September 6, 2008: Ludington, Michigan

This morning broke with low gray clouds over the marina, but the flags were at rest indicating that the winds were down. The weather forecast predicted clearing to the south and the wind is under 10 knots. We cast off early heading south passing the 5000 acre Manitou Islands with their white cedar forests and the old light house which now serves as a channel marker. We had heard that this was a favorite diving place because of all the wrecks and the dock master told us that just the week before that a sailboat had hit sharp rocks on the north side of the island in shallow water and sank. The crew was rescued, but the boat had not been salvaged yet. Needless to say we navigated in the channel where the depth gauge read 155 feet.

Next we discovered the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, which are part of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. And we passed by Frankfort, a little town where the lighthouse marks the entrance to the Betsie River, and saw all the little sports fishing boats trolling there. It is very hard to get pictures to share about today. How can I describe the ride? Let me say that we are either sitting down or holding on with both hands to move around the cockpit or down the stairs. So even without whitecaps, there is a 4 foot rolling surf and chop on top of that. An occasional wave will catch us with a solid whack, and the zipped up isinglass windows are covered with spray. We are headed into the wind which always gives you a rougher ride.

Sometime along the way, the rough water caused our GPS unit mounted at the highest point in our boat to come loose. I suggested that we just follow the coastline to the harbor, but Tom insisted climbing out on the back railing to fix it even with the boat heaving beneath us.

As we neared Ludington, we saw a flock of sailboats in the mouth of the harbor enjoying the wind. We found safe harbor pulling in between the two light houses that mark the entrance to the huge man made harbor at Ludington. As we pulled into the channel towards the Pere Marquette Lake, we saw a commercial ship offloading gravel at the Ludington docks. Obviously the shipping is still active in Lake Michigan. Finally we reached the Harbor View Marina and pulled up to the fuel dock to refill our fuel tanks at $4.07 / gallon. We were docked immediately behind a sports fishing boat and there are at least 4 rods on the boat for each of the fishermen. I guess that increases their chances of catching something. Tonight as we walked to dinner we met a young girl and her dad who had a salmon at least 3 feet long in a cooler that she had caught today. There must be fish out there. We went to dinner with old friends, Mark Rabaut, Past International Kiwanis Trustee and his wife, Claudia who have driven over from Detroit to see us.