PORT HURON

Maritime Center to close for winter

Bob Gross
Times Herald
The Great Lakes Maritime Center will be closing Dec. 19 and will reopen on March 12.

The signs on the doors at the Great Lakes Maritime Center at Vantage Point in  Port Huron state the center will be closed Dec. 19 and will not reopen until March 12.

"It’s very simple actually," said Mike DeLong, director of operations for Acheson Ventures, which owns the maritime center. "We’re going back to our mission of what that building is, and that's ship watching."

The maritime center was built in 2005. Since that time, it has become a haven for ship watchers and a place for community events with a connection to the maritime industry and the Great Lakes.

DeLong said freighter traffic slows during the winter.

"We have decided during the winter months … we want to go back to our mission of what that building was built for," he said.

The Soo Locks that connect Lake Superior to the lower lakes close Jan. 15 and open on March 15.

DeLong said some ships will have starting laying up for the winter when the maritime center starts its winter break on Dec. 19.

He said the maritime center will be host to the Blessing of the Fleet on March 19.

He said Backstreet Waterfront Deli and BoatNerd.com have been informed about the winter break and will not not be in the building during that time.

Pete Belcher, who owns the deli with his wife, Debbie, said they will take a long vacation and visit relatives. They have been at the maritime center since 2012.

"This is the first time we've had this much time off," he said. "We're going to enjoy it and be back open when the maritime center opens.

"We have regulars and a lot of them are snowbirds."

Frank 'Freighter Frank" Frisk, said the BoatNerd.com website will continue to update freighter watchers. He said he will be meeting with the website's board of directors to see what they want to do.

"There’s 40 people that work on the website every day, including me," he said.

"I’m sure there won't be any problems because BoatNerd was up and running before they moved into this building."

People still be able to walk along the seawall at Vantage Point, Delong said.

He said the winter closure was not done to save money.

"Not at all," he said. "Through this we will save a little on snow removal and all the things you do in the winter."

The motive, he said, is to re-emphasize ship watching.

Contact Bob Gross (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477

More information

  • For more information about the Great Lakes Maritime Center, go to http://www.achesonventures.com/MaritimeCenter.aspx or call (810) 985-4817.
  • For more information about Backstreet Waterfront Deli, go to http://www.waterfrontdeli.net/. The deli also is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BackstreetsWaterfrontDeli.
  • BoatNerd.com is at www.boatnerd.com.