Southern Lake Michigan

Once again we are leaving in the early, early morning, it's a short day on the water, only 23.1 NM.  The Fishtown Five are all heading out today but we have two different destinations so hopefully we will be re-united further on the loop.  The waves were a little rough today so Ookpik offered to be our blocker, we slowed down and pulled in behind Karen and Bruce.

 The coastline is changing

The breakwall at Saugatuck led to the lovely, winding Kalamazoo River that slowly made its way to town.  The town was pretty with a much larger number of restaurants, stores and art galleries than the other Michigan harbors we have visited.

 Home on the river

We were impressed with the private gardens

 Tour boat on the river

Ookpik anchored out while Sonata and us pulled into Coral Gable Marina, at $2.50 per foot we wished we were also at anchor.  We have found the city, municiple and state marinas in Michigan to be of excellent quality, centrally located to town, and very well priced, usually in the $1 to $1.25/ft range.  Bonnie and Charlie asked us to join them on their boat for dinner, southern hospitality at its finest, we had a wonderful home cooked meal and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

 Sonata was first to leave the dock

 Bob and Kemba on Spirit Dancer were next

 Kalamazoo River

 Flat calm day #4

 Entrance to South Haven

The labor day weekend was upon us so we decided to stay a few days in South Haven, a very convenient little town (grocery store of sorts close at hand, beach, stores, restaurants) so we knew there would be plenty to keep us busy.  We had tried to get reservations in New Buffalo for Saturday but they were fully booked and by the time Saturday rolled around NOAA had changed the weather forecast so we were quite content to stay here.

 Now we all know what these are but they are the first Canadian Geese we had seen since the cottage but not the last

 A spectacular sunset our first night in town

 Part way down the pier this stone sculpture was in the water, a jogger commented that she found it very disturbing and we would agree

 Craft Market

 Watched these seadoos on the lake doing tricks, one could do a flip which was amazing to watch although the landing was quite rough, note the helmut on the one fellow

 A very busy place

Had to show this photo large so you could see the fish, he was delighted and this is in the harbour entrance

 With the trees turning I think we need to head south quicker!

 We were last to leave the south dock in South Haven, another sign it is time to  head south

 Our next stop was St. Joseph where they were having an art auction the next day, I thought this duck would be well worth bidding on but when I saw the dog, and a big dog at that, I knew this could be Frank's next big dog!

 The commercial side of Benton harbor

 Pulled out of the marina the next morning and decided to wait until this one passed us by, we know there are lots of big ships and barges to come but boy are they big

  Passed by a nuclear plant on our way down to New Buffalo and the coast guard decided to come see who we were, politely asked a few questions and then they were on their way.  Frank asked if we could take their photo and they said yes, Frank asked them to smile and the guy said he couldn't he was on duty!  Sense of humour!

  New Buffalo presented another different kind of waterfront on Lake Michigan. Most of the waterfront was dockage with a great deal of new construction, condos, etc

Tomorrows forecast is looking good so we should be crossing the lake in the morning!