Isle Royale Forums

We were up at the Straits of Mackinac today to look at the "blue ice." In dry dock, I noticed the old Isle Royale Queen III, which was in service from 1989 until 2004. Took several trips over and back to IR on that boat. I guess it's being used now for "sip and sail" cruises from Mackinaw Island.

And the "blue ice" was better back in 2018. Still, a nice day to be outside.

Treeplanter, did any of your trips on the Isle Royale Queen III ever involve "feeding the fish?"

I will admit to feeding the fish once on the Voyager II.

I was going to title this thread "The Barf Barge," but figured I'd be kind to the old gal.

No, I never got sick while on the boat. Good inner ear I guess, but I don't usually get sea-sick. I do remember one journey back to the mainland where we had four foot swells hitting us on the beam all the way back to Copper Harbor. No exaggeration, if there were 100 people on the boat, 85 got sick. There was a trail of vomit following the Queen that the seagulls just loved. Me and my paddling buddy were one of the few who didn't get sick.

Glad to hear that you are one of the lucky ones who never had the awful experience of being seasick! I can imagine that there was a chain reaction with the experience you witnessed! The old boat sure does have a bad reputation that hopefully the latest version can overcome.

I see the old Queen is making the rounds. Not too long ago, maybe in 2013, she was giving tours or serving dinner in Marquette Harbor.

Before the Queen III there was the first Barf Barge, The Queen II. Number Two was the same hull before it was lengthened about 20 feet. At 20 feet shorter it really did bob around like a cork even more so. In the mid 70's I remember standing at the bow looking up at the water from the trough of what was a 10 foot wave. That 20 foot extension helped but not so much I guess. Fortunately, I never have gotten sea sick especially considering I used to frequently get car sick as a child. Car sickness ended when they started to put me in the front seat. I think keeping an eye on the horizon really helps when on a boat.

I was reading the IR park brochure from 1941 (one year after the park was founded) and it listed the Isle Royale Queen out of Copper Harbor as one of the boats that serviced the island. This makes the Queen the longest serving boat service to IR.

You can read it here.
http://npshistory.com/brochures/isro/1941.pdf

That 1941 brochure is a great find. I am now imagining what it must have been like to take the S.S. Alabama cruise from Chicago or the S.S. America from Buffalo to Isle Royale. The brochure did not have any pictures of the other ferries mentioned so here is a couple of the original Isle Royale Queen. Looks like it's a converted fishing boat, maybe?

Here are a couple of the Isle Royale Queen II before it was lengthened by 20 feet to become the Queen III.