearly 100 shipwrecks have been discovered within the sanctuary. Although the sheer number of shipwrecks is impressive, it is the range of vessel types located in the sanctuary that makes the collection nationally significant. From an 1844 sidewheel steamer to a modern 500-foot-long German freighter, the shipwrecks of Thunder Bay represent a microcosm of maritime commerce and travel on the Great Lakes."

We looked around outside at where we would have boarded the boat.

I think this is another Herring Gull

A Black Cormorant, maybe

There's our boat!!  The guys spoke to us and apologized for not going out, but the weather was not looking good.  They told us that storms can appear from nowhere in Thunder Bay and they always respected her.  The shipwrecks are there for a reason. 

They said the weather looked good for tomorrow, and they seemed optimistic that they would go out.  

Back inside, we looked around the free museum.

They have a model ship setup and they use it to show a scenario of a storm and shipwreck.  Here's a VIDEO  I took of this shipwreck exhibit.

The sound effects and lighting really made you feel as though you were on a boat in a storm.

There were several artifacts from the shipwrecks.  Here's a couple of them.

Steamer Pewabic

The workshop where they are working on some artifacts.

It was an interesting tour and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is doing an amazing  job here to preserve the sanctuary.  Bryan helped a college student who is an intern here by answering a survey for her.  

We really didn't have anything else planned for today as we expected to be a couple of hours on the boat tour but I knew there was lighthouse close by so we decided to go and look for it.

We found Alpena Harbor Lighthouse from a distance.

On the opposite side of the channel was a channel light.

We decided to go across to the other side of the channel, that you can see in the picture above, to see if we could get any better pictures.

Here's the view from the other side.

You can see both lights on either side of the channel through the wire

As we were walking back to our car, a gentlemen asked us if we were visiting.  I think we obviously looked like tourists with our cameras, ha!!ha!!  He asked if we'd been to the Sanctuary and we told him about the tour being cancelled.  He wasn't surprised, as he confirmed that the weather changes rapidly in Thunder Bay.  We had quite a conversation with him about various subjects.  Daryl Wright was a fascinating guy.  Have a look at his website, The Wright View, which shows some of his dives.  He seems to do this for fun, and uses volunteers to help him along the way.  He showed us newspaper cuttings of him finding a wedding band that someone lost while swimming in the Elk River by using his equipment, and rescuing a diver in the Straits of Mackinac.

Back home, we got fed up with people peering through the windscreen and finally put up our net valances that we bought in Oregon in 2016.  We usually put shades up on the windscreen which helps with heat, and stops people seeing in, but we haven't bothered here as it is quite cool.

We have to get up early tomorrow to try and go on the shipwreck tour again. Ta Ta for now (TTFN)