We had an easy morning and got underway to catch the opening of the Canadian lock at Sault Ste Marie, which opens at 11 am this time of year. It’s primarily used for smaller vessels like ours, while the locks on the US side transit the large vessels. As we got closer to the locks, the current really picked up, adding about 2 knots to our speed. We could see the current when looking at the buoys on our approach — they had a noticeable wake from the water streaming past them.
The staff at the lock were very friendly and helpful. The procedure is simple. The lock has cables that run down the side. We looped lines from our boat around the cables to keep the boat in place as the water level went down. Once the water was done dropping, they opened the lock, we removed our lines and went on our way. The entire process took just a few minutes, but we loved it!
After the locks we entered the St. Mary’s River. It’s a long, winding path from the locks to Lake Huron. Along the way there was an interesting mix of nautical, commercial and residential buildings and equipment. Very hard to do it justice with just a few pictures.
Tonight, we are spending the night in a marina at Detour Village. The marina is mostly empty right now and the small town is pleasantly sleepy.
