Glorious day for a sail – Manistee

We left Leland just after dawn for the sail to Manistee. It took 8.5 hours – a long day on the water.

We were pleased we waited for today’s weather forecast. We had perfect conditions to sail the 65 miles.

This eastern side of Lake Michigan has beautiful sandy cliffs and beaches. These are scenes we have not seen for months.

We entered the dredged channel of Manistee harbour and secured our berth at the Manistee Municipal Marina. The marina is right in the middle of downtown. On either side of the marina is a wonderful boardwalk which links the beach (on Lake Michigan) to the lake east of downtown.

It was so hot when we arrived, we did not explore the town or surrounds until today. The town is colourful with flowering baskets on the sidewalks and delightfully historic with old-style gas lamps and repurposed historic buildings. It has the requisite ice-cream shop, quaint stores and taverns within easy walking distance. Mark had success at the pub and I had success at the shoe store!

We strolled the boardwalk to the beach on Lake Michigan and sank our feet into the cool water.

This little critter ran under the boardwalk as we headed for the beach.

This town is a fisherman’s paradise. As our marina is on the river connecting Lake Michigan to Manistee Lake, there is a constant parade of boats going by.