After a crazy summer season with little boating, we are all so eager to get some time on board. This trip was originally a different route, a different destination… but we are just so glad to actually get to be on board that we are willing to compromise. Almost every stop on our 16-day itinerary is a repeat for us and we dont mind. So rather than cross the lake on one of our first outings of the summer, we chose our favorites and are staying along Michigan’s west coast.
We left the house around 8:05 am in two separate vehicles. The boys went right to the boat to get settled and start the systems. The girls picked up our grocery order for the week. I premade most of our meals and have a freezer full of food that should help with the fridge inventory. Keep in mind we have a college-sized fridge for 4 people for 16 days. And grocery stores dont often pay for lake front property so provisioning along the way can be difficult. But we will not go hungry!
We made it to the boat and got unpacked in pretty quick time. We left the slip at 10:10 am. Needed to fill up our fuel before leaving port so we hit the gas dock at Grand Isle only to find out the diesel pump was broken. So, we moved over to Barrett’s in Spring Lake. Not far away but the pump is considerably slower and it took a LONG time to fill our tanks. We headed out and were exiting the pier at 11:30 am.
The weather looks great for our trip. 77* sunny with some cloud coverage. 7 mph ENE winds. Calm seas. According to the forecast the winds will change around 1:00 pm bringing waves out of the north so it could get uncomfortable as we get closer.
Today’s destination is Ludington, 54 nautical miles between their piers. At 20 nm it should take us appx 2:45 hours.
The trip was smooth. Sammy put together a puzzle, I enjoyed the sun pad out back and Scott and Tyler took turns driving the boat. We have a known issue with the auto-pilot which is a little frustrating on these longer days but it should just need a recalibration which we will do on another day when we have more time.
Around 1:00 pm I made grilled cheese sandwiches while underway and we had a quick lunch. The forecast was right and shortly after that, the winds shifted and the seas got rougher. This is also around the time we passed Little Sable Point (the furthest point into the Lake) which often affects the waves.
The air turbines of Ludington came into view and we pulled into the channel around 2:15 pm. Arrived at the Ludington Municipal Marina and fueled up so we’d be ready in the morning and then backed into Slip 9 on the A Dock. We were tied up and settled in by 3:15 pm.
We took a little time to relax and enjoy the quiet and then Scott needed to find a hose fitting so he and I went out to find something. After a long walk, a few cancelled Ubers, a couple conversations with store clerks and phone calls, we returned to the boat with brats, chips and drinks. LOL it’s amazing what you find when you aren’t looking for it. We found what we needed online and scheduled a delivery to our next stop in Leland.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet. Everyone stayed together in the salon or the back sun pad and did their own thing. Scott made brats for dinner and then after a short time for digestion, we headed out to House of Flavors for dessert. Coco enjoyed the walk and we all loved the ice cream!
As we were getting back to the marina, the Badger was pulling in so we sat on a bench to watch them manuveur. We recently watched a documentary on how the boat and were especially interested in the way they anchor and swing to dock the boat. We got to see it first hand tonight!
I took a quick shower and we all settled in for a movie night. To be honest, I fell asleep pretty quickly. The last few days have been a lot of work and very little sleep. At some point our A/C stopped and a warning popped up on the chiller screen. Scott spent the rest of the movie in and out of the engine room trying to troubleeshoot the problem. In the end, he couldn’t find the issue and we all headed to bed: windows open tonight.
