South Haven, MI to Michigan City, IN

I was up earlier than normal because I had been concerned about the pump out (all boats have a holding tank for sewage that must be pumped out regularly!).  We would need to do it BY OURSELVES this morning.  It is a DIY pump!  There would be no dock hands to catch the lines and no one to help hook up the pump. We were also told that this pump, like most all pumps on docks, was noisy.    Even though the marina kindly left the power to the pump on so we could leave early, we chose to wait until the Marina opened at 8a.  This was after we discovered that two boats were in slips right next to this pump out slip... whew!  I sure hope those folks get a discount for being in these slips as the smell is often pretty bad.  Okay, so this is more information than you wanted about long distance travel by boat... well, we just couldn't give you only the good... had to throw in the bad & ugly to balance things a bit. :-0

So there we were moving slowing into the pump out slip.  We decided to wear our headsets which we had not done in a while....this helped a lot.  It's been at least two months since I got nervous or concerned about docking alone but we have been spoiled by all kinds of help lately at docks.

There was no one there and the folks on close by boats seemed to be asleep still.   Great!  I asked the Captain if I should climb over the rail and get on the dock with the bow line but he told me to rope the tall piling from the bow deck!  It only took me three times to lasso that baby!  In my ear I could hear a soft voice saying, “Come on”... at least he was not yelling but would not have blamed him as the wind was blowing us off the dock and the piling was about to get away from me. Then I ran to the back to loop the stern line over that piling... The boat was real close to it so no problem. Thus we were tied and Walter knew exactly what to do and soon we had finished the pump out and we were on our way.

Leaving South Haven with another Looper just ahead of us.

This was a classic sail boat we passed... don't see many sailboats with their sails up... most are only motoring along going some place but not 'sailing”.

The forecast was for waves only 1 to 3 feet to start with but it changed!  The wind became a lot stronger and soon we were bumping along.. ugh.   As we bounced up and down the waves we were surprised by our twin passing by... we think this was the same model boat as ours but the top of his bridge was lower which would be nice for getting under those low railroad bridges out of Chicago.

Near our destination harbor we passed this beach with sail boards lined up.

Something that has surprised me was several Atomic Power plants we passed on Lake Michigan.  Almost all big landmarks are on the navigational charts but not these power plants.. for security reasons... of course they are easy to spot but the government just doesn't want to make it too easy.

A while before we got to our port the wind quit and we were once again cruising easier on Lake Michigan.  Here is the north breakwater lighthouse.  I know I have shown you a lot of these but did you know that they are all different in color or shape or both so they are easily recognized by seamen?

Beautiful clear water under us as we entered the harbor.

Looking for our slip assignment in another city municipal inexpensive dock.

After we tied up and registered at the dockside office we changed to walking shoes and took off for the last day of the boat show here... just outside the marina!  They had small boats and large in-water boats.  We climbed on & off until Walter found his favorite.. a trailerable Ranger Tug... cute red one similar to this one that could be had for only about $129,000!

Here he is peeking out the bow hatch. 

Here is my favorite... a 2008 Grand Banks for just under $800,000!   See why we bought an OLD boat?

We will be staying here for a couple of nights, maybe three since the price is right. They also have mechanics in this town that come to this dock and one that has been recommended for Air Conditioning work.  The AC /heat in the salon works but the AC for the aft & forward cabins is not working.  We are now motivated more than ever to get this fixed since we have come from temps ranging from 50 to 70 degrees to humid 90 degree weather and suppose to be 91 by Tuesday!  What happened to our nice early fall?  Seems I was just thinking of making chili a few days ago!

Next stop will be Chicago!