Wow! Crossed Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (#43)

We made it! We waited for the absolute perfect weather window with calm seas. Once we get on the seas, Ted tells Laura that this is boring! But oh what a beautiful trip. Even though it was calm and mostly wave-free, Laura still felt slightly nauseous even with the dramamine.

Ted's excitement for the day was watching the depth finder get higher and higher. He hit 913 feet and could get a picture at 912 feet.

Sturgeon Bay was one of our favorite stops because of the marina, location, history, museum, and fishing. Many Loopers don't come to Wisconsin, and if they do, they don't cross to Sturgeon Bay. This stop, and the opportunity to learn more about Door County Wisconsin, was a treat.

On our way in, we saw the United States Coast Guard station at the entrance to Sturgeon Bay.

There are two bridges across Sturgeon Bay, one opens on the hour and the Michigan bridge opens on demand. Ted was walking to meet Laura at the Door County Maritime Musuem (seen with the big tower) and got stopped for the bridge opening.

This is a picture from the water when we took a dinghy trip into Sturgeon Bay.

We took a quick tour of Sturgean Bay and saw many fisherman and the beautiful limestone beaches.

This is the view of our boat with the Door County (DC) Maritime Musuem tower lit up in the background.

The DC Maritime Museum Tower picture looking back at our boat in the distance.

At the DC Maritime Museum there was a wonderful exhibht on the Travelift company that makes Travelifts in Sturgeon Bay. A Travelift has taken our boat out many times over the years for cleaning and maintenace.

They had an early version Travelift with a beautiful Chris Craft wooden boat.

Walking from the DC Maritime museum, there was a bouy storage yard. We rely on bouys for our navigation. They are much bigger than you expect.

Center Point Marina in Sturgeon Bay featured this lovely hot tub. Laura would dip her toes in twice a day, and even started one day out with a nice dip before a morning shower.

Near the marina was this lovely park.

This nice fisherman explained that he drove 1 1/2 hours to fish for perch at our dock. He said it is known throughout the region as one of the best places to catch fish. He caught two perch in front of our boat as I was watching him.

He used live bait called Hellgramites to catch the perch.

This shows just a few of the fishermen and women that were at the dock each day. Throughout the day there were between 2-12 people fishing.

Ted tried his luck, but without live bait wasn't successful this time.

Review:

Stay: 3 nights

Center Point Marina

Pros: Hot Tub, Great private showers, inexpensive laundry, pool, staff, docks, Door County Maritime Marina nearby, healthy food grocery walking distance, fishing on the pier

Cons: Not as many good restaurants nearby, more across the bridge near the museum

Five Star Marina