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Our Sailing Trip to South Haven
Kara and I sailed – actually we motored – to South Haven in June and stayed at the municipal marina for 3 nights, which was supposed to be only 2 nights, and explored the town. We really enjoy exploring new places and the small harbor towns on Lake Michigan never seem to disappoint!
Kara really pressured me to bring our bicycles with – she wanted to go on the Kal-Haven Trail. The loading and unloading took both of us working together – AND most of my patience, but eventually we got it! Maybe in the future our budget will afford folding bicycles, but for now we worked with what we had.
Arriving at the South Haven Municipal Marina was great. As we were entering the harbor, Kara called them up to confirm our reserved slip location, and they kindly offered dock hands to assist. Thankfully I was able to navigate the new marina and dock without issue! It always takes some effort and heart pounding moments when trying to pull off something new. The marina in South Haven is clean and well kept with great facilities – even a boating lounge with cards, board games and coffee. We tied up and prepped SV Zeke E Boy for a few nights at the new dock – I literally used every dock line we had!
We walked throughout the town for a few hours and checked out all of the shops that weren’t opened when we visited over the winter and had an appetizer and cold beverage at a restaurant that was actually a boat on the Black River! The next morning, after a delicious, hearty breakfast from the Golden Brown Bakery, we took off on our bikes to the Kal-Haven Trail and rode for 5 miles into the Fruit Belt, even got to go through the covered bridge that is now being replaced. On the way back to town, Kara shared that so far the trip has been “perfect” – great weather, great food, and fun exercise! It really couldn’t get any better …
Unfortunately, the only way to go was down … Later that day we watched as the wind went from completely calm to 30 knots with 7 – 9 foot waves crashing over the pier. The swells entered the harbor and now the calm marina turned not so calm … that’s when the rocking and rolling started. Sleeping on SV Zeke E Boy proved difficult at best with all the motion of the incoming swells, but we managed as best as we could. An interesting note: our old green dock lines would squeak with each motion and sounded like they would break at any moment so we’ve now added upgrading our dock lines to the budget before our next trip! It’s a good thing we got the snubbers mentioned in our scouting trip blog – they were very helpful!
The next day (the day that we were originally supposed to leave) the wind did not let up. Fortunately, our slip was open for another day/night, and there was still much to explore in the town. Everyone staying at the marina was in good spirits and friendly – we met several folks from Holland as well as another sailing couple who crossed the lake from Wisconsin!
The extra day at South Haven turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Although Kara had to reschedule several events that she overbooked us with, we were able to stay in South Haven to enjoy Friday Night of Harborfest with great food and live music; we’re now super fans of John Rush (go see him if you can)! Plus the wind died down that evening and the next day was beautiful for our journey home. We left very early and motored home with no wind. Better safe than sorry!
South Haven is definitely on our list for a repeatable trip in the future – an adorable small town with lots of activities to enjoy. We’re just planning to get new dock lines before our next trip!
Tell us what you think
Let us know what you think of our sailing adventures by sharing your feedback in the comments below. What’s your favorite thing to do in the sunset coast of Lake Michigan? Where do you go? We’d love to hear from you!
– Kyle from Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
