Grand Haven

Tuesday, June16

We had plans for a busy day so we were up and away quickly this morning. The weather was not the beautiful day of yesterday but very acceptable. There was a light overcast with mild temperatures, winds forecast to be East at 10 to 15. We were a little concerned about the wind, but when we got underway they were only 8-10, offshore and slight behind abeam so we had a very comfortable ride. Later the winds built to 15 but the ride was fine except a couple of times when the waves seemed to go directly abeam and we rolled a bit.

The Route from South Haven to Grand Haven was 48 miles and we made good time. With the water and wind conditions the way they were we picked up an extra .25 mph on our normal cruise speed with the same power, 8.2 instead of 7.8-7.9. Diana got a picture of the approach to Grand Haven. By 1:00 we were into the Grand haven breakwater and quickly pulled into a nice, big slip at the Municipal Marina, they have free Wi-Fi so this will get posted.

I had reserved a car with Enterprise and when the boat was settled in I called and they promptly picked me up. We made the 40 minute drive to The Michigan Wheel Company in Grand Rapids. They had the right hand spare prop I need ready for me. Now hopefully since I have spares I won’t need them. We then drove to Grand Rapids West Marine, I had called them and they had a replacement radio microphone to replace the one that went swimming last week.

We detoured thru Holland on the way back to the boat and enjoyed a very scenic town but as we knew, it is way past tulip season. We then went back to the boat, put things away and headed back out for dinner. We walked the two blocks to where the main street intersects the river and found several establishments with side walk seating. We finally settled on one that had a second floor patio overlooking the river. We both had pasta dishes that were very good.

We walked back to the boat feeling it had been a very good day. There are some big boats in this river; Diana got this picture just as we got back to the boat. Just down river from the last slip (about 150 feet from ours) is a section of bleachers. The city has built a lighted water show across the river on a hillside. Every night all summer they have a half hour musical presentation with dancing fountains and colored lights (I believe each night is different). We sat on the fly bridge; it was a pleasant way to finish a long day.

I just received pictures from Satoko from last weekend I have included some of them here.



Thanks Satoko.