Heading up the Michigan side of Lake Michigan

Tuesday, May 23 -- New Buffalo to Saugatuck (71 miles)

With the industrial end of Lake Michigan behind us, we will spend the next few days running up the east coast, with the goal of spending the Memorial Day weekend at the far north end of the lake in some nice anchorages.

We started the day by taking care of essential fluids -- getting diesel fuel and fresh water and pumping out the holding tank. We were underway around 10:30 and spent the day up on the fly bridge running close along the shore, admiring all the big mansions and little cottages and everything in between that line the top of the sand cliffs that form the shoreline. Many of these homes are a couple hundred feet above the beach, and the variety of stairs and ramps and other devices for getting from top to bottom was impressive. There was also a lot of variety in how people deal with the fact that the shoreline isn't stable, and the cliffs will erode with big storms or changes in the lake level (it can vary by as much as 4 or 5 feet over a few years depending on precipitation).

You can see from the photos that we had a very calm day, and it was lovely riding up on the flybridge. But we learned that one needs to dress for weather in the 50s when riding up there, even if it is sunny and the Weather Channel says it will be in the 70s, because what we experience is more like the lake temperature, which is in the low to mid 50s. (There is a NOAA website that gives real-time surface temperature data based on satellite readings. Not sure exactly how they do that, but it is an impressive website.) 

Here are some pictures of state parks that we passed along the way that feature sand dunes. The first two are of Warren Dunes State Park just about ten miles up the coast from New Buffalo and the third is Van Buren State Park a few miles south of South Haven. These are impressive, but the dunes get a lot bigger farther north. 

Saugatuck is a lovely resort town, with lots of shops and restaurants. We are staying at the Singapore Yacht Club, which is at the end of town. It's nice enough, but a bit noisy, with a big restaurant right next door. The name comes from a nearby ghost town at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River which was a big lumber town in the mid-1800s until it was buried under sand dunes after all the surrounding forests had been clear cut. We didn't take pictures of the town because we've been here many times before with friends who have a summer place nearby, and they would just be boring street scenes, but this local history display board has some interesting photos. The Singapore Yacht Club is where the big dance pavilion was located from 1909 until it burned down in 1960. It is the center of the top photo, behind the steamship, with a rounded roof and towers at each corner.