Last night one of my apps said wave height outside the Manistee marina right then was 3.3 feet while outside at Muskegon was 1.3 feet. That seemed to promise that things could be easier down south.

The forecast was waves 2 – 4 feet all day today. I think we saw the 2 this morning and the 4 later today. We did not get away from Manistee until 7:30. Lake Michigan seems different and I haven’t seen great advantage in starting at the earliest part of the morning here. We arrived in Muskegon at 3:30.

What a place! As we approached the channel we saw many sailboats out in the big lake enjoying this good weather day. There was a lot of traffic coming into the channel. Some of the sailboats insist on taking it under sail, making them a bit harder to avoid. At channel right just before Lake Muskegon is the WWII submarine USS Silversides. As well as an older coast guard ship and associated museum. The channel exited into Lake Muskegon which is over 2 by 5 miles and was just full of boats moving in every direction.

There were many marinas around the lake’s edges, but ours, Harbour Towne Marina was in its own basin which had it’s own channel off Lake Muskegon. So no current and little wind made for easy docking.

We’re almost certain stay here a few days due to weather, and we are a few miles from any downtown so we will rent a car tomorrow.

Note added on Sunday: Waves are forecast 5 – 7 feet, with maybe 10% up to 9 feet tomorrow thru Monday. The ferry across to Wisconsin didn’t run today. It’s amazing how much better a car drives than a boat on a day like today.

I drove through a part of Muskegon on the way back from the car rental office. A really interesting and very boat oriented town. This has got to be one of the largest recreational boat areas on the Michigan coast.