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Chicago to St. Joes?
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Author:  zelena [ Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Chicago to St. Joes?
I think me and the admiral are going to try our first longer Lake Michigan trip (weather permitting, of course) this weekend. We are planning on going from Chicago (we dock at 59th street harbor by the museum) and are going to St. Joes. I was thinking of staying closer to the Southern rim of the lake and possibly getting gas in Michigan City, Indiana. We have a 248 Vista. Any thoughts re gas consumption and/or estimated time (obviously dependent on speed, weather, ect), but ballpark thoughts. Thanks.
Author:  Flyer51 [ Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
Just got back today from 10 days on Lake Michigan. Put in this year in Portage IN on the advice of Bliss36 and stayed in Marina Shores for a few days. Headed to New Buffalo on Monday had dinner right next to the marina there then headed to South Haven for the 3rd. Watched an awesome fireworks display and spent the 4th lounging on the boat and enjoying that beautiful community. Left on the 5th and set a course directly from South Haven to Burns Harbor. It was really hot that day so we spent a lot of time floating in the middle of the lake on glass smooth water and swimming.

I learned about black flies and found out they can even be in the middle of Lake Michigan. I officially HATE black flies now and will do whatever I can to avoid them.

Trailered back today and had the awesome experience of changing out a left year trailer tire on 90/94 tollway. That is an experience that rivals the black flies. Had a great trip though as I always do and hope we can plan to go further next year. Jninzi was in the same marina and left this morning for the same trip only he's going further north to Grand Haven. Great meet up with all our FW friends. I think we all had issues of some sort this week. Firecadet came over via car as he chose not to fight the waves on Saturday. Somewhere there's a good picture of all of us on Jninzi's 338 that I'll post when I sort through all my pics.

Watch the weather and do it if you can string a few nice calm days together. I found out Saturday I really don't enjoy 4-7 ft seas in a V278.
Author:  Mark T [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
I have heard from people in our marina ( Pier 33 in St. Joe ) that it takes about 2 1/2 -3 cruising and hugging the coast to get to Chicago.

New Buffalo has a couple of great places to eat, all within walking distance ( 2-3 blocks ), of the marina. Stray Dog, Caseys and Brewsters.

http://thestraydog.com/
http://www.caseysnewbuffalo.com/-/
http://www.brewstersitaliancafe.com/

In St. Joe, Clementines is right on the water and I am guessing from the empty slips, you could get a transient one from Pier 33 right there as well.

http://www.ohmydarling.com/

We are pulling the boat out and heading north to Torch Lake or I would gladly offer to buy you a chilly one or two ! Grand Mere state park has a wonderful beach that is normally deserted because it is such a long walk from the parking lot. BEWARE, no alcohol on the beach, but you can have whatever you want in your boat. Go figure, it's Michigan laws ????

If you travel just a short distance north of St. Joe, you will see people who use ski lifts to get down to the beach from the bluffs !!
Author:  Flyer51 [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
Mark T wrote:

We are pulling the boat out and heading north to Torch Lake


I Love Torch Lake and had a place there years ago. Lost that in a divorce but still have fond memories of the lake. A friend of mine still has a place there as well as a few rentals. If you ever need a place to stay there I'll put you in touch with him.
Author:  Cap'n Morgan [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
I'm heading to Torch Lake in September for a weekend. Should be fun.

There is NO way to get rid of the black flys on Lake Michigan. It's a part of boating on that Lake.
They will find you no matter where you are on the lake, north, south east or west. If you jump in the water,
they just land on your head.
Author:  Bliss36 [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
zelena wrote:
I think me and the admiral are going to try our first longer Lake Michigan trip (weather permitting, of course) this weekend. We are planning on going from Chicago (we dock at 59th street harbor by the museum) and are going to St. Joes. I was thinking of staying closer to the Southern rim of the lake and possibly getting gas in Michigan City, Indiana. We have a 248 Vista. Any thoughts re gas consumption and/or estimated time (obviously dependent on speed, weather, ect), but ballpark thoughts. Thanks.


Zelena,

I think Mark T is accurate on the amount of time of travel, but of course that all depends on the conditions. I would also recommend hugging the shore for safety reasons. If conditions get bad I would highly recommend you stop at Marina Shores in Portage Indiana (Burns Ditch). The South Shore train has a depot directly across from the marina so you could hitch a ride back to your car if needed. It also has a nice pool for lounging around when lake conditions get bad. Tell Scott the harbor Master you're another of Ben's Four Winns friends :wink:

If conditions are good you should easily get 2.2-2.4+ mpg, but I would trip plan using 2 mpg to base your fuel stops. This will build in a margin of safety in case conditions get less than desirable. Have a great trip!!
Author:  zelena [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
Thanks everyone. I am docked at 59th street so I am already pretty close to the south end of the lake and usually get my gas in Hammond (what there's a casino there, too? Who knew. :) I am going to make sure I know the potential places to stop if the weather is bad. Hopefully the weather will stay calm. I appreciate the advice.

Also, looking forward to pictures of JNizi's boat. A few years ago we went down the river to starved rock and had some great chilli in Ottawa. We hope to make that trip again (although if Jnizi remembers it was 30 degrees and raining. I am hoping for better weather here). Thanks.
Author:  Bliss36 [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
zelena wrote:
Also, looking forward to pictures of JNizi's boat. A few years ago we went down the river to starved rock and had some great chilli in Ottawa. We hope to make that trip again (although if Jnizi remembers it was 30 degrees and raining. I am hoping for better weather here). Thanks.


Sounds like you and Jnizi might cross wakes this weekend as they will be coming back down the coast from their trip!
Author:  zelena [ Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
I'll keep a lookout for him. BTW, I saw that someone is at Pier 33, any recommendations for a transient slip in St. Joe's? It looks like there are a few options. Thanks
Author:  jnizi [ Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
We are currently in south haven as our first stop headed back south. The lake from grand haven to south haven was only 1 ft chop. Very easy to cruise between 30 - 35 mph. Loved it.
I remember very well. Hope you can make it back again. You have gas all along they way. Ben's place is very nice and gas was not outrageous. I would recommend a good chart book to give you current info.

As far as fuel, we are on day 9 of our trip. Gas purchases total 471 gallons :shock: with almost 350 miles traveled. Still about 3/4 full today and will top off in Hammond before heading up river. Our average so far has been .9 miles per gallon! Cheapest gas was Hammond at $3.99.

Will post pictures soon. We had the pleasure of taking my godmother and several cousins out on the lake yesterday. They had never been in a "big boat" before. Did almost 40 miles along the Michigan coast with various people driving. Had the chance to create lasting memories for us all.

Tonight we are tied up next to two 80' hatteras yachts. So much for the "big boat" thing. Sorry, did not mean to hijack the thread.
Author:  zelena [ Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
Glad you remember us, Jnizi. I remember how warm your boat was after we made it to Starved Rock. I am still checking weather. We were going to leave first thing on Saturday, but it looks like it might be choppier in the morning so we might leave around noon. It looks like we should be in one or two feet the whole time. Not going to try if the weather looks rougher than that, but we should be OK. Look forward to seeing your pics. Hopefully, we will post our own. Thanks.
Author:  zelena [ Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
Well, we had a really nice trip. Glad we followed the NOAA weather reports. We left Saturday at around 11:00 am (we originally planned to leave earlier, but there were storms over-night with some chop in the morning. We made it to Michigan City in about 1:30 or 1:45. There were only one footers and we had a smooth ride. When the worst loss in the trip was a cotter pin (do others have to buy a lot of spare pins for your canopies) and a baseball cap, you're doing OK. After getting gas in Michigan City we stayed by the coast and got to St. Joes in an hour.

Really liked St. Joes. We stayed at Harbor Isle marina. It was pretty nice, but the watter was a little choppy at night and I didn't sleep that great (maybe a few more feet and a bigger bed will help that). We hit the art fair, beach and some nice bars/restaraunts.

We spent most of Sunday in St. Joes and then after seeing the NOAA report that the Southern part of the lake was going to be much choppier than the middle, we decided that we had our flares and would cross the big old lake. I admit it was a bit weird when you didn't see land (we usually could make out something distant on the southern shore). Knock on wood no problems and we made the trip in about two hours and a half of a tank of gas to spare. The only slightly annoying thing is I need to re-read my manual because my depth alarm kept going off when I was in 100 foot of water. I guess that is telling me we couldn't anchor so an engine failure wouldn't have been good. That said the admiral liked the direct (and smooth) route so my next purchase might be an EPIRB for some more peace of mind. Do any folks have one? I know a few years ago the frequency was changed.

Maybe a case of beginners luck and we definitely had great weather, but it was a fun (but quick) trip. One last bad news -- I forgot my camera and kept me phone off to preserve its charge (new phone and has drained power quickly), so no pictures. :( It just means that I'll have to go again to show off my ugly mug. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Author:  jnizi [ Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chicago to St. Joes?
I think West Marine/ Boat US rents EPRIB units. Sorry we missed you on the lake. Glad you had a good trip, too bad about not having a camera. At least you have the lasting memories.
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