Friday, September 8 - Grand Haven

Friday, September 8 - Grand Haven

Second sunrise in a row.  Cruising with this group of boats has interfered with my sleep! 

As we left the marina and approached the mouth of the lake, we saw lots people fishing on the breakwater and fishing boats everywhere!  The water was extremely rough because the fishing boats were trolling as they came in from the lake, then they would turn around and go out, then turn around and troll back in again.  The breakwater walls kept the wakes bouncing from side to side - there was no place for them to go. 

And to complicate things more, most of the boats were pulling lines with spreaders, the red “things” in this picture.

The morning clouds were impressive, but it remained a wonderful, calm day for boating!

As we approached Grand Haven we began to see houses and condos.  Most of the trip down the shore of Lake Michigan we have seen only dunes and trees. 

Guess what we saw?  Another lighthouse and another beach!   Grand Haven is advertised as Michigan’s prettiest beach.  It would get my vote, especially with the beautiful turquoise water. 

The approach to the marina and town itself had some nice houses. 

When we made marina reservations yesterday, we were told that no one would be available to help us dock.  We didn’t have a problem because there was very little wind and the post I needed to lasso to bring us in was close and just the right height!  Danny did his usual magnificent job of backing in so we could get off the boat from the swim platform.  

Bill and Bobbie did have a problem.  When they tried to pull in, there was a spring line from another boat tied all the way across their slip!  A dockhand would have been nice,  They finally got someone on the phone to come down and move it.

 

This is one of three municipal marinas in South Haven and had great facilities.  We were too far from town to walk and didn’t want to get the bikes down, so relaxed on the boat for a while.  While Danny was going something downstairs, probably trying to get the TV fixed, i stayed upstairs to read.  I hears a loud clank and looked up the see this sailboat heading into another boat.  He caught his anchor on the second boat’s lines and had a very hard time getting disentangled.  I enjoyed watching the show.

We had docktails on the patio looking out over two of the marinas.  I fixed Rotel which was a big hit.  My last two contributions have been pretzel rods and microwave popcorn, so it was past time for me to “cook.”