Joseph Reynolds

Copper Harbor Trip

July 7-9, 2006

by Joseph Reynolds

We were going to SCUBA dive on the wreck of the Coast Guard Cutter Mesquite, near Copper Harbor, Michigan. Rich Good and I were going, veterans of several dives on this wreck. We were joined by Jamie Stelzer, who had been on this trip once before, and Sam Salatel and Rob Dunnette, both new to this wreck, but experienced in cold, deep diving. The forecast for Saturday and Sunday was for partly cloudy, chance of rain, so it looked lik decent weather.

As usual, we took Rich's Rendova. This 18 foot boat has a rigid hull with a giant V-shaped cushion that wraps around the front and sides of the boat. The bumper does not so much provide flotation as dissipate the waves. We also took Rob's Jeep, as 5 men in a truck would be a bit cramped.

THE TRIP

We left Rochester Minnesota 9am on Friday morning, got in to Copper Harbor Michigan at 7pm. Our accommodations were a nice cabin in the center of town. We had dinner at the pizza place and were asleep by 11pm. We woke up around 6am, had breakfast at the Pines motel, and drove to Lac LaBelle. We launched the boat and were under way by 10am. We saw a pair of Sand Hill Cranes in the channel between Lac LaBelle and Lake Superior.

When you are on a small boat, one of the things you notice is the size of the waves. Our backs were to the wind, and the waves were building. All of a sudden, the bumper slips forward, and waves start coming in between the hull and the bumper. It splashes me and Rich pretty good, so we pull up our drysuits around us. Since the bumper only slipped a bit, we were not as concerned as we could have been. The caulking (between the boat and its bumper) slips out of place... several times. We replace it.

As we get closer to the Mesquite, we see two other boats at the wreck. They are bigger than us, and they are moving fast toward Lac LaBelle. When our GPS unit finally says we arrived, we search for the mooring buoy... for about 3 seconds. Instead we see 4 foot waves, and Rich turns the boat around and heads back toward Lac LaBelle. Soon after, he announces that we won't have anough fuel to make it back. So we turn and run for Copper Harbor, the wind at our backs once again. Once we turn the corner at Copper Harbor Point, the wind is blocked, and we can run at full speed.

THE REPAIR

Finally we reach the the Copper Harbor Marina at noonish. Rich and Rob, still in drysuits, hike back to the motel. They hitch a ride back to Lac LaBelle to retrieve their vehicles. Jamie, Sam, and I hang out by the boat and drink beers, me in my drysuit underwear, and the other two in their drysuits. We wander into the shoppe when it begins to rain. The shopkeeper lady asks me if that's my riding gear. (There was a motorcycle convention in town that weekend.) I tell her about SCUBA diving.

Finally, Rich and Rob return, we pull the boat out, and set out to fix it. Before continuing with the story, let me tell you how the bumper is attached to the boat. Looking at the right rear section of the boat, you will see a circular cushion, about 18 inches in diameter, that fits snugly against the hull of the boat. In the center of this circular area of the hull is a channel whose cross section is C-shaped. This C-bracket is bolted into the hull and made waterproof. The cushion has a little flap that glides into the C-bracket and holds it snug up against the hull. So the only thing keeping the cushion from sliding forward is friction, and some little pins Rich put on after this happened last time.

We pull off the cushion to survey for damage, but it gets jammed after about a foot. We can't pull it either on or off. Yep, it's jammed up pretty good. So we deflate the cushion some more and can see that it pulled partially out of the C-bracket and got jammed in a bolt hole on the slot. So after a bit of fuss, and some due care, we cut the C-bracket, enlarging the slot, and the cushion goes back into the C-bracket and slides freely again.

So now all we have to do is push (pull?) the cushion back onto the boat. But it is still jammed on something. So we deflate it some more, and find out it has completely escaped one of the C-brackets on the other side. But the cushion is not jammed on that bracket. What then? There are restraining bolts on the rear of the cushion, to prevent the flap from getting pulled through the C-brackets. Those got pulled through the C-brackets. On both sides.

So we very carefully destroy more of the C-brackets to get these bolts out. On one side we cut away some of the flap from the cushion, leaving even less material that attaches the cushion to the C-bracket, but we are finally able to free the cushion. We repair the mis-aligned C-bracket, carefully guide the cushion through the C-bracket, and re-inflate the cushion. Then, for good measure, we lash the cushion to the hull on the side where we had to cut out 2 feet of material. So the boat looks like it is back to normal.

THE DIVE

We go diving on the Wasaga, a debris field in Copper Harbor itself. We moor to the bouy and splash in, Sam, Rich, and Jamie first; then me and Rob. The bottom was 18-25 feet. Almost at once we see the grid pattern of the hull, then long metal grids with spikes, like a combine off a tractor. Swimming around, we see metal tractor seats, coils of barbed wire, and piles of railroad spikes. A bit further we see some smashed up clay pipes, about 14 inches in diameter and four feet long, with one end flared out like they were sewer pipes, and a boiler peeking out of the mucky bottom.

There was this enormous stack of bricks with M.W. CO stamped on them. There must thave been thousands, piled up 10 feet across and 5 feet high. Until I got to the back side and saw the bricks were heaped up against a large rock outcrop. We saw a school of trout using the wreck for safety. There was a 12 inch trout with dozens of smaller ones. The coolest thing was a black snake about 2 feet long, 1/16 inch wide, swimming in serpentine fashion above the bottom. I swam along side it, and it went slack, then it started swimming again. Its head was so tiny that I could barely see it.

SATURDAY EVENING

Then we pulled the boat out again, got air fills, and were back at our cabin by 7pm, showered by 8, and off to the Harbor Haus restaurant. We found a gas station and filled up the boat: $80 for 25 gallons. Rich parked his rig on the street by the resturant and we got seated right away. We talked to the waitress we had two years ago, and she showed us her tattoos again. She said this was her 11th year there, and she would probably be moving on.

When we came out, Rich had a note on his windshield that read, in part: "This piece of CPAP is blocking my driveway." We checked again, but no driveway was being blocked. And we had a good laugh at the apparent mis-spelling by an apparently angry person. We got some more beers from our C-pap truck, hung out on the porch, smoked cigars, and passed the time talking C-pap. We were asleep by 11pm.

THE NEXT DAY

The next day we were up at 5am and waited for the restaurant to open. Rich ran out of cash, so he had to wash dishes or borrow money. The forecast was for more of the same weather. Undeterred, we leave for Lac Labelle, but see whitecaps in the lake. (Whitecaps mean the wind is 15 miles per hour, and so the waves are building up.) Now we are deterred. We head back to Copper Harbor and check out of our motel room in the rain. We then figure the weather may be better out west, so we head for Bayfield and Duluth.

Not too far out, Jamie pulls over to the side of the road. We figure he has to pee, so we get out and pee too. Rich pops the hold and finds the serpentine belt is shredded. This belt is kinda important as it drives the alternator, many of the pumps... things that make the engine go. We decide to stop in at a NAPA parts store in Ironwood. They don't have the part but can recommend a mechanic. Rob and Rich head out in the Jeep to see if this mechanic can help us. Jamie, Sam, and I stay with the boat and drink beers.

There is a real state office on the other side of the parking lot. A man comes out, goes to the shed, and pulls out some "open house" signs. He sees us up on the boat and asks if we need help. So we tell him the serpentine belt is shredded ansd that Rich and Rob went to the mechanic (we point) "that way" to see if he could help. "So if the problem with the boat or with the truck?" "The truck. The serpentine belt is shredded." He says he knows an auto mechanic, but he's over that way (pointing), not there. Anyway, so he calls his mechanic friend, just as Rich and Rob are talking to him. "So, what's the problem with the truck?" Turns out that Greg would have helped us, but did not have the belt.

We figure 3/4 of a belt was better than none, and pressed on through Ashland to the Apostle Islands Visitor Center. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse there and saw whitecaps in the bay and a sailboat making very good time.

THE NORTH SHORE

We finally reached Duluth and the harbor was very nice and smooth. However, we stopped at Goosebury Falls State Park when we saw whitecaps again. The forecast was for more wind. We can see thunderstorm clouds up north. Rob flipped a coin: tails -- head back to Rochester. Rich entertained one last though of a boat ride in Duluth harbor. There were whitecaps there too. It was not to be.