Our first day heading south on Lake Michigan was lovely.
The weather was clear and the water was calm. Our first stop was Charlevoix, and we entered the Pine River and cruised through the blue bridge that led to Round Lake and our pretty, protected marina for the night.
We cut through the downtown area and into the neighborhood behind it to find the Mushroom Houses!
We were eager to work our way down to Chicago, so Charlevoix was only a one-night stop. That is, until we checked the wind and waves forecast on Lake Michigan (high winds, 5 ft waves). Then we decided that we would stay and enjoy Charlevoix for a few days.
We walked along the main street, rode bikes to the marine supply store, and walked up to the grocery store.
We checked the forecast again (high winds, 7 ft waves) and decided to stay for a few more days. When the weather turned cool, windy and rainy we stayed on the boat. We used the time to complete some boat projects and we read books and watched tv. And drank wine. Our window of good travel weather kept closing, and we had no choice but to wait it out.
We ate in a couple of the restaurants (including Weathervane with its awesome Boulder Fireplace), walked over the bridge, talked to other boaters. Several other loopers were in the same marina, watching the weather and waiting.
Eight days later, we ventured out to Lake Michigan again.
We stopped in Leland, where we walked among the docks and shanties of Fishtown, watched salmon attempting to leap upstream through the dam, and met up with Tom & Julie from Therapy. We hadn’t seen them since Cape May!
The next day we cruised past Sleeping Bear Dunes – that’s a lotta sand! We spent a short time in a wall of fog and were relieved that while we were in there, we hadn’t gotten in the way of a tanker that appeared to starboard.
We cruised past the steel-plated lighthouse and docked in Ludington, where we enjoyed the small shops, sculptures in the park, and “soda pop”!
Boat friends already staying in Ludington told us about Badger, a huge, historic steamship that would be coming in near sunset. Badger roars in, throws an anchor to help with a 180 degree turn, and slides up against its dock. We ordered pizza and sat at a picnic table with several other boaters to watch the show. It was amazing!
In the morning we followed Badger back into Lake Michigan.
We cruised to Grand Haven, a pretty, waterfront town with charming views, engaging art, a coast guard station and very spoiled birds.
We walked a historic town that was generally peaceful
except for the bikers!
After dark, the boats in our marina heard a noise and felt vibrations. We each started checking our boats to see what was wrong, only to realize an enormous ferryboat was passing the marina! (Thanks Tom for photo.)
In the morning we cruised on to St. Joseph where we had dinner at a cool restaurant on the water with Tom and Julie.
Sunrise was pretty and we stopped at a small farmer’s market before we headed back into Lake Michigan. (Thanks Julie for boat pic.)
This will be the end of the Great Lakes leg of our voyage. We had a wonderful time, but now Chicago awaits!