Chapter 74: Lake Michigan Fog

Log 74
Lake Michigan Fog

5:15 AM
Wednesday, August 02, 2000
Ludington Municipal Marina
Ludington, MI.

Day 94

Picture the worst fog you have ever been in, and then double it. That’s what were in all, (yes all) day yesterday. Well that’s pretty dramatic, but it sure seemed like that.
I was up early yesterday to get going because they had predicted fog, and we had a lot of miles we needed to travel. When I got up, the weather seemed fine, it was a little foggy, but nothing we hadn’t seen before. As it got a little lighter you could see the fog start to roll in. We were in a marina on Lake Charlevoix, and we needed to get off of this lake and through another very small lake and then a bridge to Lake Michigan. The bridge lifted only on the hour and half hour, so I wanted to make the 7 AM opening.
We untied our lines at about 6:30 and we were off. It was only about ¾ of a mile from our slip to the opening we needed to get through, but the fog was so thick we had to feel our way to find the channel. (The radar was on, but it was such narrow opening that it was not easy to see on radar) We found the opening, and felt our way through the small lake and to the drawbridge that led us to Lake Michigan.
While we were waiting for the bridge to lift I looked out at the lake, and it looked ok, but you could see the fog starting to set in. I knew if we got out there we would be fine, because the radar, and the chart plotter would get us through. Once on the lake it wasn’t too bad. It was dead calm, and we probably had about 1 mile of visibility. I set the autopilot to about 245 degrees, and that would take us west, around Traverse Bay, and then through the Manitou Passage. (I used to think that the Michigan shoreline was pretty much north and south. I didn’t realize, until we had to go down its entire length, that to get from the top to the bottom you have to go west quite a bit, in order to get around the top)
By the time we had been on the lake an hour or so the fog started to set in. And when it did, it came in hard. I’m sure everyone has been in fog, but this was something. It kept getting thicker, and thicker, until the visibility was so bad we couldn’t see anything but our boat. We saw several boats on radar, but never actually got to see any of them, even though the radar showed them right next to us. We didn’t have a choice on what to do, so we just kept going. We were in no danger, because we could see everything on radar, and the chart plotter kept us on course, but it was very tiring to keep that type of attention.
About noon we decided to stop and get some fuel, and also get some lunch. We picked out Frankfort as a good stop, but it was another thing getting into the harbor. The marker at the entrance was very clear on radar. The chart plotter was very clear where we were, and were the entrance was, you just couldn’t see it. Even when you got so close you could hear the foghorn you couldn’t see it. You could hear the horn right next to the boat, and knew it was there somewhere, but you couldn’t see it.
After fuel and food, we headed back out into the soup. We kept thinking the fog would lift, because you could see the sun high in the sky, but I guess it didn’t have the power to burn off this dense fog. Our plan was to get to Ludington, and we were determined to make it. Which we did, about 4 PM. We had traveled about 130 miles for the day, and considering the conditions, we felt that we had earned out dinner.
We ended up in the Ludington Municipal Marina, which is located right next to downtown. While Deb walked into town to get some supplies, Jeanie started dinner (spaghetti, and it was awesome), and Terry and I cleaned the boat a little. (It needs a total cleaning….bad) The fog was still very thick, and I was wondering what it would be like the next day when we had another 130 miles to go.
We’ll have to wait and see.

BK