This is the story of our somewhat hurried romp down Lake Michigan.
Charlevoix
At Irish Boat works we found expensive diesel $1.85, highest on the
trip, $1.50 a foot for docking, only the NY city marinas were more. It
was a rainy dreary day, we went to the supermarket and reprovisioned,
and left the next morning.
| Frankfort
For the first time on this trip we met Manana and Dos Amigos. We had been in touch by Email and occasionally by phone but this was a first get together for Fine Time and Remedy with them. It's a pleasant place to kick back and relax, which we did for two days. Marion went to the beach while I got the Reports written. The rest was spent in Happy Hours, Ice Cream forays, and biking the
town.
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Pentwater
It was a short 50 mile trip down to Pentwater. We stayed at the Snug Harbor Marina.
This is a great little port and had lots of things for us to do. There
was an in-the-water wooden boat show at the Yacht Club. There are lots
of places to shop and several restaurants.
| We biked to the Sand Dunes State Park.
I did my usual Sand Castle and met Trevor and Dalton. They helped me with the job. |
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The eastern shore of Lake Michigan is one long sand dune.
They rise to 100 feet above the lake. The beaches are as fine as any I have seen on the Gulf Coast. I was amazed by the height of the dunes and the fact that people build
rather substantial homes atop them.
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On our second morning a fine fisherman, Ross Seymore, came by and shared his catch with us.
"Here is a salmon I caught this morning," he explained, "It's enough to feed your four boats from Texas. We have plenty."
"Wow," I said, "it's a monster fish. Thanks so much."
"They are great on the grill," he said pointing to one of the marina grills, "Get the fish on ice right away, then come see the rest of my catch."
After icing them down I went over to see his catch and get instructions
on grilling.
| Hot fire, clean grill.
Pat the fish dry on newspaper, season the fish with butter and spices. Cook 5 minutes flesh side down, just to get some grill marks on it. Turn the fish skin side down and baste with more seasoned butter. When its flakey to a fork it's done. Use a spatula to lift the meat off the skin and onto a platter. That's the neat trick! Serve with either white or red wine.
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While we were sitting around doing our Happy Hour and cooking, another
couple from Texas saw the flag on Remedy and came by.
They were Andy and Joan Noble from Dallas. He is a Michigan ex-patriate and keeps his boat Branch Office on Lake Michigan. "We have plenty to eat," I said, "Y'all stay and join us." "Yes do," the ladies all joined in chorus. They stayed for dinner and got signed up for TMCA and Women Aboard. |
After dinner we did the usual Ice Cream Foray. Then the Schwartzs and Herndons played Minature Golf till they closed the course. Mike had lowest score, but I got 3 Hole-in-One's.
Muskegon
The next day we parted company with the rest. We went to Muskegon in search of a national chain drugstore where we could get our prescriptions refilled. We stayed 2 nights at Great Lakes Marina. They were most helpful, driving me to the drugstore, providing Internet hookup, etc.
Marion caught up on laundry and we saw much of the older section of town on our bikes. The local Radar shop did Raytheon so they were not interested in fixing our Furuno. They did however get us hooked up with a dealer in the next town, Holland.
We called and set up an appointment.
"I have a service dock on the channel across from Can 17. Call when you are at the Heinz pickle plant" he instructed.
We arrived around noon and the tech came out and quickly diagnosed the problem. The cable connector from the display to the Transmitter had come loose with the rough and tumble of our crossings. The connector had a faulty latch. He fixed it with a used part, adjusted the brightness, checked out the unit and gave us two new Furuno decals for the radome. All for 1 Hour of labor.
I was most relieved, and we are now ready for the fog in fall and winter.
Saugatuck
For the first time since New York we had five of our Great Loop Cruisers together in one port. Add new members Andy and Joan Noble, Branch Office and you have the twelve of us in this picture.
| Mary, Rick
& Quincy Kortegast |
Ann, Don
& Ninfa Caywood |
Ginny & Mike
Schwartz |
Ed & Marion
Herndon |
Joan & Andy
Noble |
Sue & Frank
Clements |
It turns out Bankers Hours, who had been traveling with Don Thomson was also in port. He was laid up with an injured back so we did not meet Jim and Diane until the next day. We stayed two days in Saugatuck for the princely dockage of $35 a night. The rest went to Grand Haven and then on to Hammond.
Michigan City
We traveled 70 miles the next day with Bankers Hours. We had a small celebration with them. They had officially completed the Great Loop with their return to their home port of Michigan City.
It was a Landmark of sorts for us as well. We were 3/4 of the year done.
We had Wintered on the Gulf Coast. We did Spring up the East
Coast. We Summered in the Great Lakes. Now it is time to Fall
down the rivers to the Gulf of Mexico.