1/28/10 A TRIP THROUGH THE GIANT ICE CUBES

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?
CAPTAIN MARCY AT THE WHEEL
WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE!
PACK ICE
DOCKING CAN BE TRICKY
LOTS OF CUSTOMERS ON THE ISLAND
LOAD 'EM UP!
THE LITTLE NICHEVO RIDES OUR COATTAILS

Thursday, 8:30 AM. –4 degrees, wind NW, light with stronger gusts and blowing snow. It has been snowing lightly and the sky is overcast but the barometer predicts clearing skies.
Yesterday morning I hitched a ferry ride with neighbor and captain Sherman to see how the channel was freezing up. We left Bayfield at 9:15 with only myself, Sherman, co-captain Marcy and three other passengers. A packet of medicine was being specially carried and I remarked it was sort of like the Iditerod on water. The ferry track across the ice was obvious at first but it froze over fast, and the ship was obviously breaking ice, which looked like giant broken panes of plate glass, but the Madeline Island is a powerful boat and it went through with relative ease. The wheelhouse was a little cramped with three people in it but nice and warm, which was welcome at –3 degrees and windy outside. Being a ferryboat captain requires much outside work loading and unloading vehicles and one has to be dressed for it and be an outdoors person to boot. Maneuvering the big boat takes lots of training and obtaining a captain’s license is not easy. If you can drive one of these things you will never have trouble parallel parking your pickup truck. Docking can be especially tricky. In the wheelhouse, which is reached by a steep slippery stairway, there is the large ship’s wheel, a host of engine gages, a radar, a GPS and a compass, all good tools but the actual piloting is pretty visual, especially through the ice channel. It was bitterly cold and blustery at the La Pointe dock, and a full line of cars and trucks was waiting and were quickly loaded up, and we were soon heading back, crunching through the solidifying ice. The Nichevo, the littlest ferry boat (that sounds like a good title for a children's book), followed in our wake with a truck and trailer that couldn’t be accommodated on the Madeline Island's deck. It does not have engines powerful enough to plow through the freezing channel and had to stay pretty close behind us. We were back at Port Bayfield before 10:30, for a round trip of a little more than an hour including loading and unloading. It is about a 6 mile round trip.
The ferry is scheduled to run through Sunday. The Madeline can break six inches of ice, but when that depth is reached the wind sleds take over until the ice is twelve inches thick, at which time the ice road is opened. Thanks, Sherm and Marcy, for an interesting and fun ride through the giant ice cubes!