Ep.5 Sailing to the Soo Locks

We sail from St. Ignace through the De Tour Passage and up the St. Maries River to Sault Ste. Marie as we prepare to go through the Soo Locks to get to Lake Superior! Along the way, we get swarmed by mayflies and have a rough docking experience coming into the Sault Ste Marie Marina.
We're Ryan & Erika! Great Lakes cruisers from our home port of Muskegon, MI. We moved aboard our 39 ft Ericson Sailboat and left the dock at the beginning of July 2023, and are documenting our adventures here. We'll sail through the Great Lakes in the summer, then unstepping our mast and going out the Erie Canal to the East Coast. We're just starting this TH-cam thing for fun, so we hope you enjoy the video, and subscribe to watch our adventure unfold. Leave a comment to say hi :-)

[@sonofneptunesailing917]

WOW! I have never seen flies like that!

[@gerbersunderway3614]

It was partially our fault... we left a light on in the cockpit because our anchor light wasn't working... it attracted every mayfly in the bay!

[@steveq91]

All my landings on the dock are "Captain Ron" level, unless someone is looking....
Good thing you had the Vac for the mayflies... 😅

[@gerbersunderway3614]

Ha! Yeah perfect docking here unless there's an audience :) We were told once, that at a marina you're either the show, or watching the show. We were definitely the show that day

[@symonsmith3497]

I have noticed that you don't like sailing, you seem to motor everywhere ?

[@DaveNoyesrealestate]

Thats sailing in the Great Lakes. There’s not always enough wind that goes in the right direction… especially if you’re headed up a river.

[@gerbersunderway3614]

As Dave mentioned, the wind in the Great Lakes is quite fickle. We were able to sail the whole way from St. Ignace to Drummond Island, but once we started North up the St. Mary's River we had to motor the whole way. Generally, we will sail if we can make 3 knots in the right direction, but that's not always the case.