Grand Haven MI to Holland MI - Sep 1, 2016

Aug 30^th – It was a hot and mostly sunny day with moderate winds.  We’ve decided to move in the morning since the winds are going to pick up and there is a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon plus the spot we were in will be impacted by the winds and waves from the lake.  We’re trying to slow down a bit since we’ve heard from a number of people that it would be best to avoid Chicago on the long weekend for 2 reasons:  1) There will be a high demand for tourist type attractions including restaurants & marinas.  2) Many Loopers will be in Chicago on the Long weekend and will be starting the river system after that which will cause a high demand for a limited number of overnight spots.  Thus it’s better to either beat the rush or wait until things slow down a bit, so we’ve decided to move only 13 miles south to Port Sheldon which is a small lake that we anchored in which is well protected and good for swimming.  There are no services on the lake and the newest and largest coal plant in the US is located close by.  One of the retirees of the coal plant and his wife dropped by to say hi and chatted for a while.  Apparently the workers and retirees of the plant can keep their boats at a slip near the plant for $150 per year.  The water temperature here is 76 degrees F thus I went swimming a few times to cool off.  We’ve been told that the swimming will come to an end once we enter Chicago thus I’m trying to get all the swimming in that I can before we reach that point. 

Aug 31^st – It was another hot sunny day with increasing winds throughout the day.  We decided to move since the coal plant was a little loud in the Port Sheldon anchorage.  We got up early to beat the winds and moved to Holland Michigan to Anchorage Marina on Lake Macatawa.  They have an excellent overnight rate as well as a great set-up including a pool that is both inside & outside with glass in the middle.  The marina is fully booked from now until the end of the long weekend, however they had a “no show” yesterday thus we were lucky to get their last available slip.  Maria decided to do some laundry while I washed the boat.  We had wings and beer on the balcony of the Yacht Club since it was “Wing night” ... Yummm!   Afterwards we went for a walk to burn off some calories.  There are lots of mature trees and green vegetation in the area and everything smells so fresh ... however Maria’s allergies may not like it so much.  During our walk there were many emergency vehicles heading towards the beach ... something must be up.

Sep 1^st – It’s another sunny warm day with moderate winds.  We are really enjoying the Anchorage Marina in Holland thus we may spend the long weekend here since we don’t want to arrive in Chicago until after the long weekend.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been on the boat for 2 months now.  Time goes quickly when you’re having fun!  We’ve heard about a terrible tragedy this morning regarding the drowning of two teenage boys as a result of them swimming near the break wall in extremely rough conditions yesterday evening.  This explains the many emergency vehicles that passed us during our walk in the area last night.  We rode our bikes to the beach this morning and there were Sheriff boats and various police personnel searching the area for 2 bodies.  So sad.  West Marine is having a Labor Day sale thus I ordered an inflatable life jacket on-line which will be delivered to the West Marine in Chicago.  We found out that US approved life jackets must be worn within the locks in the US and our life jackets aren’t US approved.  We went to the pool to enjoy the sun and had a couple cold ones while I went swimming and afterwards I went to the Spa/Salon to get my haircut.

The entrance to Holland MI

The Pool at Ancorage Marina

The water is sooo warm!

Our view from the balcony of the Anchorage Marina restaurant

Time for a hair cut

The monkey is helping me with the Blog

There's a Fennville close by ... we may have to visit