Cruising on M/V Monarch: October 13, 2009

Last night we had a farewell dinner with Ron and Linda Watters, and visited with them in their 21st-floor condo on the Chicago River. The view is spectacular, and their place is elegant.

Delighted to have a sunny day – even though only 42 degrees with a brisk north wind – we departed the Chicago Yacht Club to begin our river trip.

The Chicago Lock drops us a few feet to the Chicago River. Lake Michigan drains down into the Chicago River.

Lakeshore Avenue bridge marked the first of 55 bridges in the Chicago River and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal’s 36 mile length. We had lowered the radar mast to allow us to pass under the lowest fixed bridge height of 17 feet.

The Chicago skyline is more impressive than the Manhattan skyline, as we were right under the skyscrapers.

These condo owners can moor their boats right under the building on the river.

What an impressive sight.

This is Linda and Ron’s building located right on an section of the river called Riverbend. They waved to us from their 21st floor balcony as we passed!

Linda reminds us that the Sears Tower is now called the Willis Tower, with new owners.

We had to idle in the river for 45 minutes for the lone bridge we needed raised. The Amtrak trains took their time jockeying for position at the adjacent rail yard. At this point, the riverbanks became industrial.

The traffic began to pick up, with tugs and tows meeting us.

The tugs often passed very close to Monarch.

Here’s the Pamela H pushing barges upriver.

This is the junction of the Calumet Sag Channel and the Chicago Sanitary Canal.

The invasive species Asian Carp have taken over the lower Illinois waterway, and the Corps of Engineers is determined to keep them out of Lake Michigan. This nuisance fish has the potential to decimate the Great Lakes’ $4.5 billion fishery. To accomplish this, they have designed a sort of “invisible fence”, which is a two volt/inch electric charge in a section of the River. The carp are becoming more persistent, and so the Corps has “turned up the juice”, and we had to request special permission to transit the ¾ mile stretch.

We were required to wear PFDs even inside the pilothouse, and instructed not to touch any metal or standing water on the boat! But this was an improvement over a couple weeks ago, when boats were required to get a commercial tow at a $600 expense! We transited with no issues. And none of the high-jumping carp landed on deck, either – and Marty had her filet knife at the ready!