Friday August 20, 2021.
Temp: 87/64. Humidity: 51/91 %, Top Wind: S10 mph, Precip: none- Another Sunny Day, Miles Traveled: 22
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It was a short travel day, so we didn’t want to leave too early – because we didn’t want to arrive at our new marina too early. It was just 22 miles from Grand Haven to Holland, so we bugged out at about 9:00. As we cruised down the channel, this is looking back at the amphitheater and the row of boats along the wall, known as the municipal marina.
Grand Haven’s giant anchor used to be a cross! A 48’ cross used to stand on the hill overlooking the waterfront, but due to community pressures and religious diversity, it was changed to an anchor. And they still fly the American Flag.
This is cruising out the channel – it is a pretty long waterway to get back out to Lake Michigan.
There is a big Coast Guard station here, and this town loves their Coast Guard. They are known as a Coast Guard City, and have a nationally recognized annual festival each summer to honor and celebrate the men and women that serve in the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard City program was established by the United States Congress in 1998 to recognize cities where military assets of the United States Coast Guard are located and which demonstrate support to Coast Guard personnel stationed there. The first city so designated was Grand Haven, Michigan.
This was amazing – a huge RV park. Right on the beach!
The bright red light houses are really bright red in the morning with the sun shining on the side from the east.
This is just a neat looking lighthouse.
The big ol’ lake was beautifully flat this morning. YAY!!!
It wasn’t long, and we were approaching the Holland inlet. Just like all of the safe harbors in Michigan, there is a big jetty with lights that stick out into the lake.
There were a whole bunch of people hanging out on the sandy beach on the north side of the jetty. Such a beautiful summer day on Lake Michigan!
Hey! They have a really cool bright red lighthouse too!!
As we tootled in, this is looking back out at the lake…
And this is looking forward to the east. This channel isn’t nearly as long as the one in Grand Haven, but this one takes us into Lake Macatawa.
Just inside the end of the channel to the south is the Eldean Shipyard & Marina. This is our destination. Unfortunately, it is still five miles up the lake to the town of Holland, but there are NO marinas any closer to town! So – here we are! We had a slip assignment and a marina map, so it was up to us to find our way and get docked. We figured it out no problem, and just bowed in, since we’re in a big 65’ slip. We thought this would give us the opportunity to maybe get Stuart down if we want.
We went to the ship store to check in, and they gave us keys to the pool and the bathrooms. Wowza! Check out this bathroom!
There is a nice big pool here, and there were lots of people playing in it. There’s also two hot tubs. 😊
There’s a big playground for kids. I think the marina is primarily used by local seasonal lessees, and they don’t really do much transient business.
Holy hibiscus! Look at how HUGE these flowers are!
There are some charter fishing boats, and we saw this sign. Ah HA! This explains why there are salmon in the Great Lakes! We always thought they were salt water fish, but apparently they have adapted well to the fresh water lakes. The Chinook (very familiar to us Pacific Coast peeps) were introduced to the lakes in 1966 and are considered naturalized. Now we know!
This was way fun. We talked to Rick and Rhonda of R&R back in Grand Haven yesterday. We actually first met them back in April in Beaufort North Carolina. Anyway – they finished their Great Loop adventure TODAY, and “crossed their wake” right in front of us!! It was so fun to yell and clap for them, and they had a welcoming committee on the docks ringing bells and making all kinds of noise. It was so fun! They started their Loop back in 2019 and finished today. I don’t know why they took two years – I’ll have to ask.
Kenny washed the boat today and was completely wiped out exhausted. It was so HOT out today!! I did laundry and cleaned inside the boat. I decided that I’d go take a sunset dip in the pool, but he couldn’t move. The pool was really nice! Not too warm, not too cool….. just right.
I noticed this house just across the street. How interesting to have a tree house? And a rhino in the front yard.
Tomorrow we’ll get Speedy & Speedo out, and make the long haul ride to town. At least it looks like it’s pretty flat, and there are bike paths/sidewalks the whole way. I have the bikes all charged up and ready to roll!