Monday - White Lake: Day 108
Tuesday, Wednesday - Grand Haven: Days 109-110
Thursday - Saugatuck: Day 111
After leaving Manistee, we took every opportunity to move south along the Michigan coast line while the weather remained somewhat favorable. We left our anchorage in Manistee on Monday morning heading out the channel and towards White Lake, 60 miles away. At our normal cruising speed of 7.5 knots, today was going to be a very long day. The forecast of 10-15 knot winds out of the northeast with 1-2 foot seas was exactly correct, making the long ride reasonably comfortable for us. Rickshaw has a pair of extra fins on the bottom which are the hydraulic stabilizers which dampen the roll from waves coming at us from our beam, or just ahead or behind of our beam. They are not effective for seas coming directly on our bow or on our stern, so the most comfortable wave direction for us on our trip down the coast is anything but northerly or southerly.
We arrived in White Lake after 8 1/2 hours, dropping the anchor in a pretty little cove surrounded by summer cottages peering down into the bay from high up on the hillside. After the darkness set in, we took blankets and pillows out on the dinghy deck (where Ricky-Dink is stored), and gazed up at the millions of stars in the moonless sky.
On Tuesday, the weather forecast remained good, so we pushed ahead down the coast again a short 24 miles to another popular tourist town, Grand Haven. Grand Haven was a great stopover, especially since it offered one of our most favorite features, a free town wall, which gives us the security of being tied to a wall (instead of at anchor), good access to the town, and best of all, at no cost! GH goes out of its way to make itself a great place to visit, with a nice downtown shopping strip, a great farmers' market on the waterside, and a nightly musical fountain show, which happened to be right in front of where we parked on the wall. We decided to stay in GH for 2 nights, giving us a chance to stop and relax a bit. There is a promenade along the town wall so throughout the day and early evening was a constrant stream of people strolling along the canal, many stopping by to ask where we came from and where we were going. On the 2nd day, we were surprised to see Maia (whom we hadn't seen since Atlantic Highland, NJ 3 months ago) pull in, so we enjoyed catching up with Dave & Joy on Maia.
Although Grand Haven was very nice, we needed to continue pushing south in order to make our goal of being either in Holland (20 miles south) or Saugatuck (27 miles south) by Friday morning, in order to meet Jim's sister, Louise, who was planning to drive over Friday from Detroit. The weather forecast for Thursday wasn't great, predicting 10-15 knot winds out of the south, with 2-3 foot seas, also out of the south, i.e. on the nose. Friday's forecast was slightly worse than Thursday's so we decided to make the jump down the coast, hoping to make it as far as Saugatuck, with the backup plan of stopping at Holland. The ride was probably the worst we had had the entire loop trip, with the waves usually in the 2 foot range but with a few 4 & 5 foot waves hitting us right on the bow. Rickshaw tends to "hobby horse" when pushing into waves on our bow, which made the 3 1/2 hour trip somewhat uncomfortable for us. We had no concerns that it was too much for Rickshaw. Our biggest concern was damage to either us or to the furnishings on the boat during the constant pounding of the bow down into the trough of waves. Shortly before pulling into the Kalmazoo River, which was our entrance into the Saugatuck harbor, we received a call from Louise that she wasn't feeling well and would have to cancel her visit, which obviously was a big disappointment.
When we arrived in the harbor, we considered our choices for parking Rickshaw. The main marina was very expensive (over $100 / night for a slip). We attempted to get a slip at another marina, which, we discovered after running aground twice, did not have enough water in the available slips for our 4 1/2 foot draft. Our final choice was to drop our anchor in the middle of the harbor in 8 ft of water just off of the main town marina. We figured that we were probably the only boat in the group of boats we had been buddy-boating with that would have chosen to travel today, so we were pleasantly surprised to hear Skip & Barb on Moor $tuff call out to us on channel 16 on the VHF, after pulling into the harbor at about the same time, having slogged down from Holland. We enjoyed the rest of the day (Thursday) exploring the upscale, artsy town of Saugatuck with Skip & Barb, followed up by a delicious dinner in town, before getting back on Ricky-Dink to return to Rickshaw, who remained the only boat in the anchorage.
Tuesday, Wednesday - Grand Haven: Days 109-110
Thursday - Saugatuck: Day 111
After leaving Manistee, we took every opportunity to move south along the Michigan coast line while the weather remained somewhat favorable. We left our anchorage in Manistee on Monday morning heading out the channel and towards White Lake, 60 miles away. At our normal cruising speed of 7.5 knots, today was going to be a very long day. The forecast of 10-15 knot winds out of the northeast with 1-2 foot seas was exactly correct, making the long ride reasonably comfortable for us. Rickshaw has a pair of extra fins on the bottom which are the hydraulic stabilizers which dampen the roll from waves coming at us from our beam, or just ahead or behind of our beam. They are not effective for seas coming directly on our bow or on our stern, so the most comfortable wave direction for us on our trip down the coast is anything but northerly or southerly.
We arrived in White Lake after 8 1/2 hours, dropping the anchor in a pretty little cove surrounded by summer cottages peering down into the bay from high up on the hillside. After the darkness set in, we took blankets and pillows out on the dinghy deck (where Ricky-Dink is stored), and gazed up at the millions of stars in the moonless sky.
On Tuesday, the weather forecast remained good, so we pushed ahead down the coast again a short 24 miles to another popular tourist town, Grand Haven. Grand Haven was a great stopover, especially since it offered one of our most favorite features, a free town wall, which gives us the security of being tied to a wall (instead of at anchor), good access to the town, and best of all, at no cost! GH goes out of its way to make itself a great place to visit, with a nice downtown shopping strip, a great farmers' market on the waterside, and a nightly musical fountain show, which happened to be right in front of where we parked on the wall. We decided to stay in GH for 2 nights, giving us a chance to stop and relax a bit. There is a promenade along the town wall so throughout the day and early evening was a constrant stream of people strolling along the canal, many stopping by to ask where we came from and where we were going. On the 2nd day, we were surprised to see Maia (whom we hadn't seen since Atlantic Highland, NJ 3 months ago) pull in, so we enjoyed catching up with Dave & Joy on Maia.
Although Grand Haven was very nice, we needed to continue pushing south in order to make our goal of being either in Holland (20 miles south) or Saugatuck (27 miles south) by Friday morning, in order to meet Jim's sister, Louise, who was planning to drive over Friday from Detroit. The weather forecast for Thursday wasn't great, predicting 10-15 knot winds out of the south, with 2-3 foot seas, also out of the south, i.e. on the nose. Friday's forecast was slightly worse than Thursday's so we decided to make the jump down the coast, hoping to make it as far as Saugatuck, with the backup plan of stopping at Holland. The ride was probably the worst we had had the entire loop trip, with the waves usually in the 2 foot range but with a few 4 & 5 foot waves hitting us right on the bow. Rickshaw tends to "hobby horse" when pushing into waves on our bow, which made the 3 1/2 hour trip somewhat uncomfortable for us. We had no concerns that it was too much for Rickshaw. Our biggest concern was damage to either us or to the furnishings on the boat during the constant pounding of the bow down into the trough of waves. Shortly before pulling into the Kalmazoo River, which was our entrance into the Saugatuck harbor, we received a call from Louise that she wasn't feeling well and would have to cancel her visit, which obviously was a big disappointment.
When we arrived in the harbor, we considered our choices for parking Rickshaw. The main marina was very expensive (over $100 / night for a slip). We attempted to get a slip at another marina, which, we discovered after running aground twice, did not have enough water in the available slips for our 4 1/2 foot draft. Our final choice was to drop our anchor in the middle of the harbor in 8 ft of water just off of the main town marina. We figured that we were probably the only boat in the group of boats we had been buddy-boating with that would have chosen to travel today, so we were pleasantly surprised to hear Skip & Barb on Moor $tuff call out to us on channel 16 on the VHF, after pulling into the harbor at about the same time, having slogged down from Holland. We enjoyed the rest of the day (Thursday) exploring the upscale, artsy town of Saugatuck with Skip & Barb, followed up by a delicious dinner in town, before getting back on Ricky-Dink to return to Rickshaw, who remained the only boat in the anchorage.
 Something just doesn't seem right when you see a sailboat planing under power ..........  A catamaran coming in the Grand Haven channel.  The Grand Haven beach and RV park!  A morning's catch from one of the local charter boats.  After watching the ballroom daning we walked out on the jettie to see the sun set on Lake Michigan.  We watched the musical fountain two nights while in Grand Haven. Apparently they have several shows so we didn't see the same performance both nights.  One of the more unique shops in Saugatuck has some VERY unusual furniture. This designer must have been a big fan of Dr. Seuss. |  Either a condo or apartment complex with a beach on the shore of White Lake.  The lighthouse they call Big Red at the end of the sea wall in Grand Haven.  The boardwalk along the canal. Grand Haven is a clean and colorful city which is very welcoming to the tourist!  One evening Grand Haven had an orchestra playing big band music for ball room dancing on the waterfront.  Saugatuck has a chain ferry to take people across the canal. The ferry is guided by chains that are submerged until the ferry pulls them to the surface as it goes across. So you don't want to pass too close or might snag the chains in your props - OUCH!  More 'Dr. Suess' furniture and lamp! |
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