Including “Coast Guard City, U.S.A.”
On Wed., Aug. 7, our final evening in Whitehall, Trey from “Last Arrow” provided us with one of the salmon filets which he had just caught. Delicious and much appreciated! Also met David and Candace from “Miss Candy G,” Gold Loopers who I believe are repeating the experience.
Because of a small craft warning scheduled to take effect late Thursday/early Friday morning, many boaters were making reservations for multiple night stays off Lake Michigan. We didn’t want to still be in Whitehall when riding out the impending wind, so had to piece together stays at two different marinas in Grand Haven given the demand for slips.
On Thursday, Aug. 8, after the part for the air conditioner in the front cabin was installed and worked, we left Whitehall in the early afternoon, making it to Grand Haven around 4:00 pm. Like the previous breakwaters leading to harbors on Michigan’s eastern shore, the Grand Haven breakwater was well-marked, jutted out a significant way from the shore, and extended well into the harbor. What was different about this port’s entrance – besides the lighthouse with the “prow” of a boat – was the area where camper trailers could set up on the beach (bottom right).
Further along the waterway was the large (and quite swanky in comparison to most we’ve seen) Coast Guard building.
The Coast Guard has a significant presence here. Grand Haven was designated “Coast Guard City, USA” by an Act of Congress signed by President Clinton on Nov. 13, 1998. For the second night in Grand Haven on, we were docked immediately in front of the hill touting the designation. As the signage on the hill indicates, they just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Coast Guard festival that takes place here.
At night, the anchor on the hilltop is lighted, and each night at dusk there is a synchronized water and light show called the Grand Haven Musical Fountain that takes place down the hill from the anchor. Crowds gather in the amphitheater on the opposite shore by the marina where we were docked.
Backing up a bit, for the first night on Thursday, Aug. 8, we stayed at Holiday Isles Marina further in the harbor, named as such because it is located next to and affiliated with a Holiday Inn. We were able to “sublet” a slip for the night. This was quite the dock set up, complete with pump out intake right at each slip. While there, Nelson kept a protective eye on his toy duck that doesn’t swim.
To access the marina, we had to wait on a drawbridge. These pictures were taken when we were leaving Holiday Isles on Friday morning (August 9) and heading to the municipal marina closer to downtown – but also closer to Lake Michigan and the wind!
The predicted wind did arrive, so we were grateful to be in a harbor, but the westerly winds were extremely strong and felt all the more at the municipal marina. Thankfully, Dave from “Miss Candy G,” Mike from “Checkmate,” and dockhands helped us into the slip, as it was really rolling. In tying the boat, Dennis used a strategy of trying to keep it as close to the dock as possible and spreading the force across many fenders, as the wind was pushing us onto the dock. This would prove to not be the best approach given this particular combination of factors.
Mike knocked on the boat later in the evening saying he was thinking that he had to get out of his slip, as his boat was being thrown against the dock. Dennis and Mike took the inflatable out and found a possible anchorage, so Mike left the dock and anchored. We stayed put but were up multiple times during that night, as our boat was also smashing into the dock. Dennis tried various strategies of re-securing the boat. Around 4:00am, noticing a couple other boaters’ approach, he suspended the boat in the middle of the slip; while it was difficult to get on and off the boat after that, it made for a much easier time aboard.
There were a number of Loopers riding out the wind here, including Don from “Detour,” Chris and Kim from “Pura Vida,” Mike from “Checkmate,” and John and Patti on “Patti Anne,” the latter couple from Burnt Store Marina near us in Punta Gorda, FL!
Our friend, Patti, and her daughter Casey came over the next morning (Sat., Aug. 10), and we were able to go to the farmer’s market as well as downtown Grand Haven. It’s a neat town.
Patti very kindly offered use of her car for a West Marine run before she left to go home.
On Sunday, after attending a nearby church, we took Patti up on her kind offer to visit her again – away from the wind and rocking boat! We are so grateful for the blessing of her friendship. After a trip to the grocery for us to re-provision, Patti kindly drove us back to the boat on Monday.
The charter fishing fleet and cleaning station in Grand Haven were located further along the marina. We happened upon a fisherman cleaning and fileting some of his catch in what appeared to be a state-of-the-art cleaning station with spray hoses and a grinder.
Further inland was an historic train engine, cars, and caboose near the Grand Trunk Western Coaling tower, called a coal tipple. Coal used to be loaded into the coal cars behind the engine through metal chutes.
Tuesday morning (Aug. 13), leaving Grand Haven through the breakwaters, we encountered the Kaye E. Barker, up close(!), inbound in harbor.
We arrived at South Haven to stay a single night. Harbor hosts Glenn and Lisa, who also work at the marina, helped us into our slip. Went to dinner with Chris and Kim (“Pura Vida”) and Mike. South Haven is a great area and obviously a popular vacation spot. However, we were trying to make our way to Michigan City, IN, so that we could meet up with our daughter, Brandi, and her family for Sunday. To ensure that we would make it there and could secure a slip, we were trying to continue to move as far south as we could when we could. So, on Wed., Aug. 14, we left South Haven given that it was a beautiful, calm day on Lake Michigan! The picture below of our boat (taken by Mike from his boat, “Checkmate”) is from earlier in our trip but illustrates a calm moment on the lake.
Watching the weather reports as we travelled, we decided to continue going all the way through to Michigan City, IN, so that as noted above we’d be sure to be there in order to see family. The entrance to Michigan City differed greatly from the beautifully-landscaped-summer-cottage-lined harbor entrances we were used to in South Haven, etc., as illustrated below by the picture of what is on the right of the breakwater leading into the harbor.
However, we gained an hour, as we’re now on Central Time. We later took an inflatable ride through the river that winds through part of the city and came upon a strange looking, very wide, long, but low building (that we soon determined was floating) next to what appeared to be two large hotels without any sort of name emblazoned on either.
Turns out that the large white, floating building that has been made to resemble a ship – complete with pilothouse, lifeboat, and life ring – is the Blue Chip Casino, Hotel, and Spa. It was made to float because at the time it was built (1997), only riverboat casinos were permitted in Indiana. Mystery solved. Evidently, if you eat in their Lakeside Kitchen restaurant, robot servers will bring you your food.
We were able to take advantage of the sandy beach nearby our marina, beaching the inflatable and cooling off in beautiful Lake Michigan.
Brandi and family visited on Saturday, Aug. 17, as the weather report was somewhat better than what was forecasted for Sunday. We hit the nearby Washington Park Zoo (some pictures below), then the splash park. Because of high winds and, thus, a red warning flag at the Lifeguard station, the kids weren’t able to take too much advantage of the waves at the beach on Lake Michigan, but, still, a good time was had by all. And, all were tired!
Feeding the birds (below).
As forecasted, very strong winds on Sunday with small craft warning. Not sure when we’re going to be able to leave Michigan City. We are getting a lot of boat maintenance done, however! On Sunday evening, visited with the only other Loopers in this marina, that is, Diane and Joe from “Luna Sea, Too” and Mike. We are all waiting on a weather window to leave. Our next goal is Hammond, IN, from which we will start on the inland river system.
To reach the inland river system, boaters have to make a choice between two routes, that is, to follow either the Chicago River or the Calumet River. Many boaters who want to go through Chicago discover that their boats are too tall to go through some of the bridges and then choose to take the route we’re taking which is the Calumet-Sag. At this point, it’s looking as though we’ll have to wait until Wednesday, Aug. 21, before the wind and waves lessen enough for us to cross to Hammond.
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