Destination:
Ludington, MI – 2nd leg: Muskegon, MI
Guests Onboard:
Kyle & Kara
Departure
Port:
South Haven Municipal Marina
Date/Time:
08/16/23 @ 6:30 AM ET
Arrival
Port:
Safe Harbor Great Lakes Marina in Muskegon, MI
Date/Time:
08/16/23 @ 3:35 PM ET
Length:
54.6 nm
Duration:
9:05 (engine = 9.3 hours)
Weather Conditions:
Some cloudy skies with another beautiful sunrise
Temperature
60s, but it seemed to warm up all day
Wind (speed + Direction)
5 – 7 knots S
Wave Height
~1’ waves with several bigger rollers closer to destination
Notable Places, Experiences & Events
We were low on sleep, motivation and willpower. It seemed like everyone staying at South Haven wanted to get out before the next storm because 3 other boats left in front of us. Fortunately our neighbors were kind enough to help us leave and we headed out to the GREAT unknown …
We decided to bail on our original plans for staying in Grand Haven because there was predicted to be a big west wind coming in, and from what we read on the reviews there would be big surging in the river when that happens. We couldn’t take any more sleepless nights so we decided to head to Muskegon, which should be protected because we would be “hidden” off of Lake Muskegon.
Nothing to report about the journey – other than we had to motor because the wind was coming straight behind us. As we got closer to Muskegon, the waves appeared to pick up. We thought they were 2 – 4’ waves, but according to the NOAA buoy that we passed, they were only 1.5’ – OH NO, what would we do if we actually saw 4’ waves!
We reached the harbor with plenty of daylight. It was super fun to be around so many sailboats on Lake Muskegon – folks going out for afternoon / evening races. The wind was picking up.
We didn’t know which side of the dock that we were on, so we went to the fuel dock and fortunately, there was enough room to turn around because we guessed wrong. Dock #s are so hard to see, and the map that we downloaded didn’t have any details on it.
There were 2 dock hands available to help catch us and we made it in with no problems. We were on floating docks and even though the wind was blowing 20 – 30 knots, the boat was barely rocking. We slept like babies for the next 2 nights.
We would love to come back to this location, but unfortunately, we may be known as “the stinky boat”. As we were enjoying a day off in the pool, the security guard came to tell us that someone thought our battery was leaking because our boat smelled so bad. Nope, it’s just our holding tank vents. How embarrassing!
Well, here’s another project that we’ll need to tackle when we get home. There’s always something with a boat!
