Wild ride to Isle Royale!

Heading to Isle Royale on the Isle Royale Queen IV in Lake Superior. It was a rough ride! It usually takes 3 hours to get to the island, this time it took 4 1/2 hours because the conditions were so bad. It was fun though!!!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Isle
• Royale
• Lake
• Superior
• big
• waves

[jrolfes]

Wow, this is amazing. Thanks for sharing. My husband & I would really like to go there, but he gets motion sickness pretty easily. Any suggestions on better times to go or which boats to take. Some have said the Ranger is the best.

[YooperZone]

The middle of summer would probably be the best time to go. The Ranger would be the smoother ride (165' long) vs the Queen (100' long). But no matter what size boat you are in, if Lake Superior gets nasty, you'll get tossed around.

[skilunker]

This reminds me of when my brothers and me came back on the Queen III in September 2003. We found the the Edmund Fitzgerald jokes had gotten tired. We were tossed about as the boat listed back and forth in 13 to 16 foot waves. The crew offered free food for the return trip, but there were few takers as the table ripped out of the wall, I was thrown on top of the guy across the aisle, and most were sick or nauseated. What a memorable ride!

[petemackin]

This doesn't look too bad. The worst I've ever seen was 90 mile per hour winds off of McLean State Park with 30+ waves nailing the lighthouse there. Worst I've ever been in was the first year of the Pro Walleye Tour. A Houghton Co. Sheriff's Dept. and I took the roughly 26 foot patrol boat and poked our nose out into 10 to 15 footers. I don't suggest that. It was a little nutty when we had to come about in that weather. But the footage was great - I'll try to find it.

[anduril891]

Ah the ol' barf barge.

[Jangle2007]

That's a rough ride, but small potatoes compared to our Oct '91 trip. Took Voyager II out of Daisy Farm down to Washington Harbor into an increasingly strong SW wind blowing straight down the fetch of the long lake axis. Quick in and out of Windigo, but in that time the SW gale had risen to a fury. After 30 minutes of climbing over waves higher than the wheelhouse and getting nowhere, we turned around. Stuck for two days in Windigo.,,mostly sunny and warm, but furious gale.

[durster27]

@jrolfes yea anywhere in june and july is the safest



[truv1217]

I went on the sunset cruise and I was lucky because we got to pull up beside 2 freighters.

[belgians4me]

I went there last June (2010) and the crossing from Copper Harbor to the Island was like glass... not a ripple. I was very lucky. We had fog like pea soup, but no waves. The trip back was only slightly rougher. It was awesome.

[chrisoironworker]

God I miss the ole puke mary

[mikefmich]

Isle Royale Queen....what a scow back in '66. Either Queen 1 or 2. A blow started halfway thru the 4 hour ride....and it was getting bad. It was my first trip there and we were all scared shitless.

Went back two more times.....you can bet your booties I was on the Ranger boat of out Houghton-Hancock.

[smiglywilno]

@jrolfes Actually, if my wife and I had a chance to do it again, we would fly in. Yes, it might be a single-engine plane that takes you there, but having to travel HOURS across the Lake, not knowing how large the waves might be on any given day, and dealing with other passengers getting sick right in front of you, kinda gives you a better appreciation for "rapid transport".

[smiglywilno]

This just brought back soooo many memories. We sailed out of Copper Harbor and it didn't look bad from there. I wasn't sure why the ticket office had Dramamine on sale. Well, 5 minutes out on the Lake, we were hitting 18-20 waves. Besides the crew, there were only 3 of us that I counted who did not get sea sick. There were times, when looking out of the cabin, that you did not see the horizon for all 360 degrees; nothing but walls of water.

And this was July. Summer crossing is best???!!!

[moochercat]

I took a ride like this in 2002, my first visit to the island. We were on the Winona, returning to Grand Portage, MN. It was just misting when we left Windigo, but once out on the big lake the wind was probably 30 knots and waves 8-10. I think the captain was a bit nervous about his decision, once we were out there. Needless to say, the "bucket" was being passe around throughout the trip.

I'll be back on the Winona on 8/13/10, heading out for a kayak trip around the island. Can't wait!