New Buffalo

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 141 - August 19, 2017

We woke up this morning in our peaceful little anchorage just off the St. Joseph Boat Ramp on Marina Island, well rested and refreshed after our terrible night last night. I had called New Buffalo Marine Services right after we got back from Walmart yesterday and arranged to call Ed as soon as we got to New Buffalo. Knowing that our rub rail damage was on track to get fixed did a lot to brighten our outlook!

We had our coffee and toast (cranberry walnut bread from The Baker's Wife in Grand Haven, outstanding!), and did a last check on SailFlow that today was going to be as good a cruising day as it had appeared for the last several days - confirmed! Wind under 10 miles per hour from the north or northwest, and we were going south, so still good to go! There was a little bit of rolling as our bow was not pointed in exactly the same direction as the swells, but that was really no problem.

We arrived at the New Buffalo Municipal Marina about 1 p.m.  According to Active Captain, the New Buffalo Municipal Marina is notorious for not answering boaters calling in on the VHF, but I called in on channel 9 and got an immediate response with my slip assignment, and the gal said she would be on the dock to help with the lines! Not only that, she told us she was holding some mail for us (we had arranged to have a priority mail envelope sent to the marina with our new debit cards, but it was a relief to know that they were actually here). 

I first called Ed from New Buffalo Marine Services to tell him we were here. He said he would come down to the marina, but was not very specific about the time!  Then we had our drinks and lunch, and Patty took a shower.  I didn't want to go up to town in case Ed arrived while I was gone. Three became four, became five, so we had our drinks and dinner. Ed arrived about 6:30 p.m., just when we had sort of given up on seeing him!

He spent about twenty minutes assessing the damage and taking measurements, and then we spent about half an hour on the dock listening to his stories of the Bahamas. According to Ed, he was in a bar, and was talking for quite a while to the bartender about an author named Dolores that he wanted to meet. Finally the bartender told Ed that she was sitting right next to him. The phone rang, and the bartender said "Dolores, it's for you, it's Sidney."  Ed said "That's not Sidney Poitier, is it?" and Dolores said that it was, and Ed was dubious, so Dolores handed him the phone and Ed said that after saying hello, there was no doubt that it was Sidney Poitier. That's Ed's story! He'll be checking his catalogs for rub rails and getting back to us!

The New Buffalo Municipal Marina is quite unique, as the majority of the slips are for boats 30 feet and under, and they do not allow back-in docking. There are maybe eight slips for boats 31 to 38 feet, and only six slips for boats 39 to 45 feet. It is situated right at the end of the entrance channel before a sharp turn in the river, and there is a constant parade of boats going by of all sizes and descriptions, from personal watercraft and dinghies to large yachts!  

New Buffalo Municipal Marina occupies the entire left side of the channel and the end over to the bridge.
For some reason Garmin Blue Chart Mobile does not show the slips, but they are there!

This is probably our last stop on Lake Michigan. We are unsure where we will be going when we leave here. Our options are to go directly to Chicago, which is under 50 miles but across some big waters, or perhaps to go next to Michigan City, Indiana. I have become a big fan of the Michigan DNR online marina reservation system, which we have used for Mackinac Island, Grand Haven and here, and will miss it! I also like the way Michigan has made a cut for an entrance channel from Lake Michigan to nearly every lake or river so there will be  "harbors of refuge" about every 30 miles along the shore of Lake Michigan. We also really like that just about every town has a great sandy beach on Lake Michigan, and that they are well used, at least on the weekends.

Tomorrow is a free day, so we will do a little more shopping, and I will take Baxter on a recreational paddle a way up the river to see what is there!