Good morning!  We are on our way to South Haven today.  A 55 mile cruise in one foot or less waves expected.  We really enjoyed our Grand Haven visit but were told by the marina that we couldn’t stay beyond our two days.  Alas, we must come back to explore Grand Haven more.  Cloudy and humid temperature will be our morning.

Sunrising in Grand Haven at 7am

Our trip for you map folks.  Or as I call us ( yes, I am including me) geography deprived folks…   This is still the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.  The western side of the state of Michigan.  Confused yet?

Leaving Grand Haven, MI

Sun peeking through the clouds at 8am

The lake was as expected.  0.25meter waves.  Most of which are on the bow so we were going up and down rather than side to side.  Easier to time if you wanted to walk around the boat.  My steps were 1 – 2 steps…pause… 1-2 step pause.  Like I was dancing!!  Keeping the knees bent so absorb some of the easier rollers.  Dancing down the steps from the flybridge to the enclosure, down the steps to the galley and make Wayne & I some breakfast.  I really should have hummed a beat to make the process easier.

Rollers – 1-2 foot seas with an occasional 3 footer

We made good time and docked  2 1/2 times in South Haven by 1:30pm.  When we arrived, the lady at the South Haven Municipal Marina was using a different radio channel than we expected.  We finally saw her waving her arms.  Ok…park your boat across the river until we can assign you a place. (number 1)  No problem.  I got the mid cleat line ready.  I lasooed the cleat like I knew what I was doing. Boat secured,  Wayne turned off the engines and we waited.  I did make a reservation.  They knew we were coming.

Docking multiple times at South Haven

Finally, a young man came out of the building and told us to go around to the back to another slip.  He would meet us there.  OK.  We un-tied the lines, Wayne backed out and around the corner we went.  In the above picture you can clearly see the curve and look for the number 2.  Wayne steered us to the slip.  We went in – thud.  “Wayne, go more to your starboard.”  – thud –  The young man was perplexed.  I asked him “how wide is this slip?”  The answer on the radio was 16 feet.  “We are 16 feet!  There is no way we can slide into this slip.”  Oh, we will have to find you another slip.  OK!!  After a few minutes that seemed like hours as Always Home is rubbing against the posts.  – thud-  We aren’t going in!!  The mysterious woman on the radio told us to go to slip 3.  Wayne thought the circle was open on both ends.  Nope.  He did a 360 turn in the bottom of the circle ( with several men watching) and out into the Black River we go.  We found slip 3.  It was marginally wider – maybe 17.5 feet wide.  We fit.  Barely room for a fender.   Let’s call it a day!!

Thus, we docked the boat 2 1/2 times today!  Or should we call it a 2 dock + a thud dock day?

The wind was picking up and the waves from all the boats coming and going along the Black River was rocking us as we were finally tying off.  Whew!  At least we had a berth for the night.  Only 1 night, here.  Again, with the Labor Day holiday coming along, we can only stay the one night.  They are booked up for the weekend.  Fine!

As you look at the map above, you can see we are on the north side of Black River.  The town – restaurants, stores, and bars are all on the south side.  We had the Park on our side. Actually, we were quite fine with the park.  It gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs and check out the wild life in South Haven, MI.  Both sides of the Black River has excellent boater facilities.

We watched the black squirrels gather acorns.  We watched a black squirrel chase a grey squirrel through the trees.  Fun.  The black squirrels are hard to photograph under the heavily shaded trees.  This one looks like a silhouette.

Black squirrel on the limb

I will need to research these black squirrels.  Do they intermingle with the grays that I have seen in Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia?

Large oak trees and little sunshine mean mushrooms!!  Glory be, there be mushrooms!  Fungi!!  But, wait.  If the squirrels don’t eat them, I won’t be picking them up for dinner, either!  Nothing exotic.  Looks like the run-of-the-mill  sh’rooms in every wooded area.

Could these be hibiscus??  They are about the size of dessert plates.  Nice!!

Just up river from our slip is a bascule bridge.  We walked across the bridge to see what we could see….

Dyckman Avenue Bascule Bridge

Along the north side of the bride fence are PVC pipe planters.  All planted with beautiful flowers.  Many of the white pipe sections were commemorating / gifted to the city in memory of a loved one.  I liked the use of a nifty PVC pipe as temporary planters.

Flowers on the Dyckman Avenue bascule bridge

View from the Dyckman Avenue Bascule bridge

Down from the bridge across from the park is this little Inn.  Don’t you just love the colors of the shutters and awnings?  Flowers out front.  Very nice.

Inn by the River

A sign found in the city park.  Who knew that freestone peaches came from Haven!

Haven Peaches

We have been seeing these butterflies for the last week or so.  They flitter by the boat even on the open Lake Michigan waters.  I was able to capture a picture of one amongst the flower bed.  

Camouflaged well, don’t you think?

Can you see the butterfly now?

Although we were on the north side of the Black River, we could hear the Jazz concert being conducted on the south side.  The concert went far into dusk.  Folks brought their lawn chairs, blankets, and food/drink and enjoyed the music.

Evening at South Haven… looking up Black River

Evening at South Haven looking down river toward Lake Michigan