South Haven, Michigan to ...

As we've already visited South Haven, we'll stick to the new stuff. Well, some new stuff, some old. First of all, when visiting a port we've been to before, we find it easier to kick back and relax. But not too much. We did squeeze in a 51.5 mile bike ride on the Kal-Haven Trail. Phil's getting very worried as Bernie kept saying, "Wow, can you believe this was 50 miles? Didn't it feel like 30?" Phil didn't think it felt like 30. He thought it felt like 75. But the trees have started to change now and the trail is beautiful this time of year, too, so he didn't mind. (Phil suspects Bernie is going to talk him into a round trip Lakefront Path ride when we get back to Chicago. Phil is correct.)

We had planned to leave South Haven on Wednesday, September 26 and head over to St. Joseph, Michigan. The weather, however, didn't entirely cooperate. While, land-side weather was beautiful and there was very little wind, a Tuesday night storm had kicked up some interesting waves. The way South Haven's break wall is constructed enables the waves to zig-zag back and forth through the channel creating a cool visual effect.









In the meantime, we enjoyed the sunsets and moon rises, finally ate at Clementines (a 25 year old family owned - really good - restaurant in South Haven), and marveled at how many people put their boats away so early.


Oh, we also made jokes about how sometimes there are mis-spelled words on "official" signs. But other people seem to do that, too.

On Thursday, September 27, the waves had calmed down and the weather looked good for a trip to St. Joseph. However, a more thorough review of the weather and forecast, convinced us that a cross lake trip back to Chicago would be do-able.

We filled the tank up and headed out. On the way out we passed the Friends Good Will, which is an excursion tall ship out of South Haven's Michigan Maritime Museum.



The crossing was generally uneventful. There were a few sections where the waves were larger than expected. About 30 nautical miles out, we started seeing the strange looking sand dunes that told us we were coming back to Chicago. We saw our last freighter of the trip. Then an old familiar lighthouse.


So now we're in our home port. Seems to be some controversy brewing on this side of the lake, too.


Looks like we'll be weathered in here for about 236 days.

See you next year!

Meridian
(and Phil and Bernie, too)

P.S. Look for a Trip Roundup Epilogue in a few days.