Wednesday June 17th – We woke up this morning in Pentwater, Michigan, it was a beautiful summer morning. The first time since this season that we have felt the warmth of summer. We made use of the shower facilities at Snug Harbor after enjoying our morning coffee in the cockpit of the boat overlooking the marina. We left Pentwater about 11:00 am and we are headed for Ludington. The trip from Pentwater to Ludington is short and only about 12 miles today. It was a very relaxed passage today. The winds were light and variable, so we leisurely sailed in the wind we had since we aren’t in a hurry today. We arrived in Ludington around 2:30 pm. Here are some photos of the shore along the way.

This man made structure is a hydroelectric plant. There is actually a lake, Bass Lake, on the top of this man made dam/levy. You can see the multiple electrical lines leading off on the right side of the photo.

Here’s the approach into Ludington. We have learned that almost every entrance to a harbor in Michigan has the same elements – lighthouse, beach, coast guard station and a walkway out to the lighthouse to view the sunset.

Look at how high the water is. The walkway/breakwater out to the lighthouse is nearly underwater.

Coast Guard station and the Ludington Maritime Museum.

See the marina sign just below the flag pole. We just hang a left there to enter the marina. Once we got settled on the dock, we met another boater there named Tom. He was flying his drone around the marina, so we asked him, hey would you take some drone shots of our boat? He was more than willing to comply, so here are some cool drone shots of our boat. Thanks Tom!!

There are 2 large marinas in Ludington. One is the municipal marina, where we are docked and the other is the Harbor View Marina. Between these 2 marina is a very nice park, green space and sculpture garden. We spent a couple of hours walking around town to check things out.

Walking around makes one very thirsty, so we thought it would be a good idea to stop at the Jamesport Brewing Company to have a cold beer and some appetizers.

Later we had dinner aboard the boat and grilled some delicious chicken with salad. Right after dinner, we rushed to clean up the dishes because we knew the SS Badger was due to come into Ludington and we wanted to see her come in and get some photos. Now the Badger also comes into Manitowoc where we are usually docked, however it is not real close to the marina and you would have to walk a considerable way into town to really see the Badger come in. Not so in Ludington however, here we have front row seats to view her path into the harbor.

To give you an idea of the size of the Badger, those are large trucks you see in the end of the vessel.

The Badger does a full 360 degree turn in the harbor and docks just in front of the other ship you see in the left side of the photo. See the red boat to the right in this photo? It’s a police boat that accompanies the Badger to control boat traffic in the harbor when she is docking.

After all the excitement of seeing the Badger dock, we headed into town for some ice cream. After our ice cream we walked to the end of the main street out to Lake Michigan to see the beach.