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Day 2 of our excursion was less of an adventure than day one, but an adventure none the less. We departed from St. Joe about 11:00 and headed north with Grand Haven as our destination. It was a 69 mile cruise that started out with 1-2 foot chop but grew to 3-5 foot waves for about the last 30 miles of our trip. To smooth out the ride, we went with full tabs and slowed to about 18 knots. That helped but it was still a bumpy ride. About half way through our cruise, the wife noticed something orange floating in the water. It was the same color as a standard life jacket. It was about 100 yards off the port side of the boat. Doing our due diligence, we broke course to check it out. As we approached the orange floating object the only thing that was going through my mind was that we were going to find a life jacket with a body in it. After further inspection, it was a pair of orange mylar balloons. Phew, I didn't want to have to deal with discovering a body in Lake Michigan.
We were able to finally get the gas tank sealed so the leaky gas was no longer an issue however we still had considerable fumes in the hull after 2 containers of bilge cleaner. I ended up getting some heavy duty gasket sealer and sealed above and below the rubber gasket to ensure a nice tight seal. With no other options remaining to remove the spilled fuel, we decided to have the boat pulled and the bilge drained. After looking through our Lakeland Boating Lake Michigan Cruising guide (which I highly recommend to anyone traveling Lake Michigan), we decided to pull into Grand Isle Marina (a phenomenal place that I will discuss more in a minute). I called ahead as we were coming up the Grand River (which was about a 45 minute trip from the lake at idle speed) and when we arrived they had the fork truck waiting for us. They hauled the boat and pulled the drain plug. What a nasty mixture of water, bilge cleaner, and gas that was. They took care of disposing of it for us. After the boat drained for about 45 minutes, they helped me rinse the bilge out to remove any remaining loose fuel. We replaced the plug and relaunched the boat and since we were here, we decided to stay here at the Grand Isle Marina.
This is a great place and I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone traveling to or through Grand Haven. There is a trade off for their nice ammenities because it's quite a trek to town. They hauled our boat out at a charge of $5 a foot for a total of $120. As I stated, the people here are fantastic. They didn't charge me for the labor of draining the bilge. The slip was $60 for the night and worth every penny. They put us on the VIP dock which is located between their two main slip islands. The commical thing about it is we are parked on the opposite side of the dock from an 88ft Hatteras. My boat could be a dingy for this thing. When I get some more time, I will post a picture. It's quite hilarious.
Grand Isle Marina has all of the amenities one would ever need. They had a pool and hot tub, very nice bath houses, a "party store" for your convienence items, internet, cable, phone, electric, and water. They also have a "boaters lounge" that looks like a restaurant and bar but it didn't appear that it was open for the season. Jennifer was the main office lady that got us set up in our slip and was just a pleasure to deal with. Pete the service manager was also fantastic. Anyways, enough rambling about this great place.
Last night we decided to veg a little after a couple stressful days of cruising and dealing with boat issues. After awaking from our 2 hour naps, we showered and headed downtown for dinner. It was a $6 cab ride from the marina to downtown. We ate at a nice little restaurant called Snug Harbor. It's located right on the river and you can watch the boats come and leave as you dine. If you have entrees, its a little on the pricey side, but they do have a wide variety of sandwiches and burrito's to pick from. We finished up with dinner at about 10:00 and decided to stroll the boardwalk. All of a sudden out of nowhere, we here this loud voice annoucing the show of the musical fountain. Across the river from Grand Haven is a huge fountain with lights and a music system that can be heard for miles. The show included music by the Beatles and Eric Clapton and even had a little Pocahantas music. The fountains and lights were all coordinated with the music and just a fantastic show. Very similar to the fountains at the Bilagio in Vegas.
The wife and I decided to stay an extra day in Grand Haven and we are getting ready to move down to the municipal marina which is right downtown Grand Haven. We will be staying their tonight and departing back south in the morning.
We will be posting again tommorrow. Until then, Caio!
_________________  "Where Da Go" 2002 248 Vista Lafayette, IN http://blueoceanlife.worldventures.biz
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Glad you enjoyed it. GH is a fun little town.
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