Saturday morning: We arrived at the boat docks at 9:30 for our 10:00 "cruise" through the famous Soo Locks. It was truly a beautiful morning--a little breezy--but that was to be expected around the water.
Once again on the internet, this tour boasted a trip back and forth through the locks but more importantly (TO ME) was this: "See the SCENIC shoreline of the St. Mary's River, cruise under the International Bridge to Canada . . .", etc. I was naturally picturing cute little coves and cottages, wildlife, BOATS, ships, etc. Sigh. I'll post the pictures I took--mainly of the locks, and just a few pictures on the Canadian side of the St. Mary's River where there were a few "scenic" things to see. Other than this there were just coal factories, smoke stacks, piles of black dirt, etc.
The first picture is of OUR tour boat; the next four photos are of a cruise ship/luxury liner "Le Dumont D'urville" at its dock, getting ready to load for a cruise ...
The cruise ship is 430' with a capacity for 184 passengers (112 crew) and costs practically an arm and a leg to book (I'm talking upwards of $6,700 for a 10-day adventure). I just looked up that information ...
It was actually built in Romania and parts of it were made in Norway; but it's flag is from France. It's maidan voyage was in 2019.
Our little tour boat got started at exactly 10:00. We went to the upper deck to enjoy the "scenic" St. Mary's River. Below is some of the great scenery I got to photograph ... trust me, this is NOT card-making landscape!
Not to be sarcastic or anything, but this 90 minute tour felt like NINE hours worth. It was interesting to go through the locks, though--I will say that! Here they are ...
It's very cool how they release the water inside the "lock" until it levels out with the outgoing side--smooth as can be.
On the lock right next to ours, we could see glimpses of a 1,000 foot vessel, which I really REALLY wanted to see close up, but never did. Coming toward us was a pretty ocean liner. I always liked ocean liners best when I was a kid--we used to boat out in the Detroit River, anchor outside the channel and watch the big ships go by. Ruthanne and I would always wave and smile at the sailors (such a thrill). !!
This is the International Bridge that goes to Canada. We didn't go to Canada because not all of us have a Passport license to get back into the country. We felt it best not to get stuck in Canada. !!
There was a very lengthy narration about the industry all along the river and many details about the production of coal and steel, etc., but none of that is actually terribly interesting to me.
We returned by way of the smaller Canadian "lock" and it was prettier on this side.
Some super old historic quaint-looking buildings ...
This Edison factory (with the brick lighthouses--I circled one of them) was over 100 years old and still operating.
I would give the "trip coordinator" (me) about a C- on this one ... sigh. We had ruled out going to Tahquamenon Falls because of all of the walking it would necessitate--there are some of us who struggle with painful knees and distance walking is super difficult--so I opted for "The Soo" instead. Next time, we think we'll do a bit more research ...
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