Cruising the coast

The Lake Michigan shore from Grand Haven to Frankfort has a string of public harbors, most of them city, village and township marinas that appear on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources harbor map. This guide covers the official basics: how to reserve a transient slip, what Michigan requires of boat operators, how to keep invasive species from hitching a ride, and where to get forecasts and charts. It is not navigation advice. Always rely on official charts, current forecasts and the harbormaster.

Reserving a transient slip

The DNR counts 82 harbors in its network: 18 managed by the DNR and 64 grant-in-aid harbors. Its interactive harbor map shows each harbor’s location and how it takes reservations.

• Most harbors book through the state system. Reservations are made at MiDNRReservations.com under the “Harbor” tab, or through the DNR reservation call center.
• Some harbors book on their own. The DNR notes that some grant-in-aid harbors handle reservations differently, and its map lists the alternate contact. Along this stretch of shore, for example, the DNR map lists Ludington, Muskegon’s Hartshorn Marina and Frankfort as handling bookings themselves.
• The booking window is six months. The DNR says harbor slips can be reserved up to six months ahead of the arrival date.
• Check in at the harbor office. DNR harbor rules ask boaters to check in at the harbor office when they arrive. Reservations are held until 5 p.m. on the arrival date, and boaters arriving later need to contact the harbormaster.
• Changes and cancellations can be made online or through the call center. The DNR’s rules page lists the current fees.

DNR harbor rules also note that Michigan is a “No Discharge” state: discharging sewage, treated or not, or oily waste from a boat into state waters is illegal.

Boater safety education

According to the DNR, anyone born on or after July 1, 1996, needs a boating safety certificate (also called a boater education card) to operate a vessel in Michigan. The DNR lists three ways to earn it: a classroom course, an approved online course, or an interactive online course. It also notes that the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and America’s Boating Club offer additional courses. The DNR also publishes operator age restrictions for different types of boats.

Clean, Drain, Dry

Michigan law requires boaters to remove aquatic plants from boats, equipment and trailers before putting them in Michigan waters. Before moving a boat over land, the law requires you to:

• Remove all drain plugs from bilges, ballast tanks and live wells.
• Drain all water from live wells and bilges.
• Make sure the boat and trailer are free of aquatic organisms, including plants.

The state’s NotMISpecies campaign sums this up as Clean, Drain, Dry, Dispose: clean off plants, plant fragments and mud, drain anything that holds water, dry surfaces in the sun or with a towel, and put unused bait in the trash, never in the water. The state says this applies to every kind of watercraft, from kayaks and tubes to larger boats.

Marine forecasts

The National Weather Service issues nearshore forecasts for Lake Michigan, covering the water within five nautical miles of shore, along with an open lakes forecast. Along this shore:

• NWS Grand Rapids covers the zones from Grand Haven north to Manistee.
• NWS Gaylord covers Manistee north, including the Manistee to Point Betsie zone and the waters toward Sleeping Bear Point and Grand Traverse Bay.

The NWS says nearshore forecasts are issued through the boating season, usually from about April 1 to about December 31, depending on ice. Each office’s marine page also links to observations, radar, wave forecasts and definitions of marine warnings and advisories.

Nautical charts

NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey publishes the official nautical charts for the Great Lakes. NOAA electronic navigational charts (ENCs) are free when downloaded directly from Coast Survey, either one at a time from the NOAA Chart Locator or in regional groups from the ENC download page. NOAA’s Custom Chart tool lets boaters build and print their own charts from current ENC data, and NOAA lists certified chart agents for paper charts. The U.S. Coast Pilot, NOAA’s supplemental navigation guide, is also free online.