Gott Soaker!

Next up is the Edwin H. Gott which is one of 13 thousand footers that sail on the Great Lakes.  It is also one of three thousand footers that are owned by the Great Lakes Fleet.  She is very similar to her fleet mate the Speer except that she has the self unloading boom instead of the shuttle system.

 At anyrate, she looks pretty nice in the calm of the morning water.  She looks even nicer when you can get a little nature in the picture.

 The water was still relatively calm, so I got some fairly nice reflections.

 A shot as she passed by.

 As I said in some my previous posts, the water levels are higher than I'm used to.  One of the cool things about Four Mile Beach is that you can see the rise and fall of the water from the displacement of the ship.  Normally that is not much of an issue but this time, it got me soaked.  It got my camera bag but I was able to grab it before too much happened.  I guess one bonus is that I found out my camera bag is somewhat water resistant.  No harm no foul though.

 And the Gott as she passes by.

 Next, I headed over to Mission Point to catch pictures of her there.

 It's amazing how close the ships pass there.  You can almost reach out and touch them.

 It definitely gives you a feeling of awe as one of these beasts pass.

 And she passes by very calmly.

 I also headed over to Sherman Park on the other side of the Locks to catch her as she left the Soo.  The ships aren't as close here, but the setting is nice.

 And she continues on her merry way.

 As I was heading out towards the lighthouse, my mom pointed out a sign that said "scenic turnout".  I never went there before, so I decided to check it out.  I will have to say the view was pretty impressive from up there.

 I was surprised to learn that I could watch boats from there as well.

 I'll have to check this place out come fall.  I imagine it would look pretty impressive.

 There isn't much that makes a thousand footer look small, but this is one of them.

And the Gott continues out to Whitefish Bay.  I'm not sure if she was heading to Duluth or Two Harbors but at either place, she would be picking up taconite for one of the steel mills.