Leg 1: Manistee to Ludington, MI
September 2, 2024
Our plan all along was to start our loop AFTER Labor Day, on Tuesday 9/3. We figured we would wait until all of the crazy holiday weekend boaters were off the water before we got under way. However, the weather and wind/wave forecast was just too good to pass up, and since we had all of our projects done and were just waiting to leave anyway, we decided to leave a day early and set out on Labor Day Monday.
Once we finished up some chores in the morning and had our lunch, we decided to cast our lines! Our dock mates at Seng’s Marina gave us a great sendoff as they wished us well on our journey.
The forecast was spot on; the water on Lake Michigan was beautiful and calm and we had a lovely first short 
day of cruising. We cruised down to Ludington, MI and tried our best to “go slow”… both Scott and I enjoy our “go fast boat” but we need to get used to going slow as most of the Loop will be at idle or near idle speed.
Our first day of travel down to Ludington took just over 2 hours. We decided to anchor out on Pere Marquette Lake inside the Ludington harbor. We took the dinghy out and enjoyed dinner at Jamesport Brewery overlooking the water and watched the Badger car ferry come in for the evening.
Our first night on the hook was calm and uneventful; we welcomed a beautiful sunrise the next morning over a cup of coffee.
Trip Summary:
Distance (nm): 25.1
Hours Underway: 2:47
Average Speed (mph): 17.4
Check out our Nebo Voyage Log for today’s travels: 2024-09-02 Nebo voyage log Manistee to Ludington
A video compilation of our travel today is below.
We will be setting out today for Grand Haven which will be a bit further of a journey. The weather forecast is looking good and waves are predicted to be around 1 – 1.5 foot. Little did we know that that forecast was going to be wayyy off….. stay tuned for our next update to find out what our second day of travel had in store for us.
Erin Jaehnig
