September 1 - Hammond

Hammond Marina is our stop for the week. Here we are going to Costco and Walmart to resupply for the  voyage to Chicago and down the Illinois River. Plenty of fellow Loopers make Hamond their stop before Chicago, or for those to tall and have to take the Cal-Sag canal south of Chicago.

There is also the Horseshoe Casino here, and we visited for dinner only.

On the Saturday night the marina had a live band in for Motown night

August 29 - Michigan City

The trip to Michigan City was the roughest  Lake conditions we have encounter so  far. Getting out of the inlet was the worse part of the journey, with the lake waves bouncing of  the inlet walls we were getting 4 footers from every direction and buried the bow a couple of  times and felt like we were going sideways at a few points.

The lake itself was running 3 footers but we were quartering the bow so although a bit bouncy wasn't overly rough, but at the limit I would want to  go out in again.

We were only going to spend one night at Michigan City, but the weather has turned quite windy and a cold front was moving in so have decided to stay until Thursday for a weather window to Hammond, just south of Chicago.

Not very much in the area around the Marina, so we are going to have a beach day today to enjoy the water and sand.

August 28 - St. Joseph

 Super nice marina with great Dock Manager, Andrew. The place was full but they were able to get us on the gas dock for the night.

Although home to Whirlpool, there was not much of interest in the immediate vicinity of the Marina.

However, the town has the antique Silver Beach Carousel. And after  a fun couple of rides we had a great lunch at Azur Tequila, an authentic Mexican restaurant and the meal was fantastic.

Finally saw our first Fleming yacht on the Loop, Stepping Stones a 1993 55 footer.

They were also dredging the inlet when we arrived. With all the sand on the Eastern Shore it seems to be a never ending operation for the inlets.

August 27 - South Haven

South Haven is just a one night stop  for us. The town is very nice with a number of arts store, restaurants etc. Another inlet with interesting lighthouses and beaches. The sunset was very nice across the open water, although the clouds obscured the actual sun dropping  into the water. Treated ourselves to Kilwin ice cream and a take out pizza for dinner.

As this was a Saturday, the channel along the marinas was a constant parade of  boats and dinghy's travelling up and down the channel all day long, was quite the show.

August 24 - Holland

Holland was a nice anchorage for a few nights stay. The inlets have interesting old lighthouses and usually beaches alongside them.

The water has been quite calm for the last few days and we will continue south on Lake Michigan

Aug 18 - Muskegon

This has been a busy stop for us. We have used two different anchorages and one marina for our 5 day stay here. Also had a couple of nice boat cocktail hours hosted by Sea Clef and then Blue Yonder. On Sunday when we were at the marina we Uber'd to the local West Marine store for a little shopping. We were also able to take in the USS Silverside Submarine museum.

August 17 - Ludington

Yet another calm cruising day to Ludington. More of the sand dune shoreline along the way. We took the anchorage here as we really don't need marinas that often and we certainly have been using them a lot since entering the US waters.

Ludington is home to the last remaining coal fired steam ship on the Great Lakes. The SS Badger still does a daily run across the lake to Manitowoc Wisconsin. The ship performs a unique berthing maneuver where they drop their anchor in the middle of the bay to pivot around and back into the slip. It was quite the thing to watch.

Ludington is another very busy fishing town. The town launch slip has 8 ramps for launching boats and it was busy all day.