Grand Haven to St. Joseph, MI to Hammond, IN

We ended-up spending three nights in Ludington due to high winds of 20 knots and waves reaching over 9 feet in height on Lake Michigan. Larry was very productive with the down time, as he was able to identify the problem with the windshield wiper, order a replacement and install the new wiper motor. Finally, we get to move on to Grand Haven (61NM) but sadly had to forego the port of Pentwater due to the weather hold and lost days. The trip southward to Grand Haven was a little rolly at first with four foot waves and good size swells coming in sets. We enter Grand Haven harbor and proceed toward Grand Isle Marina, where, FYI if you cannot clear a 25-foot vertical clearance you must contact the bridge tender of the U.S. HWY 31 bascule bridge for an opening. Openings are once an hour on the half-hour and you can reach the bridge tender by VHF channel 16. After clearing the bridge we try to hail the marina but frustratingly, we get no response. We need to pump the head and so we move toward the fuel dock and pump station. The station slips are narrow looking and as the dock hand finally emerges we ask her if she knows the width...sadly she does not, nor does she know anything about our reservation or what our slip assignment is. I will just cut to the chase and say that the dock help at this marina is very unreliable, unknowledgeable and unapologetic about it. If you can reserve a slip at the Grand Haven Municipal Marina or secure a space on the city wall you will be better served. The town of Grand Haven is a sweet town with a great Main Street, microbreweries, and some lovely beaches.

After two nights at Grand Haven we push on to St. Joseph (67NM) in smooth water. There is bad weather coming so we had to sadly pass by Saugatuck and South Haven in order to make our reservations in Chicago. But we are so happy we stopped in St. Joseph as it is such a cute little town bustling with Labor Day weekend activity. The beaches and boardwalks are packed and the main street is jammed with people. I still can’t believe how many ice cream stores there are in Michigan. The salmon run has just started in the waters outside the ‘St. Jo’ channel and fishing boats are criss-crossing as they trawl, often with no attention given to where they are going or to whom is coming toward them. The channel and harbor were dredged from the original St. Joseph River first by private investors in the 1860’s and later by the U.S. Corps of Engineers who removed a large sandbar and placed protective piers on either side of the channel in the 1930's. St. Joseph was a shipbuilding town from the 1830’s until the late 1900’s as lumber was in great supply. Sailing and steam-powered vessels were built here for lake and river navigation. The shipbuilding and commercial fishing economies soon gave way to tourism, as is the norm for these small coastal towns.

A nice day trip to Hammond (50NM) that started a bit choppy with 2 footers and then flattened out to just a ripple. Hammond is only 14 nautical miles from Chicago so we will, hopefully, be able to get in tomorrow well before any of the big forecasted winds are set to hit. We feel so sad for the people in the beautiful Abacos Islands who have been hit so hard by hurricane Dorian and hope our Jupiter friends will be safe over the next few days to come.

Grand Haven channel with its charming lighthouse and breakwater

U.S. Hwy 31 bascule bridge heading to Grand Isle Marina…don’t forget to call for an opening or you will sit there all day!

A great day for a bike ride to the breakwater and out to the Grand Haven lighthouse

Time for mini golf…this hazard was a challenge for me but not for Larry as he won again!

Have to have a brew at Oddside Brewery which is in a great old brick building that used to be a piano factory

The Oddside beer menu…I would like to be a ‘fly on the wall’ when they come up with some of these names

Religion and art…The First Reformed Church has quite the history, as seen below…

Entering St. Joseph channel this trawler cuts right across our bow with four trawling lines out at his stern

The St. Joseph River Yacht Club at the entrance to West Basin Marina

Upstream from the channel on the St. Joseph River with the swing bridge in the distance

We stop and listen to the St. Joseph Municipal Band (conducted by Dr. Donald Moely) performing at the John Howard Bandshell.

This is the third St. Joseph swing bridge. This bridge was built in 1904 & is owned & maintained by the CSX (Chessie & Seaboard Expanded) Transportation. The Independence is in the marina across the river.

More great beer names at the Silver Harbor Brewery in St. Joseph

The old Silver Beach Amusement Park at St. Joseph, built in 1891, had a carousel, roller rink, indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, beer garden, penny arcade, ballroom and a wooden roller coaster

A newer carousel now sits at the site of the old amusement park

Later in the evening this little swing bridge gets quite busy

Departing ‘St. Jo’ on a nice calm morning

A smooth crossing on Lake Michigan from St. Joseph to Hammond as we weave between sailboats in a regatta to Chicago