9/11/2010 SAUGATUCK TO ST. JOSEPH/BENTON HAROBR, MI

SATURDAY

We, along with many others, are remembering the tragedy on this September 11, nine years later.

Rain again! After lowering the dink, we chugged in the mist to Saugatuck and foraged for a place for breakfast then found the US Post Office. Hoorah, my Kindle was there, waiting for my pick up.

SAUGATUCK POST OFFICE

WET BUT HAPPY WITH MY KINDLE REPLACEMENT.

Walking through the town during pre-open hours suited Dan just fine as there were many, many appealing boutiques and art galleries. We found that today is Saugatuck’s celebration for having been chosen by Budget Travel as “Coolest Small Town in America”. Hope the rain doesn’t dampen their spirits too much.

VICTORY PARTY

Saugatuck is home to a Chain Ferry. This current “cutsie” ferry replaced the original barge-type scow in 1965. The scow was large enough to haul a wagon with its team of horses as well as passengers. A young “cranker” would hand crank the chain that connected the ferry from one shore to the other and thus muscle the ferry across.

SAUATUCK CHAIN FERRY

Back on Quest, we hauled up the anchor only to find our first Catfish (15”) tangled in a fishing line that was snagged on our anchor chain. We had a good laugh at our ”catch” then set him free. We were on our way out the channel by 10:15, peeking between the rain drops.

THE DAY'S CATCH

A rainy day with calm water is the perfect day to travel. Snug and dry in our Quest we journeyed south.

DAN CHECKING THE ENGINES WHILE TRAVELING

Shortly after 2:00 we sidled into the St. Joseph River which connects Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. Again, being a cruisers commute from Chicago, we were glimpsing the impressive homes along the lake’s shore. We gazed in appreciation.

Image via Wikipedia

CHANNEL ENTRANCE BREAKWATER

PIER 33

WE DOCKED RIGHT THERE AT THE "T"

Once docked at Pier 33 Marina, we made a call to Wolf’s Marine, the Midwest’s largest marine with store. This 50,000 sq. ft. facility has just about everything related to the water. The owner, Warren, cheerfully picked us up from the marina. This was no easy task for him because Pier 33 has three areas and we had no clue about where we were. Despite our ignorance of our whereabouts, he managed to find us and take us to his magnificent “adult toy store”. What fun!! Once we got done drooling over all the water toys, shiny fasteners, dingy engines and miles of rope we made our meager purchases and Warren again shuttled us back to the marina. Now that is great customer service.


We cleaned up and walked to Clementine’s Restaurant for dinner and discovered the rest of Pier 33’s facilities. Much calmer waters back here. Hum, I’m thinking we should be back here! We enjoyed our meal while watching the last bit of the Michigan/Notre Dame football game. There were two sides to the restaurant and we happened to plop down in the loosing Notre Dame side. It was a close game to the end and the fans got their money’s worth. Perhaps the Michigan fans got the better deal though.

Since the rain had finally let up we were able to cruise around town, taking in the cute downtown area and catching the spectacular sunset over the lake.

Image by Tom Gill (lapstrake) via Flickr

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