Day 163 - 77 Miles From Home

Finally, after 3 days of grey skies, we woke up to sunshine.  Yes, there were still some clouds and even some sprinkles, but lots of sun and even a rainbow!  The Badger, an old car ferry that travels between Ludington and Manitowoc, WI, blasted its horn and pulled away from the dock.  After Captain Randy’s scrumptious omelets, we headed for the fuel dock at 10:20 am.  Travelling faster on the lake is great but does drain the tanks quickly.  It was only 49 degrees yet it felt warmer with the sun.

 

 

There were 2 to 3 foot swells on the lake.  Since they were behind us, pushing us, it wasn’t bad at all.  A small storm went by at 11:20 am causing more light rain and a little whitewater, but it didn’t last long.  Soon the sun was back and the rollers flattened out.  We passed a few trawlers that could have been loopers, although most of them were already headed down the Illinois river system.

 

The weather forecast for southern Lake Michigan was not great and we planned to try to make it to Grand Haven.  The actual conditions were better than predicted and we pushed on to South Haven.  The sand dunes are smaller between Ludington and South Haven, and more beach houses dotted the shore.  We passed Holland and its red lighthouse at 2:00 pm.

 

We saw what we first thought was a waterspout off to the south, but as we got closer, it appeared to be steam from a power plant on shore.  We arrived at the South Haven Municipal Marina at 3:00 pm and were the only boat on the south side of the river, tying up on the face dock.  In fact the whole harbor was deserted.  About 45 minutes later a 70 foot boat, Bespoke, pulled up behind us.  It turns out that they were also loopers, from Naples, FL.  Their captain asked us about the rivers going south to Mobile. 

 

 

 

Due to the high water levels this year, we were a little nervous about whether we would fit under the Lake Shore Drive bridge that goes over the channel leading to Diversey Harbor, our home port.  We took some measurements from the top of the boat and planned to use the “feeler gauge” as we approached the bridge on Sunday to make sure we could fit underneath it.

The Idler is an old ship docked in South Haven that serves as a bar/restaurant.  We wanted to go there, but the dock master told us that it had closed for the season shortly after Labor Day.  We walked to a few stores then had dinner at Clementine’s, a popular restaurant that serves local fish as well as a variety of other food.   I had walleye and the Captain had the “Mess of Perch”, enjoying our last night on our Great Loop.