When our trawler’s engine recovered from its adrenaline spurts (it wasn’t quite done), we continued our 2015 adventure, leaving Harbor Springs and continuing our voyage down the east coast of Lake Michigan. Bypassing Charlevoix, we headed for Leland with its quaint restored fishing village right next to a marina.
We stayed an extra day for weather before going out on the lake again, hoping for smooth, but often getting bounce and roll, sometimes so bad we had to turn back. By the time we reached Grand Haven, about a third of the way down, we knew why the state of Michigan installed harbors of refuge.
Cruising on Lake Michigan, with its miles of fetch from prevailing winds that blew out of the southwest, was not to be taken lightly and sudden squalls were dangerous to boaters, especially slow little boats like ours. So the state channelized river mouths, installed lighthouses, and made safe harbors for boats to duck into to get out of weather.
It was reassuring, but we still had four and five-hour passages between destinations and nice days sometimes turned nasty.
We made it to Grand Haven just before Labor Day weekend. Dock space was scarce. It’s one of the biggest boating weekends in Michigan because it’s also the last one of the season. Boats are pulled out of the water and stored inside huge buildings or in covered slips in preparation for winter.
I checked the calendar daily. I’d read somewhere the lock into the Illinois River in Chicago closed on Sept. 15. Worry lines began to appear in my forehead. I needed to stock up on chocolate.
The Coast Guard has an App for smart phones that tells you the wind speed, height and frequency of choppy waves at designated buoys. I installed it on my phone so I could add to my anxiety. Capt. Mark and I had a deal. If the wind speed was over 15 knots and waves on the lake were over three feet high we stayed in port. Unlike rolling waves in the Pacific that come at you in 15 second intervals, the sharp lake waves pelt your hull every three seconds.
It was a long, bouncy trip down Lake Michigan, but a scenic one. Our stops took us to Frankfort, Pentwater, Grand Haven, Saugatuck, South Haven, Benton Harbor and Michigan City. The day we finally turned west heading for Illinois, we passed Gary, Indiana and I belted out all the songs from The Music Man, to Capt. Mark’s horror.
It took us 32 days to get down the coast of Lake Michigan and I was ecstatic the day we cruised into DuSable Marina near the heart of downtown Chicago. Reaching the rivers of middle America was like pulling into your driveway after a multi-day road trip. No more nail biting, jaw clenching or speed-eating chocolates. Calm, enclosed, fetch-free waters were ahead. Or so I thought.
Silly me, a woman who’d never met a barge. That was about to change.
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