Spending time in Saugatuck, MI

Old Lighthouse at White Lake

On Wednesday, August 31 we left Manistee and found the Lake to be calm and quite pleasant. The forecast had been 2-4 foot seas but the winds were much lighter than anticipated – therefore so were the waves. We had planned to go to Pentwater, but we passed since it was a good travel day. So we added another 32 miles to our day and anchored in White Lake near Whitehall, MI.


View from our anchor



Lunch at the Red Dock

There was a really neat old lighthouse there and the scenery was nice. When we got to the anchorage, there was Tourist already on the hook. They had planned to cross to the western shore of the Lake, but decided not to try it after all. It seems that the 2-4 foot waves that were forecasted were there out in the middle of the Lake. We just relaxed out on the sundeck and had a nice evening. Not really eventful – we will take those now and then.
The next morning we found the Lake even better than the day before – extra calm. This is what we think of when we think of lake travel. Calm and no winds! We talked to Last dance and Erika Lyn. They had stayed in the marina near where we had anchored and left just a little behind us. Since the water was good this time, Tourist decided to try for the crossing again. As we grew near to Grand Haven we realized that we were making better time than usual. It was only 10:30 am and way too early to stop for the day – especially since we weren't getting bounced around all over the Lake! So on we went – past Muskegon, Grand haven and Holland. We passed Confetti along the way. Glad to see them up and running fine. I'm sure they will catch up with us again soon.
We ended up in Saugatuck on the hook again. Saugatuck is located on the Kalamazoo River. As you go down the river - just as you get to the town – it opens up into the Lake Kalamazoo. The lake is pretty shallow and has a lot of marinas on it, but we found a good place to anchor. We met another Looper on the hook there from Canada - OokPik. I found out later that OokPik is Eskimo for the "white owl". They are really nice people. Typical Canadians – very friendly!
Our first day there we took the dinghy into town to look around. There are some really nice upscale shops – very artsy/fartsy. However there are some cool things to see and I knew I'd be back to do some shopping! We spent Happy Hour at Phil's – a local tavern. I highly recommend it! We spent another hour or so walking around the marinas and checking out more stores. We met up with Me Nou – another Looper. They are in a sailboat that has been "de-masted" for the trip. We met them in Delaware City. They are from Port Arthur, LA and will finish the loop in a few months. It was really good to see them! We had a nice evening on anchor, but it really hat. They are supposed to break records around her tomorrow with the temperatures. They are also forecasting 2-4 foot waves so we plan to stay another day or so.
We woke up to light showers and some thunder on Friday morning. Not bad though. Mike went fishing and I spent the morning watching boats go in and out of the harbor. Nice peaceful morning. We took the dinghy to the Red Dock for lunch. The Red Dock is a "colorful" dock made into a restaurant. You pretty much step back into time when you get on the dock. It's run by two "hippie" type guys and it definitely shows in the decorating. It was great! Very limited menu – we had Chicago dogs and beer. Can't get much better than that! The Dock is located next to the S.S. Keewatin that is on display. It is the last Passenger Steamship that was in service. It has been sunk here and tours are given. Again, we passed on the tour. We did ride around it in the dinghy – free of charge. LOL
We had made plans to go to St Joseph from here and cross over to Chicago. But we found out from Sweet Pea (who is now in Chicago) that America's Cup was there. The sailboats were leaving Chicago on Saturday going to St Joseph then to Michigan City and back to Chicago on Monday. I'm talking about over 150 huge sailboats – racing! It would have been neat to see, but we just couldn't make that happen. All the marinas in that area were booked. After all, America's Cup is a big deal! That brings a lot of spectators too. Since there were no marinas available and there are no really good anchorages in that area, we decided to stay until at least Monday. So we took the dinghy to the market and visited with Dixie and Dick from Me Nou again.
Sunday would have been a great travel day, but we had nowhere to go! We took the dinghy to town where I did some shopping and Mike found the Sand Bar - a local tavern. Hmmm! He's just not into doing much shopping! I need a shopping companion!! Like I said before, the town is rather artsy and can be a little precocious. I still enjoyed window shopping and did make a "few" purchases.
We enjoyed sitting on the park bench and watching the people. There are all kinds here. Me Nou called and invited us to watch the LSU/Oregon game with them. Since they are from Louisiana, they didn't want to miss it – plus Dixie was cooking up some gumbo! How could we resist!! Coincidentally their daughter and son-in-law were at the game in Dallas and so were Mike and Jill! Jill was even on ESPN but we didn't get to see her. Turned out to be a good game – and the GUMBO was even BETTER! Dixie can cook some mighty fine gumbo….! We had taken the dinghy over to their boat down the river a spell and when it came time to come home – well, let's just say – it was rather "dark" out. Neither Mike nor I could see very well…. Oh, and it was night too. LOL! We did make it back to NautiNell though safe and sound.
Sunday the forecast was for 10 foot waves on this D&%* Lake! We would be staying another day and perhaps two. The wind was just not going to lie for a few days. We pretty much did nothing on Sunday but hang out and pout. We are ready to get moving. However, it did get even windier and NautiNell moved some while on anchor. We had to reset the anchor twice. Luckily we didn't run aground or hit anything. We didn't really drag the anchor far – but it's still unnerving.
When we got up on Monday morning, the wind we still raising H*LL! When we decided that we would move to the other side of the Lake (which is what OokPik did also), we found that our port engine wouldn't start. We had been having a little trouble with it and figured we were going to have to buy a battery. But we hadn't done it yet…..! We called around and couldn't find a store that was open on Labor Day. Finally we called the marina that we were anchored out in front of – duh! They had one and would bring it out to us. How perfect is that! About $300 dollars later, we had a new battery and a port engine that would start right up. SO, we moved to the other side of the lake where it was much calmer. Now we just needed to wait for the wind to die down….! According to the weather radio it was still gusting up to 30 knots out on the Lake. Maybe tomorrow! Maybe not! We would have to wait and see.
There was a good chance that we would be spending another day here in Saugatuck.

Till next time!
Admiral "C"