What’s Up With These Assault Boats Off Of Park Point?

I swear every time I take the boat out on the St. Louis River I encounter something unusual. Last time we were on the bay off of Park Point and we saw a Chinook Helicopter from the Minnesota National Guard doing training exercises.

That was an incredible thing to see. You don't realize how massive those choppers are until you see one in person.

On September 20, the weather was unusually warm for this time of year I decided I needed to take the boat out for a cruise. This probably would be the last day over 70 degrees. The weather was absolutely beautiful.

We left Barkers Island boat launch in Superior and made our way towards the lift bridge. Along the way, we saw 4 assault boats running in the opposite direction. My uncle was with me, and he asked who they were. I honestly didn't have any idea. I did see them earlier in the week in the harbor and I wasn't sure what they were.

We continued towards the Aerial Lift Bridge. There wasn't any boating traffic, and the waves were pretty calm so I took us out into Lake Superior.

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We cruised down the shore off of Park Point on Lake Superior headed towards the Superior Entry, miles away.

We saw the four boats again when we came in by Loon's Foot Landing (just north of the Superior entry). Three of them were lined up in a row, with another off to the side. We then saw the boats race towards shore. Each boat then picked up a group of people waiting on shore and then raced back out to the middle of the channel.

We were able to make out a sheriff's star on the side of one of the boats. I'm assuming it was the St. Louis County Sheriff's office. The one boat off to the side was directing the others. I wanted to ask what they were doing but didn't want to get in their way. Also, I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted my boat inspected because I'm not sure how long I've had these required flares.

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Obviously, they were doing some drills. It's amazing to see how powerful these boats are with their two huge outboard motors.