Denniese and Mike Standing in front of the Mackinaw.
The Mackinaw was a US Coast Guard Ice Breaker that served from 1944 to just 5 years ago. Her job was to keep the great lakes open. During WW2 she opened the Straits of Mackinaw so that iron ore could be delivered to the foundries and the war effort could be maintained. She is now retired and sits at Mackinaw City Marina. We enjoyed our tour. She has three props - two stern and one bow. The bow prop was the reason for her success. It would drive the boat over the ice and crush it. The engines are the same as diesel train engines. It has three of these with electric motors that drive the props. We can see her from our slip at our marina at Straits State Harbor, which is a new and very nice facility next to Mackinaw City. The weather has cleared and we moved to this marina because it is close to the Mackinaw Bridge which we have to go under to continue our trip South. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron come together underneath the Mackinaw Bridge. We are hopfully going to depart Monday morning and be in Lake Michigan by noon. We met up with three loopers that passed us a couple of weeks ago in the Georgian Bay. One couple is from Decatur, Alabama and speaks and understands Southern talk. Good to hear it again..
No comments:
Post a Comment