State of Michigan

On the 4th of July the ship State of Michigan Entered Duluth Harbor and docked. It is a training ship. It is a training and laboratory ship operated by The Great Lakes Maritime Academy located in Traverse City, Michigan.

 

Chasing the Mackinaw

The morning following the arrival of the icebreakers in Duluth I walked down to the harbor to take a few photos of the Mackinaw. It was tied up at the docks next to the convention center. I took a few photos but there didn’t seem to be much activity so I started walking back to the condo. I happen to hear the Mackinaw blow it horn so I walked back down to the harbor.

 

Sure enough it was already out in the harbor and it looked like it was heading to Wisconsin Point. I hightailed it back to the condo to get the car and started driving down toward Wisconsin Point.

At a stop sign I checked on Marine Tracker and discovered that the Mackinaw was already headed back toward Duluth. It was really moving it out. I pulled into Barkers Island Just in time to get some photos of it breaking ice in Superior Bay on it’s way back to Duluth. I Followed it on Marine Tracker for a while and decided that it was done for the day.

 

Ice Breaker Neah Bay Duluth Minnesota

On a recent trip to Duluth we noticed that the Neah Bay was in the harbor so we walked down to take a look at it. I don’t believe I have photographed this ship before.

 

Touring the Twin Ports Disasters

Last Thursday we decided to take a walk around Downtown Duluth, Minnesota. It had been a while since our last visit and we wanted to see what was going on. Our first stop was to check out the Superior Street Construction. Duluth has decided it was time to replace Superior Street and update the utilities under the street. This is phase one of a three year project. Unfortunately in redesigning Superior Street the Duluth City Council had it’s head buried in the sand. Rather than rebuilding the street for the future they decided to build for the past. After all parking was the top priority of the businesses along the street even though there was plenty of unused parking in adjacent ramps. Having traveled extensively I was aware that the future of downtown’s is in walking streets and both in this country and Europe are many good examples of walking streets. Reykjavik, Iceland turns their main streets into walking streets during the summer months. Well Duluth is not know to be a forward looking community.

 

We then attempted to walk down to the harbor area through the sky walk. Unfortunately access to the harbor was blocked off. A severe spring storm damaged the waterfront a few weeks ago. There were already problems along the harbor as the seawall had been undercut and the land was falling into the harbor. The storm made matters worse. This happens to be the area where the Tall Ships dock when they come to Duluth. Probably no Tall Ships until the area is repaired. There were workmen in the area attempting to assess the damage.

While we were checking out the damage we noticed some unusual smoke coming from the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. We figured there had been a minor accident and didn’t pay much attention.

 

We then had to take a circuitous route to The William A. Irvin because the harbor area is blocked off. This is an old ore ship that has been turned into a museum and offers tours during the summer. This area was already under repair because pier had been undercut by wave action. The $6.1 million Minnesota Slip seawall reconstruction project just resumed after a lengthy delay. Unfortunately the project failed to get the proper signatures and was closed down for six weeks. The plan is to drive new steel pilings then pour a new seawall. The delay has caused problems for the Vista Fleet tour boats one of which docks in back of the Irvin. If that wern’t enough the slip is contaminated and remediation is scheduled to take place this fall.

In addition the Blue Slip Bridge was undergoing painting and it was also closed.

This section of the seawall was breached in the April storm. Waves were above the seawall and sand still has not been removed. The waves were so high they touched the bottom of the Aerial Lift Bridge.

Canal Park remains a disaster zone. A sever October storm severely damaged the lakewalk. The April storm did even more damage. The pilot house used for the bike rentals is closed and will likely not open this summer and perhaps it will never reopen. Because of the damage to the lakewalk the city decided the rental bikes take up too much space in the remaining walk area. The bike path will have to be used for walkers and bikes because the boardwalk was destroyed in the October storm and experienced even more damage in the April storm. Current estimates are that it will take two years to repair the damage.

The city has not been able to assess the damage from the most recent storm because the boardwalk and surrounding area is still covered in ice from the latest storm.

After lunch we decided to take a walk over to Park Point to assess the damage to the beach area. As we started our walk we could see huge plums of smoke coming from the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior. We decided that we had to drive over that way to get some meat at Superior Meats so we should check out what was going on at the same time. As it turns out there was a minor explosion which is what we saw in the morning but around noon there was a major explosion and fire. Fortunately no one was killed and only one person was seriously injured. Most of the workers were having lunch in blast shelters at the time of the explosion.

This shot is from the Blatnick Bridge.

A second shot from Superior.

A shot taken near the Superior Airport which is near the refinery. As were driving toward Superior Meats my wife complained about all of the traffic. She though there might be an evacuation of the area. I thought she was nuts it was just a busy time of day. When we reached Superior Meats the door was locked but there was no notice on the door. About that time my wife received a mandatory evacuation order on her phone. The all of the employees came running out of the store. We decided that maybe we shouldn’t be driving around through a toxic cloud.

Later in the day we drove up to Enger Park to check out the fire in Superior. It was getting late in the day and the fire was still spewing a toxic cloud of smoke. There were a number of people watching the fire. Apparently some of them had been evacuated from Superior because the kids wanted to know when they could go back home.

After that excitement we drove down to Park Point. We love to walk the Park Point beach but between the eroded shoreline on one side and the high ice wall on the other there wasn’t much to see so it was a short visit. It doesn’t appear that this storm cause much more damage along the shoreline. The October storm caused considerable damage. That along with the the high lake levels in Lake Superior had caused flooding in the basements of many Park Point homes. They have been running sump pumps to keep water out of their basements.

What started out as a nice walk through Duluth turned in to a disaster tour of the Twin Ports.

Another Duluth Shipping Twofer

The following day we managed to catch another Duluth Shipping Twofer. The American Integrity was coming into Duluth Harbor and the Paul R. Tregurtha  was on its way out into Lake Superior.

The American Integrity had a good deal of ice on its bow.

The Paul R. Tregurtha was listing to one side as it made its turn to line up with the Ship Canal. Several years ago it lost steering and grounded itself at Bayfront Park.

Duluth Shipping Twofer

When someone goes down to Canal Park to watch a ship come in and two ships come in and/or go out it is called a twofer. On this particular day the Michipicoten was coming in.

The Walter J. McCarthy, Jr. was on its way out of the harbor.

Afternoon Arrival of the Paul R. Tregurtha

We walked down to the Duluth Ship Canal to watch the Paul R. Tregurtha sail under the Aerial Lift Bridge. Our first stop was to photograph the South Breakwater Inner Light with the interesting clouds behind it.

We then walked over to the DECC to watch the Tregurtha arrive and sail into the harbor.

An Evening of Ship Watching in Duluth

My wife and I frequently walk down to Canal Park in Duluth, Minnesota to watch the ships arrive. On this night we were able to catch two ships as they arrived about an hour apart. The first to arrive was the Baie Comeau flying the Canadian Flag.

Between ships we walked out to the North Breakwater Light. There have been a large number of Double-breasted Cormorants hanging around the harbor this year.

There was some nice light and clouds behind the North Breakwater Light.

We watched the Herbert C. Jackson approach the ship canal.

Throughout the evening there were some interesting lake/sky photos.

 

Duluth Minnesota 4th of July Fireworks

This year we were in Duluth, Minnesota to view the fireworks. There are many locations to watch them and this year we chose to view them from the North Breakwater.

Sunrise Arrival of the Indiana Harbor

The Indiana Harbor arrived in Duluth while I was photographing the Sunrise.