Day 112- 115. 2nd year September 10-13. On to St Joseph and lay days waiting for weather Miles. 40. Total miles 4061

 Woke to a sunny 52 degrees day and weighed anchor to retrace our steps back past town and out the Kalamazoo River to Lake Michigan.

Turning south, we saw the typical Michigan shoreline of forested sand dunes.   The lake was calm with little wind, just the way we like it!

Two hours into the cruise we saw fishing boats off shore, the first sign we were approaching the town of South Haven.  The shoreline became more beach like and the town water tower appeared.  Then we saw the break wall and through the binoculars we can barely make out the South Haven lighthouse which was built in 1903.   We were traveling further off shore today so was unable to get pictures.  I cheated and took the lighthouse below from a brochure.

Soon after, we passed the large nuclear power plant, our next landmark.

Was interesting that we saw ten or so monarch butterflies pass the boat heading west.   They must have been heading to Wisconsin!

Had some excitement as a buzzer went off signaling the engine overheated.  After investigation a belt had shredded.  Always something!!  Luckily we were close to our destination, so we limped in on one engine.

We headed in past the break wall and inner and outer lighthouses and made it into the marina. 

Once we got the boat connected to electric we went  in search of a spare belt.  Yeah, we had one! Mike from MV Darlin Lea came over to help Bill take off and put on a new belt.  I was in charge of Margie can you get me……

Here is the mechanic buddies that tackled installing the new alternator belt, Mike and Bill.

With some very greasy hands and a bit of sweat in the hot engine room the new belt was replaced.  We called Tim and Bill, our trusty engine mechanics, to double check the fix and with their okay we started the engine.  Such nice guys answering our call on a Sunday!!!

We started the engine and the belt ran smoothly, so we are now ordering replacement belts just in case.

To thank them for their assistance, we had Trish and Mike over for dessert.

Day 113. September 11.   Rainy day in St Joseph

Woke up to rain which continued off and on all day.  Nice day for ducks!!

I spent the day, cleaning the inside of the boat and making grocery lists, while Bill ordered parts and clarified marina reservations and tried to pin down a mechanic to help with the gear shift repair.  

We got news that we were assigned to go through the Illinois locks on October 2 along with 15 other boats.  Luckily we know two of them well as we will be traveling with them for two or three days on the river.  This assignment allows coordination of the over 150 pleasure boats transiting the locks along with the commercial traffic which has priority at the locks.  Three of the five locks were under repair since June and will open October 1st to a backlog of boats wanting to go through.  The Core of Engineers that manage the locks are allowing one group of 16 pleasure boats to lock through before the commercial traffic each morning.  Should be an interesting transit with all the boats and barges going down river.

Day 114  September  12  Lay day in St Joseph

Had a lazy morning where we worked on repairs and chores.  We then planned for the first couple of days leaving Chicago on the Illinois River.   Will be a big change to go from Lake Michigan to the river system.

After that we did grocery shopping and Bill picked up some spare parts.  The marina staff was kind enough to give us a lift to both errands.  Bill had one more spare part he wanted to order, which is a puzzle with older remanned engines like we have, but he persevered and we can get it tomorrow along with the spare belts for the engine.  I had the exciting job of doing the laundry!

As the sun finally came out in full force, I took some shots of our marina.  We also had a visitor this morning also, a belted kingfisher which decided to rest from his fishing on the pile right by our boat.

After dinner, we borrowed the bikes from the marina and rode up a bricked street which was one car wide on top of the sand dune which ran along the lake.   Some pretty expensive homes, a mixture of old and new, lined the street.  At the end we entered the Benton Harbor beach area and stopped to take some pictures.   Like all Michigan beaches there were sand dunes just off the beach.

There was a observation deck which we climbed to see the view.  To our surprise we got a nice view of two fairways on the local golf course to the east, as well as, the view of Lake Michigan to the west.

We headed back to get to the beach and lighthouse as the sun was setting and got some more good pictures.   The waves were really breaking on the beach and break wall.   Even had a few intrepid kite surfers out enjoying the wind and waves.  A beautiful sunset!

Returned to the boat just before dark.  Glad we were not out on the lake today with the wind and 3-4 foot seas.  We prefer pleasure in our pleasure boating and will wait til the waves are closer to one foot before we venture out in Lake Michigan.

Day 115 Final lay day in St Joseph

Bill has gone to get the spare parts he ordered and I caught up with the blog.  Tis raining again, we hoped to use the bikes to ride into the city this morning. 

But first a small history lesson.  

The entrance to the St Joseph River and its deep water port was discovered in 1669.    The explorer, La Salle, came ten years later and cleared land to construct Fort Miami along the bluff of the river.   The fort and port served the trappers and traders in the area, but was soon abandoned.  It wasn't til 1785 that settlers came and a permanent trading post established.  In the early 1800's the port prospered, shipping grain, wool, maple sugar, furs, lumber, tools, and hardware.  After the mid 1850's the town became a destination for people from the Chicago area. Like Saugatuck, the town built a pavilion which brought artists and musicians to town to entertain the tourists.  There was also an amusement park right on the beach, a carousel from that era is still there today.

Here are some archive photos of Silver Beach and the amusement park and pavilion.

We took off on the marina bikes and headed downtown.  Found a place to chain the bikes and took off on foot to explore St Joseph.  The town has quaint shops, lots of restaurants and pubs, art galleries and a neat old hotel and bank building.  There were even some murals along the storefronts and quite a ew bronze statues.

Then we biked along the riverfront park and enjoyed the park and stopped to read the historical plaques.

This was the view of the lake from the riverfront park.

Next we stopped at the carousel pavilion which was unfortunately not open, but we stole some photos through the window.

Bill was fascinated with the wooden rafters and how the pavilion was constructed almost like buttresses on the old cathedrals, but made with wood. After biking a bit further we enjoyed the fountain and splash pad. Those water cannons  in the second shot all shot water into the center of the fountain which was quite a sight.

We had another great view of the lighthouse and breakwall from the beach area.

We biked back through a residential area and returned to the boat.

Had the pizza at the local favorite, Silver Beach Pizza ,with Tricia and Mike from MV Darlin Lea and Fred and Kathy on MVGeneral Fun.   Was a evening of good food and good stories.

Here are some drone shots of our marina and St Joseph harbor.