St. Joseph Not Benton Harbor September 22, 2008

A second day in the same West Basin Marina but now after hiking all over town trying to find a food market, Debbie discovered we were in fact in St. Joseph MI. Unfortunately the nearest market was beyond her walking distance. However, Debbie found a delightful town on a hill overlooking the St. Joseph River.

Today was Wolf Marine day. We were picked up by the manager of the biggest marine store in the midwest and driven home by the owner. In between we filled a grocery cart with all sorts of goodies. They definitely have better prices than West Marine but unfortunately are not located in Florida.

The St. Joseph Yacht Club adjacent to our Marina.

Also we had a generator repair shop pick up our honda generator and then inform us that it would cost about the price of a generator for the parts to fix it. It was so sick we left it with them for the price of "fixing" it! I know what we will be on our Santa list.

While Debbie was hiking, Tom got busy on the computer and downloaded all the maps for the rest of our trip. He also worked out our schedule for the next few days. Tuesday we sail 38 miles to Michigan City IN. At 7:30 a.m. the next morning, wednesday, we move up the River to B&E Marine who will lower our mast. Then on Wednesday or Thursday we motor to Hammond (Indian Harbor) just two miles west of the Calumet River. Friday we may have a mechanic check out our motors if he can fit it in his schedule a day later than planned at a different location. This may not sound like a lot but Tom was very busy revising our schedule.

After mexican dinner and a hike to the lighthouse, we invited Linda and Jack, our troller neighbors from Holland, to visit our boat. Their motor needs work before heading to Mobile.

Smooth Waters September 21, 2008

South Haven is a old commercial fishing town with an old harbor village along the south waterfront. Yesterday evening we walked this area before going to sleep. In the morning we awoke to a wet environment. Not from rain but from dew! Tom wipes the windows.

We would have loved to stay here a few more days as everyone was so friendly and full of life. When we passed outside of the breakwater, we found a flat lake. Not a breath of breeze. We motored the 23 miles to Benton Harbor on the St. Joseph River.

When we entered the channel into Benton Harbor, we again saw a black metal structure running along the dock to the lighthouse. The first time we saw this structure, we had no idea what it was. This time we decided that it was a raised walkway.

The municipal marina was the first one on the port side reached through a narrow rock walled entrance. We almost missed it except that we could not get under the adjacent railroad bridge. We decided to stop here to visit Wolf's Marine, Inc., the largest marine store in the midwest. Tomorrow we will use their free shuttle but today we worked on the generator which has be sporatically working. Then Tom found some water in the bilges and Debbie got out a sponge. We walked a little in the neighbor. Tom mounted the TV satellite disk on the rear mast holder. We watched the last day of the Ryder Cup in the luxury of our "living room."

September Fest 20, 2008

Leaving Muskegon was like working your way through a maze - of fisherman! Both in the Lake Muskegon, along the Channel and out in Lake Michigan little boats with fishing poles were everywhere!

Up went the Main and shortly thereafter, the spinnaker. Then down they came because we were making very little forward progress. Light wind again. On went the trusty motors and we cruised along all the way to South Haven. Along the way we worked our way through sailboat races at Macatawa (Holland) and Saugatuck. There must have been at least 50 sails in Lake Michigan sprinkled all around us. We covered 58 miles in about 10 hours.

We kept busy as we cruised. First the secretary of our corporation, Tom, did lots of official paperwork. The treasurer was on vacation from office work. Then we rested up on the front foredeck seat for a couple hours and enjoyed the view. Tom brought the autopilot remote control forward and ran Catrina from there.

After lunch about 3 p.m. Tom got out his drill and put a 12 volt outlet in the bedroom. On the left are all the circuits for our navagation panel. He hooked a white wire on the circuit box and ran it under Debbie's clothes cabinets which are removed and you can see sitting on the bed behind him. Debbie assisted by getting tools, supplies and cleaning up all the fiberglass powder! When it was completed, it look very professional!

We reached South Haven about 7 p.m. and found people everywhere from the lighthouse to the Municipal Marina. Actually South Haven has three Municipal Marinas. Debbie had googled the city and found the business district was on the southside so we picked the Marina on that side. We found a gas pump with an employee that hadn't gone home for the day and then took one of three remaining slots at the Marina. This town is full!

A couple left a restaurant overlooking our riverside dockage to find out if we were on the Great Loop. No, on the Half Loop. They were celebrating Octoberfest. What month is this?

At the marina fellow sailers told us where to shop and eat and the combination for the showers. We strolled around town and found an eating place to our satisfaction and then sat for a long time because it was very busy. It appears the Michiganders like to party! Go Blue!

MUSKEGON September 19, 2008

This is one of my favorite pictures to date - The Sunset yesterday at White Lake!



We decided to get up early to cover many miles south. We awoke late at 8:30 and found the wind was from the south - where we were headed - and the waves we growing. When you measure a wave, start at the top and go down to the valley between the waves. Then divide that number by two . If you have a three foot wave, the bow goes up 6 feet and then down six feet. Most waves were not 3 feet but it felt like we were riding a bucking bronco. Also the distance covered does not cover the up and down only the forward! We decided to change plans. You can do that when you are retired!!

Shortly after 11 we arrived at Muskegon. We passed a couple sailboats going out, taking one look at us bouncing in and then turning around and going back into Lake Muskegon. Muskegon is a large, long lake. Tom booted up the GPS/Computer and found the state marina about halfway down the Lake on the south side. After we had tied up at the end of the "T" at the Hartshorn Marina, a staff member drove us to the the town at the end of the Lake. We did justice to the profits for West Marine and then walked to Super Walmart. We split the Shopping List. Tom took odds and ends and Debbie groceries. Very soon we called the Marina and were picked up. We voted this Marina the hospitality award. We asked to borrow bikes and they supplied trucks!

The channel markers guide us to the deeper parts of a lake or river. This one was unique in that the maker had poured cement on top of a group of rocks and then stuck a two-sided solar-run green sign on top. A fisherman felt he could catch his supper there. As we traversed Muskegon Lake, we negotiated around a Coast Guard cruiser, a carferry and many sailboats, motorboats and fishermen.

We created quite a bit of interest at the Marina and were asked questions and gave tours.

Before serving a "fresh" dinner, Tom and Debbie replaced the lines that lower and raise the motors. Capitan Tom did the technical work and the First Mate supplied the muscle. The two 9.9 4-stroke Yamaha motors are not light weight. We now have new lines but may need to replace the pulleys. Showers were justly earned!!

White Lake Sailboats September 18, 2008

We pulled out of Ludington Marina a safe distance behind a carferry. Another beautiful day! With two sails up, we clipped along at 7 knots. Our destination is White Lake, about 37 miles south. In the late morning, shortly after Brenda called from Colorado to see how we were doing, the wind began to drop and change from east to southeast to south. We had planned to use our spinnaker again but the wind change cancelled that idea. Eventually when we got down to 3 knots, Debbie started one motor and later Tom added the second one. We hoped to sail all of Lake Michigan as we know we will be motoring most of the time on the rivers.

As we drew close to the canal into White Lake, four sailboats greeted us. Two came close enough to be photographed.

As we entered the channel to White Lake, out sailed another catamaran. The Skipper popped his head up and said, "How many times do you think this happens?" He was right. We rarely see other sailboats moving this late in the summer. This is the first catamaran we have seen anywhere.

Although Tom was running out of bread, we decided not to sail to the end of White Lake to look for a grocery store in Whitehall. We can get bread tomorrow or he can eat crackers! We dropped anchor close to the White Lake Yacht Club, where Debbie remembers racing years ago in the Western Michigan Regatta. The Lake is about 3 miles long which would add 6 miles to our trip. As we dropped anchor, a Corsair (trimaran) sailed by. Sorry no picture. Debbie was tied up at the wheel.

Spagetti and Asparagus for dinner. Tom had two helpings! Said he did not want to have left overs. The chef immediately said that reason will not work a second time!

A full-tummied man and his luck lady enjoyed the sunset from the foredeck.

Running to Ludington September 17, 2008

We passed the Frankfort Lighthouse just after 9 a.m. and headed south to find warm tropical waters. The wind was light as we motored out into Lake Michigan. After a few hours we raised the main and jib and chugged along at 5 to 6 miles a hour. Many patches of sand dunes appeared along the shore line. The sky was robin's egg blue. The waves were almost nonexistent.

Since the wind was from the northwest and over our shoulders, we decided to raise the spinnaker. Up it went and immediately became an hour glass shape. Then it wrapped around the jib. The ropes on the cover wrapped around the bright yellow, purple and blue silk. It was a mess. We stowed all sails but the spinnaker. Many minutes later we had it untangled. This one piece of material is not going to win! We put it up again and this time it flew like a big balloon in front of our ship! The third try was magic - at last.

For many hours and 43 miles we sailed south along the Shore passed Arcadia, Portage, Manistee and finally arrived at Ludington with only the bight purple, blue and yellow sail leading the way. About dinner time we put the spinnaker back in the bag and motored in to the harbor.

We decided to stay at the Ludington Municipal Marina so that Debbie's friend Mary Jo could easily find us. After a tour of Catrina, the trio hiked over to the House of Flavors and had a tasty pot pie, fajita salad and ceasar salad. We deserved some sweet after such a testing day so we both had dessert - ice cream! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a less exciting day!

Getting Ready to Sail September 16, 2008

Tom and Debbie arrived back at Crystal Lake about 10 pm Tuesday. Wednesday would be a very busy day if we really wanted to set sail south on Thursday!

Tom moved Catrina to the dock and organized the aft storage - the items used when sailing. Debbie closed the cottage and put Perri, the summer transportation, to bed in the garage. Everything that we had not eaten or moved to Indiana with the truck-camper-macgregor got transferred to Catrina. To our surprise it actually fit!

We ran into friends Kathy and Wally while getting our last mail Pick Up at Frankfort Post Office. The post-ladies had noticed our catamaran in the harbor and asked about our plans. We are really heading south. At Glen's we turned in our bottles for cash and recycling. Another sign we are headed out. Debbie threw together some Jambalaya and beans for dinner but we were almost too tired to eat it. We took a stroll to the bath house and found that the toilet area was segregated but the showers weren't. We both have very clean backs!

Off our bow is the Frankfort Library while astern is Elberta. A very strong wind is rocking the boat. We added more dock lines as the wind howled. By morning this disturbance should have passed. We are ready to leave tomorrow. Let's hope the weather cooperates.

Thanks Frankfort Library for this free internet access. We wish you all a good night as we are rocked to sleep on our new home on water!