Lake Superior – Page 20 – M. Sullivan Photography

April 13, 2013April 14, 2013 M. Sullivan Photography Lake Superior, Landscapes, Photos, Ships, Weather

The Never-Ending Winter

We can’t seem to shake the snow and cold despite the calendar telling us that it has been spring for more than three weeks. Our last storm dropped nearly 14″ of snow. It began on Thursday and continued overnight and into Friday. Wind gusts were over 50 mph. I stopped by Canal Park to check out the waves on my way to work. My photos don’t nearly capture the height of the waves, the strength of the wind or the spray of the water that traveled all the way to my parked car. I didn’t stay long as I needed to go into work and remain somewhat presentable.

We dug ourselves out on Friday afternoon. The snowdrift that was once our driveway was nearly 30″ deep. Mike’s old snowblower struggled, but made it through the heavy snow. We also had a huge snowdrift that ended up hanging over the roof of our house.

Mike played a little snowball golf in the driveway. It’s going to be a long time before the golf courses open.

The heavy winds caused ice to blow in towards the harbor blocking the way for many ships. We spotted nine out on the lake at one time, along with a coast guard cutter clearing the way for them.

The forecast is for another 4-8 inches of snow tomorrow and the possibility of another storm in the middle of the week. I can’t wait. 😦

March 20, 2013 M. Sullivan Photography Lake Superior, Photos, Ships

Mesabi Miner

I’m not overly knowledgeable about shipping on the Great Lakes, but it was pretty cool to watch the first departure of the season by the Mesabi Miner today. I saw her out in the harbor when I came to work this morning with a small tugboat alongside her. There is stil a good amount of ice in the harbor and the tug was there to assist as needed. The Mesabi Miner departed Duluth headed for Marquette, Michigan to drop off a cargo of coal. She will return back to Duluth on Saturday to load iron ore pellets. She will be the first arrival of the season in Marquette and will become the first arrival in Duluth on Saturday when she returns for cargo. The shipping details above are from duluthshippingnews.com

March 15, 2013March 15, 2013 M. Sullivan Photography Lake Superior, Photos, Weather

Ice Breaker

Living in a port city, we see many large ships coming in from or leaving to the eastern Great Lakes or sometimes the Atlantic Ocean. There comes a time in January when the shipping season closes for the season. Too much ice on the Great Lakes prohibits the safe passage of vessels. Now that it is March, the shipping season is about to reopen. The Coast Guard Cutter Alder was out on Wednesday cutting through the ice in preparation of the upcoming shipping season.

From the Coast Guard’s website:

ALDER is a 225′ multi-mission buoy tender located in Duluth, Minnesota. ALDER’s primary missions are aids to navigation (AtoN), ice breaking, law enforcement (LE), and search and rescue (SAR). ALDER operates in CG District 9, which covers all of the Great Lakes.

After several weeks without any traffic in the harbor, it was fun to see the Alder breaking through the thick ice.

I spotted another vessel yesterday when I left work – the tugboat Nels J.

In 2009, the Nels J. was purchased by Mike Ojard, the owner, along with his two sons, Pat and Vince, of Heritage Marine of Knife River. They brought her to Duluth in October, of that year. Built as the Ares in 1958, she is a 103-foot, 1,950-horsepower boat with a 16-cylinder diesel engine that once supplied oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Less than two weeks ago, Lake Superior was covered in ice near Duluth. You can see the photos here. Now the ice has broken up leaving behind open water.