Day 79 - Mon 15 Aug 2016
Anchored - White Lake, MI

[photo: an antique store in Ludington, MI]

We slept great and didn't get up until almost 0630. We wanted to get going early to beat the typical building of wind and waves, but the boat was so filthy from the bugs, again, that we took the time to set up the hose and do a quick cleaning. We cast off at 0710 and were surprised to find the waves about 2 feet and "confused". Rather than having waves come at you from one direction, we had two different wave sets and that made it more like a washing machine than a rhythmic motion.

It was still not terrible by any means, but part of what kept our attention was the Coast Guard radio call announcing a person was reported in the water at a location we would be passing right through. They usually don't give you enough information to answer your obvious questions. We assume since they told the person's sex, age, height, hair color, and described his clothing to include "not wearing a life jacket," that some other person on the boat he was on must have made the report.

That implies the overboard man could not be found by the rest of the crew, otherwise he almost certainly would have been brought back aboard. So, we transited the area for many miles keeping an extra sharp lookout, but saw only one CG vessel and one helicopter, plus a few dozen fishing and cruising boats. We found out later via the Internet news that three guys went fishing late at night, two fell overboard wrestling with a big fish in the net, one apparently drowned and was later recovered, and the other was presumed dead after an unsuccessful search.

We arrived safely after 5 hours and anchored just inside the inlet of White Lake. Our location was in very shallow water near the end of the no wake zone, so we had people zipping by at high speed. Fortunately, it is Mon and most people stayed at least 100 yards away from us. Overall, it was not bad at all.

We decided not to leave the boat today. The beach is outside the breakwater (rough) and we just saw no need. Diane sunned in her chair on the deck while the sun was mostly out, but it got completely overcast before long. The good news for me was that it never got too hot, either outside or inside the boat. We had showers off the stern before supper.

The Diva Di medley of green beans, potatoes, onions, and hot sausage tasted mighty good and what we thought would surely be more than enough for a meal, turned out to be just enough. Afterwards, the flybridge was very comfortable in a light breeze that clocked from every direction over several hours. Tomorrow, we expect to be on the free wall at Grand Haven and get ashore to explore.