Isle Royal cruise, July 8-19.

[Godspeed]

Good afternoon Tugnuts🙂

My wife and I are going to be cruising the shores of Isle Royal on Lk Superior in a couple of weeks. We will trailer or C30S to Grand Portage MN and spend a little over a week cruising the shoreline and a hiking the trails. Being a Nat Park there will be limited services available on the island (Covid 19) . That all said we were wondering if others had cruised the island and if you had any suggestions.

Thanks

Godspeed

 

[Kipsahoy]

We are planning a trip to isle royal july 4-17, not much advice from us till after . Maybe cross paths
We have a 2008 R-25
You’ll need permits

 

[Heronboy]

I have some experience there.

First, a few words of caution. The water is extremely cold. I’ve seen 41 degrees in the water at the shore when the air was almost 90 in August. It was colder still offshore or a few feet down. Bring a wetsuit in case you have to go in. Also, that 40 degree water cools the air making air temps much above 70 uncommon on the lake. Make sure the heater on the boat works.

Morning fog is common and other boats, while rare, vary in size from 10’ to 1000’. Make sure your radar works. And your radios too. There is no cell service or Seatow or boatUS. It’s just the Coast Guard and your fellow boaters and neither are common.

The island and North Shore are the tops of old basalt mountains. This rock combined with the cold means no plant life underwater. As a result the water is beautifully clear. All the better to see the rocks. Which are harder than steel. So if you touch one with your prop, it’s gonna fold like a petal. Update your charts and realize the mountain tops continue underwater to the southwest and northeast. Rounding islands, shoals and points these are your danger areas, give them a wide berth.
Otherwise that wetsuit (and a spare prop) could come in handy.

With no NPS, the fuel docks are down so keep that and the roughly 150 mile round trip from Grand Portage and back in mind with regards to fuel range.

As far as sights, you can see the wreck of the America in 2 to 80 feet of water within Washington Harbor. If you drop anchor you could see moose almost anywhere along the shore so bring binoculars. The stars there at night can be amazing as can the Northern Lights. There is a research station with a dock at Davidson Island off the east coast of Isle Royale. Usually a couple scientists or grad students there. May not be all that interested in visitors due to Covid, but they could be lonely. Also, other wrecks are scattered around the island, some close enough to the surface to see. Check any of several websites. Make sure to bring a sweatshirt and enjoy the trip!

 

[CaspersCruiser]

I will sometime make a trip up that way. Your post is full of good information, but one thing is missing— what about the bugs? I’ve made a couple canoe trips in the Boundary Waters and have been up close and personal with the state bird of Minnesota, the mosquito. Are they as prevalent in the Isle Royale environs as in the Boundary Waters?

 

[Heronboy]

Much like the BWCA, it is temp dependent. Cool enough to need a jacket and pants and the bugs are minimal. Nice enough for shorts? Time for the DEET. The island has the advantage of frequent wind so on the water or the shoreline the breeze will keep bugs at bay through much of the day.

 

[Godspeed]

Thanks for the great info. We will be boating mostly on the S shore for our 9 days starting July 8. One of our companions has circumnavigated the island a couple of times by Kayak so he will be a big help. As for respecting Lk Superior, we are well aware. We have boated in the Apostle Islands for years and know how cold the waters can be.

The park being closed is a double edged sword. No humans to speak of for 10 months will make the wildlife viewing the best in decades. However, we know we will be alone for the most part. Our C30 has a 180 gal fuel tank, if we keep the cruising around 8 knots we have over 300 miles of range. We are also carrying an extra 10 gal of diesel as an ins policy.

As for the spare prop idea I’m not sure how much luck anyone would have pulling one while in the water but I will look into sourcing a spare.

I did add a motor mount to our swim platform to mount our dingy motor on as a hedge if we lost main propulsion in protected waters to allow us to get to a dock.

We also purchased a Garmin sat communicator as a hedge in case of emergency we can text or email at any time from anywhere in the world. Also has marine weather as a service.

Again thanks for the advice. It should be an adventure, but that’s why we went to a trailerable boat🙂