Monday, June 15,
Even though we had lots of time yesterday evening I never got the last two days of blog done, so this morning I finished writing and posting those entries. This meant that even though we could have been off early it was after 7:30 before we got underway. To make it even worse in less than ten miles we crossed from Indiana to Michigan and we lost another hour. The plan for the day was a 59 mile trip from Michigan City to South Haven, MI.
The weather looked beautiful to start out in, temperatures in the mid 50’s but with bright
sunshine it promised to warm nicely. The winds were calm and the water glassy, just an occasional small swell left from somewhere. By early afternoon it was in the low 70’s even out on the water and although the wind tried to fill in it would build to 4 to 8 and then die off again. The weather just couldn’t be any better.
Diana got the first picture looking back at the Michigan City Marina from outside the break water as we were leaving. We phoned the South Haven Municipal Marina and they confirmed that there would be no problem getting dockage but they closed at 4:00, if we were later, tie up and they would see us in the morning. I want to start early tomorrow and so we pushed 90%
power for about an hour and a half total to get in by 4:00.
With the installation of the thrusters there was concern about effecting performance because of more weight and more drag from the hole in the bow. So far I cannot notice a problem, at just under 2000 rpm we are cruising between 7.8 and 8.0 mph and wide open (about 90% actual
(3000 rpm)) we are getting about 11.4-11.5 mph. These numbers match very closely with my recollection of last year. The turbo charger maybe working harder at the slower spee
ds and this would cause a small effect on mileage, but I won’t have any idea until I have a couple of fills with no current involved.
After a comfortable, quiet day of cruising we approached the South Haven Harbor Lights at 3:30. I say quiet because every time we run the engines hard and then go back to cruise we are reminded of how very quiet the boat is at that speed. As we went in between the break waters Diana got a picture of the sand beach outside the harbor. I mentioned yesterday the start of sand Dunes; the west Michigan shore (western side of the state, eastern side of the lake) is all sand from great beaches to sand dunes several hundred feet high for its entire length.
The picture also nicely shows the old walkway to the light house. When the break water was build the light needed to be tended daily (maybe multiple times a day), in a storm the waves could be washing several feet over the top of the breakwater so the frame work in the picture supported an elevated walkway to safely get to the light. Since modern technology has highly automated the lights it is only necessary to service the light occasionally. There are no longer any boards in the walkway, only the frame.
After some confusion about a low bridge that would not open until 4:00, we discovered that our destination was before the bridge and we motored right in to an end slip. South Haven Municip
al Marina is a nice little (40 slip) harbor that appears to be all transient slips. But it highlights how nice Michigan City was, there are fewer facilities here, Wi-Fi is a service at $8.00 a day vs. free and the charge is $.30 a foot higher. This blog will get posted up the line somewhere.
After we got the boat secure, the shore power hooked and settled up with the office we went for a walk. We walked from the boat to the red lighthouse on the end of the breakwater; it was about two thirds of a mile each way. Diana got a picture of the view shortly after we started out that shows the light in the distance and the captain’s backside in the foreground. As with most large beaches there was a concessions stand and we decide that it was warm enough for an ice cream cone (above freezing is warm enough).
I thought on the way in to the harbor that it seemed a very busy channel on a Monday afternoon and on the walk we confirmed there was lots of activity, large cruisers, sailboats, charter fisherman and the kayaks and jet ski in this picture.
We had a light dinner and a quiet evening of reading, plotting tomorrows route, writing this entry and boat chores. I think we will both be in bed early tonight.
Even though we had lots of time yesterday evening I never got the last two days of blog done, so this morning I finished writing and posting those entries. This meant that even though we could have been off early it was after 7:30 before we got underway. To make it even worse in less than ten miles we crossed from Indiana to Michigan and we lost another hour. The plan for the day was a 59 mile trip from Michigan City to South Haven, MI.
The weather looked beautiful to start out in, temperatures in the mid 50’s but with bright
sunshine it promised to warm nicely. The winds were calm and the water glassy, just an occasional small swell left from somewhere. By early afternoon it was in the low 70’s even out on the water and although the wind tried to fill in it would build to 4 to 8 and then die off again. The weather just couldn’t be any better.Diana got the first picture looking back at the Michigan City Marina from outside the break water as we were leaving. We phoned the South Haven Municipal Marina and they confirmed that there would be no problem getting dockage but they closed at 4:00, if we were later, tie up and they would see us in the morning. I want to start early tomorrow and so we pushed 90%
power for about an hour and a half total to get in by 4:00.With the installation of the thrusters there was concern about effecting performance because of more weight and more drag from the hole in the bow. So far I cannot notice a problem, at just under 2000 rpm we are cruising between 7.8 and 8.0 mph and wide open (about 90% actual
(3000 rpm)) we are getting about 11.4-11.5 mph. These numbers match very closely with my recollection of last year. The turbo charger maybe working harder at the slower spee
ds and this would cause a small effect on mileage, but I won’t have any idea until I have a couple of fills with no current involved.After a comfortable, quiet day of cruising we approached the South Haven Harbor Lights at 3:30. I say quiet because every time we run the engines hard and then go back to cruise we are reminded of how very quiet the boat is at that speed. As we went in between the break waters Diana got a picture of the sand beach outside the harbor. I mentioned yesterday the start of sand Dunes; the west Michigan shore (western side of the state, eastern side of the lake) is all sand from great beaches to sand dunes several hundred feet high for its entire length.
The picture also nicely shows the old walkway to the light house. When the break water was build the light needed to be tended daily (maybe multiple times a day), in a storm the waves could be washing several feet over the top of the breakwater so the frame work in the picture supported an elevated walkway to safely get to the light. Since modern technology has highly automated the lights it is only necessary to service the light occasionally. There are no longer any boards in the walkway, only the frame.
After some confusion about a low bridge that would not open until 4:00, we discovered that our destination was before the bridge and we motored right in to an end slip. South Haven Municip
al Marina is a nice little (40 slip) harbor that appears to be all transient slips. But it highlights how nice Michigan City was, there are fewer facilities here, Wi-Fi is a service at $8.00 a day vs. free and the charge is $.30 a foot higher. This blog will get posted up the line somewhere.After we got the boat secure, the shore power hooked and settled up with the office we went for a walk. We walked from the boat to the red lighthouse on the end of the breakwater; it was about two thirds of a mile each way. Diana got a picture of the view shortly after we started out that shows the light in the distance and the captain’s backside in the foreground. As with most large beaches there was a concessions stand and we decide that it was warm enough for an ice cream cone (above freezing is warm enough).
I thought on the way in to the harbor that it seemed a very busy channel on a Monday afternoon and on the walk we confirmed there was lots of activity, large cruisers, sailboats, charter fisherman and the kayaks and jet ski in this picture.
We had a light dinner and a quiet evening of reading, plotting tomorrows route, writing this entry and boat chores. I think we will both be in bed early tonight.
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