Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay
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Visible from Dock Park, the 140-foot Biscayne Bay is one of 10 Coast Guard cutters on the Great Lakes. It is categorized as a harbor tug with icebreaking capabilities, like its sister ship in Sault Ste. Marie.
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| The Biscayne seen being loaded at its dock just south of St. Ignace. |
The new Mackinaw in Cheboygan is an icebreaker used in lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie. (The old Mackinaw , now berthed in Mackinaw City, is the new Mackinaw Maritime Museum.) The 180-foot Acacia in Charlevoix is a buoy tender.
The Biscayne Bay is responsible for the Straits of Mackinac from Round Island Passage in Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac to Lansing Shoal Light (the crib light in northern Lake Michigan between Garden Island, northernmost of the Beaver archipelago, and Scott Point due south of Gould City in the U.P. The Biscayne Bay's busy season starts around January 1, when it breaks ice in the Straits and the lower St. Mary's River to keep shipping lanes open. The Soo Locks close in winter, but some ships keep moving, primarily coal barges and fuel freighters with diesel or gasoline fuels. These may deliver east of the Soo Locks on the Canadian or Michigan sides. Taconite (pelletized iron ore) is also shipped on lakes Michigan and Huron from stockpiles not affected by the locks' closing. A Coast Guard icebreaker must escort each ship when ice is on the lakes.
The Biscayne Bay belongs to a relatively new class of icebreaking tug using a wider beam and greater horsepower to break more ice, and a "bubbler" lubrication system to do it more efficiently. The ship's round-hulled bow slides up on the ice and then crushes down through it. (In case the ship gets stuck, ballast tanks enable it to shift and break the ice.) The bubbler system forces air out into the water through ports in the hull, thus keeping broken ice away from the ship and avoiding friction.
"Straits weather is constantly changing," says a Coast Guard sailor stationed in St. Ignace. "The wind can really screw you. The bridge can be a dividing line on waves. It can be raining on one side of town and not at my house. It is fascinating to watch the current in breakup and see the different effects of ice in different places. The current can pick up a plate of ice, break it, and pile the pieces in high ridges along shore. A warm rain eats through ice.
It's a thrill to cross the bridge in spring breakout and see the Biscayne Bay clearing channels through the ice. The Today Show has featured it in action.
When the ship is hard at work, the crew live on board. Enlisted men (the Biscayne Bay's crew of 19 is currently all male) sleep on three racks, with only a locker for personal belongings. "You get used to it," says a sailor. Most of the time they live in houses or apartments in St. Ignace.
The Biscayne Bay cruises at about 18 to 20 miles an hour. It's not built for speed, and is not the ideal search and rescue boat, but it's the primary one at the Straits in winter, when faster small boats can't get out.
Coast Guard vessels have some duties that only they can perform. The Coast Guard has long conducted harbor and border patrols, now as part of Homeland Security. Each cutter has boarding team members to check safety equipment on passing vessels, to look for suspected drugs, and to enforce laws. If the Navy boarded a foreign vessel, it would be an act of war. In this area, U.S. Coast Guard ships often work with the Canadian Coast Guard on icebreaking.
Since 9/11, impromptu tours of Coast Guard vessels have been suspended for security reasons. The Biscayne Bay can be viewed from a public place. But anyone taking lots of photos can expect to be questioned.
Summer remains a time when Great Lakes Coast Guard ships are in the public eye, performing maintenance on their vessels, helping restore lighthouses, for instance, and appearing at various festivals, where tours are given. For a schedule and locations of upcoming Coast Guard open houses, call (906) 643-6435.
The Coast Guard Station is at 1075 S. Huron south of downtown. From downtown, follow State St. southeast along the shore at American Legion Park, where Bus. I-75 branches west and goes uphill. Turn east onto Bertrand or Paro to reach Huron. The Biscayne Bay can be seen from Dock Park. Or from U.S. 2 by Glen's, turn onto Ferry Lane, go to Dock Park. No tours. No photos.
Return to St. Ignace
POINTS OF INTEREST
Bridgeview Park. Great views up at the Mackinac Bridge from a pleasant park with picnic shelters. Interesting historical video monitors and pictures with text about the bridge and previous transporation across the Straits are in an enclosed pavilion with restrooms. ... more
Museum of Ojibwa Culture. See how Ojibwa social values and their subsistence culture adapted to the climate. View change at the Straits in the 1660s from the native perspective of indigeous Ojibwa and Odawa and Huron newcomers, when the French fur trade was moving in. A fine small museum. ... more
Marquette Mission Park. The peaceful park has well-done interpretive panels about the Straits history of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Huron people and Father Marquette's Catholic mission, possibly at this very location. An authentic Huron longhouse and Ojibwa tipi are open without charge. ... more
Native Expressions Ojibwa Museum Store. This peaceful shop carries traditional crafts (quill work, baskets, more) plus certified contemporary Native American art. Here too is the U.P.'s largest selection of books and music about Eastern Woodland Indians and French-Canadian Great Lakes history ... more
Downtown St. Ignace. Downtown highlights: an interesting book and magazine store, a shop with antique lighting and furniture, and a choice arcade of shops ... more
Huron Boardwalk. A mile-long harborfront path with benches shows off a busy harbor and has Mackinac Island views. Interpretive signs and a Mackinaw boat convey the area's rich history ... more
American Legion Veterans Memorial Park. A waterfront park with picnic area, telescope, popular play structure, and beach often used by scuba divers visiting shipwrecks. At the nearby Star Dock, Mackinaw Parasailing ... more
Sunset Cruise or Vespers Cruise under the Mackinac Bridge. 1-hour narrated ferryboat cruise or vespers cruise take visitors under the Mackinac Bridge and out into Lake Michigan for seeing the sunset. ... more
Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. Docked at St. Ignace, this modern icebreaking harbor tug clears the Straits for freighter traffic each year and is occasionally open for scheduled tours ... more
Dock #3 Park. Former staging area for the car ferry neeed before the Mackinac Bridge, this uncroded park is a nice place for picnics and a view of the Coast Guard Cutter Biscayne Bay. ... more
St. Ignace trolley tour. 2 1/2-hour tour of area on 30-person bus goes across the bridge for Mackinaw City sights as well as St. Ignace's ... more
US-2 Mackinaw Bridge to Naubinway. A terrific introduction to the U.P. after crossing the Bridge, long vistas revealing one shoreline point after another emerge ... more
MANLEY'S FISH MARKET. Outstanding fresh and smoked whitefish, homemade jerky, and beef sticks. They can be eaten at picnic tables on a pleasant, shady lawn ... more
John Herbon Pottery Studio. John Herbon and three fellow potters work and show here. John's classic shapes are simply embellished with lizards, fish, ... more
Jabber Joe's. Offbeat variety/antique shop with frozen custard, too. Strong on candy, repro toys. ... more
Castle Rock. Stairs lead to the top of a natural limestone tower with a grand view of St. Martin Island, St. Ignace, and Mackinac ferries. A great family roadside attraction ... more
Horseshoe Bay Wilderness Trail/Hiawatha National Forest. A one-mile hiking trail through a mixed forest and wetland leads to a secluded Lake Huron beach, part of the 3,800-acre Horseshoe Bay Wilderness within the Hiawatha National Forest. ... more
Carp River Canoe Trail. An easy, scenic trout stream for family paddling with informal campsites by the river ... more
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