Today we explored the little town of Grand Marais. We first went to the beach along the shore of Lake Superior to walk bare foot in the sand. We wore jeans, sweatshirts and jackets as the the lake was not calm today. A northeasterly wind was producing a steady chop of 2-3 ft. We walked to the breakwater and the USCG station. To the east of the breakwater the lake had a washing machine look - a twist and turn and chop without rhythm pushing waves into the channel. On the west side of the breakwater, waves were smooth and even at 2-3 ft and a three second interval. Although bearable, the ride would have been very bouncy at low speeds.

We were told Lake Superior’s volume of water is so large that it could contain the water volume of the four other Great Lakes! We were also told that 20-30 ft waves commonly break on the breakwater in November. This is an ocean!! i thought I could make out a shoreline in the northeast horizon but instead it was a cloud bank! Canada is 162 miles north from here.

From the breakwater we walked back into town and checked out some shops before having lunch at a food truck.

The day began to warm from the upper 40’s to the mid 60’s!! We changed from jeans into shorts but left on the sweatshirts! And this is July!! Tonight I’ve turn the heat on in the boat!

Tomorrow we head west toward Pictured Rocks National Seashore and Munising. Sea conditions are to be calmer and weather clear and cool. Hard to imagine it’s in the mid 90’s at home.

This water and country is beautiful, unlike anything I’ve seen before.