Our weather forecast was showing the wind getting lower later in the day. We took this info and decided to wait to leave Saugatuck until 12 noon. We had 40 miles to go to get to St. Joseph, or we could do 20 miles and stop at South Haven. Once we were out on the lake, we decided to go all the way to St. Joseph.
St. Joseph Harbor is right off of Lake Michigan. Once we entered the harbor, we took a sharp left into the marina. Our assigned dock was a tight turn, so we had to go in and turn around to enter our dock. When we called for reservations, the harbor master told us he would leave the information for us in an envelope taped to the office door, as we would be arriving after they were done for the day. Once secured to the dock, we decided to do some laundry, as they had free machines here. This is the first time we’ve run across free laundry machines and we wanted to take advantage of it! Unfortunately the machines took a long time, so it took us most of the evening to catch up on it all.
The next morning, we took our bikes for a ride. Lauren wanted to go to the beach, and I wanted to explore a little, so we decided to meet back at the boat around 3pm. I figured out how to get to the town of St. Joseph, and also stopped at a resort bar to quench my thirst. Since it was close to meeting time, I trekked back and met Lauren at the boat. Before we had left, I was talking with the harbor master about stores in the area; he informed me there was nothing close, but they would be happy to drive us to a store and then pick us up when we were finished. Relaying this to Lauren, we decided we would go later in the day.
Now that we were both back in the marina, we took them up on the offer to drive us. The store was about 10 miles away, and we loaded up on groceries and supplies. I also had borrowed a battery charger for out winch battery, which we will be using in a day or so to lower our mast, so we could get through the Chicago River. This is getting exciting- leaving Lake Michigan and starting our journey down south!
Shopping done, we took the bikes for a ride into the city. We wanted to see the sights along the lake, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, sandy Silver Beach features a restored 1910 carousel and a pavilion. Near Tiscornia Park and its dune-backed beach, the 2 North Pier lighthouses date from the early 1900s. We rode through the old amusement park and along the shore. Again, the bike paths here are wonderful. We went through the downtown area and stopped for some ice cream and watched the sunset from up on the bluff. Since it was getting dark, we decided to head back to the boat.
Now that were back on Klondike, we had dinner and had to determine our next stop. We could continue down the coast and go into Indiana, or we could cross to Chicago, or we could cross, and if weather was not cooperating, we could go to Hammond. Hammond and Chicago are basically the same distance from St. Joseph, but Hammond is a bit south of Chicago. It will all depend on which way the waves and wind are coming from. Forecast says SW wind, and it looks to be a good morning, but winds increasing as the day progresses. We will have to see how the day shakes out…