Fifteenth Lighthouse Expedition

July 31 & August 1, 1993
Detroit River & Western Lake Erie Cruise With the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association

July 31, 1993, Saturday

Beautiful Sunny Day

6:45 am

Left home.

7:45 am

Arrived at the Diamond Belle Boat Dock at Hart Plaza on the Detoit River in downtown Detroit.

8:15 am

The 109′ cruise boat left the dock with 120 persons on board – all lighthouse nuts like us. Our narrators were Leo Kuschel and Jerry Biggs. We saw the Old Grosse Ile North Channel Range Light and the Detoit River Light (where we stopped so 4 members of the Dossin Great Lakes Museum diving team, including Mel Sillers of WDIV-TV fame, went down to the base of the light. They used a sound and video hook up so the folks on board could hear and see them with a monitor located on the lower deck. Visibility was very poor so not much could be seen.)

12:30 pm

We enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch on board. The remainder of the day was spent taking in the Toledo Harbor Light (with Russian architecture), Turtle Island Light, West Sister Island Light, Perry Memorial Monument Light and South Bass Island Light. Late afternoon we proceeded to Port Clinton, Ohio and docked. We took a short walk to see the Old Port Clinton Light. Trollies (buses) met the group and took us to our motels where we were able to change and unpack. The trollies picked us up and took us to the Mon Ami Restuarant for dinner and then returned us to our motels for the night.

August 1, 1993, Sunday

7:00 am

The trollies picked us up and took us to the dock so we could board the Diamond Belle for our second day of the trip. Another beautiful day!

8:00 am

The boat left the Port Clinton dock. We traveled along the shore and saw Marblehead Lighthouse and the Sandusky Harbor Pierhead Light. Then we headed northeast for Canadian waters and Lights. We saw Southeast Shoal Light, Pelee Passage Light, the abandoned Pelee Island Light (only the tower is left), and Colchester Reef Light. Then it was back into the Detroit River where we saw the abandoned Boblo Island Light. We also saw 5 sets of range lights between Boblo and Fighting Island along the Amhersburg Channel. Leo Kuschel explained how the range lights work.

6:00 pm

The Diamond Belle arrived back at the Hart Plaza Dock. We had a great time, met some wonderful people from many different states, and were impressed with the well organized trip put together by GLLKA.

7:15 pm

Arrived home.

Trip Totals: 15 Lighthouses, 2 days, many nautical miles.

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Lighthouses: A Photographic Journey
Conceived and Developed by David S. Carter
Photographs by Donald W. Carter
Text by Diana K. Carter, Donald W. Carter & David S. Carter

Copyright © 1995, 1996 David S. Carter, Donald W. Carter, & Diana K. Carter. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means, physical or electronic, in part or in full, without the express permission of the authors, is strictly prohibited.