Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Yesterday we were visited by a woman named Brenda who is a Harbor Host for AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruisers Association).  She saw our AGLCA flag and came around to see if we needed anything, like to go to the grocery store or something similar.  This is the first Harbor Host we have met this year.  We didn't need anything, but it was really nice of her to ask.

We got a really early start this morning, leaving the harbor at 5:45 A.M.  We were planning on making it to Joliet, Illinois.  We cruised the Calumet River and the Chicago Sanitary Canal.  Both of these are very narrow with lots of barges and barge staging and slips around.  There are also a whole lot of bridges to go under.  The lowest fixed bridge along the entire Loop is here at 19 feet 1 inch.  When we got to this bridge, I climbed up on the roof and took the light down and stood up there to make sure we weren't going to hit.  We made it under with about 5 or 6 inches to spare.  We would have cleared without taking down the light, but only by one inch.Whew!

The next interesting thing we came to, was the electric fish fence.  We had to wait before scooting through this section for a few minutes because they were counting fish.  We turned our electronics off as we passed through here even though the Coast Guard man told us we didn't have to turn them off.  We thought:  better safe than sorry.

Then we made it to Lockport Lock.  The Lockmaster had us tie up to the wall because they had an electrical problem they were working on.  He told us that he didn't know how long it would take. Well, we arrived there at 12:30 and the lock wasn't ready for us until 6:45.  We asked the Lockmaster if we could just stay on the wall all night and lock through tomorrow morning.  He gave us permission to stay here.  So, we didn't make our intended destination today, but we are only one lock and three miles away from Joliet.

Sunrise this morning.

Pretty

Electric Fish Barrier Signs