Mean Lake Michigan

If anyone tells you that this lake kicks up after Labor Day, you’d better believe them!

We departed Sister Bay on Thursday at zero-dark thirty in order to combine two days of travel into one.  We went through Sturgeon Bay Canal, which connects Green Bay to Lake Michigan, and cruised about 55 miles on the Lake.  And wouldn’t you know that the winds on the Lake were from the east, seas were 1-3’ on the beam, so we rolled like a puppy most of the day.  After a 9-1/2 hour trip, after 92 miles, we made our marina in Manitowac WI.  We had already acted like tourists in Manitowac, since this is where our new prop shaft was machined, so we just stayed on the boat to rest that night.

Another early start the next day took us due south on the lake, which had winds (wait for it…) out of the east and beam seas at 1-3’.  We rolled again for only 5 hours until we made our marina at Port Washington WI.  This time we had enough energy to take our tourist dollars into town, first at a great meat market we had read about, followed by Sir James Pub which had over 700 kinds of craft beers, and finally a great dinner at the Port Hotel.  Port Washington seems to be an interesting town to spend time in, but we had a weather window to take, if we wanted to get to Chicago by early next week.

By next morning, the weather window had partially closed, so we waited till noon to leave, hoping to get a bit better weather.  Out on the lake, the winds were down, but the sea swells were STILL from the east at a good 3’.  This time, we rolled a good 30-40 degrees the entire day & had one of our worst travel days in years.  I had to tape closed all the cabinet doors on the boat, and also the refrigerator doors.  We had to hang on to something all day to keep from sliding off the seats.  Going below was a challenge, and going to the bathroom was even more interesting.  It was so rough that we couldn’t fix any lunch during the day, and I couldn’t go into the engine room to check the engines & fuel.  But, as they say, the boat took the rough seas much better than the crew did.  I told the Admiral that she’s really gonna miss Lake Michigan when we get into the calm boring river system next week.

We rode the surges through the marina breakwalls at Racine WI.  Since this marina is offering a BOGO for transient LOOPERs heading south, we’ll take them up on the offer.  Of course, the craft beer pub right upstairs from the marina office, might have influenced our decision to stay an extra night.

Tomorrow is our last weather window for several days, so we’ll plan to make the 72 miles to Hammond IN marina, which is right next to the beginning of the Cal-Sag canal leading to the inland rivers.  The forecast is FINALLY for SW winds, which is the normal direction for this time of the year.  I had planned for SW winds for most of our travel on Lake Michigan by going to the west side of the lake in hopes of getting on the lee shore.  But for the 5 days we travel on the lake, 4 of them had the east winds & waves, which is the worst we could have had.  “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!”

No photos this time.  Just trying to get off this lake before the water starts to get “stiff”.