An early but awesome birthday gift!

Late last week when Mr. Jones asked what I wanted this year for my birthday, I gave it some thought ... and then I asked if he would sail out of Grand Haven with me on The Wind Dancer! He was agreeable to that suggestion ... as long as we had weather that behaved!

When I was in Grand Haven at the end of July, I snapped this picture of The Wind Dancer returning from its excursion ... isn't it lovely?

Weather can be hard to predict, especially marine weather ... so we paid careful attention to all weather forecasts, checked our busy calendars, and decided yesterday would be the best day ~ even though it was four days before my actual birthday ~ we googled Lake Michigan Marine Forecast before we left, got a favorable report ... and were on our way!

I've wanted to take some photographs of the Grand Haven Lighthouse from the water for ... as far back as I can remember! The one and only time I have ever been out on a boat at Grand Haven was back in the summer of 1992. I think I had a Kodak Instamatic camera at the time, but not enough money to buy more than one role film for it! I have no idea where those pictures ended up.

We drove out to Grand Haven in the early afternoon, hoping the 3:30 excursion would be a good one to take. The winds were forecasted at 10 to 20 knots and the waves were reported to be about 1 to 3 feet ... so not TOO rough ... it would make for fun sailing! Mr. Jones was less than enthused ... he is a far more cautious individual than myself. But when we showed up at the dock to purchase our ticket, the captain told us they were not going to sail at 3:30 ... we were the only folk who had showed up for that time ... but they would write us down for the 6:55 sunset excursion. So we had a little bit of time to enjoy Grand Haven while we waited!

We drove to the Ferrysburg side and walked the north pier ... practically by ourselves ... well, us and the gulls ...

We took a wonderfully long walk all along the north pier and boardwalk and got hungry ... so since I had never ever eaten at the Snug Harbor, we drove over there and got a table with a view! They have a very nice deck overlooking the boardwalk and everything, but for the sake of my husband (who doesn't do well in the heat), we opted to eat inside where the air was cool! I ordered their seafood enchiladas ... delicious!

We got to see the St. Mary's Conquest backing out of the channel ... so I ran outside to take a better picture.

I took this picture (above) of Snug Harbor a little later in the evening ... from the deck of the Wind Dancer.

I decided last summer that I wasn't going to let another summer go by without sailing at least one time on this beautiful boat. When we arrived at the dock, there were 11 other passengers ready to go ... one of the couples had sailed this boat twice already this summer!

This sailing excursion was the kind where you could help hoist the sails if you wanted to do such a thing ... but it's difficult to take pictures and hoist sails at the same time ... so the captain and his one crew member didn't have any takers! They were nice fellows, though, and chatted with all us and made the time on board their vessel a real pleasure!

The winds had actually calmed way down last evening so that this sailing trip was very very mild and not at all scary ... I would have enjoyed a little more adventure with it, but I wasn't complaining! We motored out of the channel and the sails were hoisted after that ... some of these pictures of out of order ...

It was really fun to see the lighthouse from this angle ... I wish I could see all of the lights I've photographed from this vantage point ...

The lighthouse got pretty small at this distance ... I don't have much of a zoom feature on my camera, so I just took the pictures as they were. I love to be out on the water ~ there is nothing more relaxing or refreshing to me! These 2 foot waves were kind of rolling and had a lulling effect ...

I was reading from Job 36 - 38 this morning ... so beautiful and awesome are His words!

Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, 'Thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!' (God speaking to Job in chapter 38:8-11).

We were told to look for another "tall ship" that was supposed to be in the area last night ... and we saw The Madeleine, from Muskegon ... it looks like we are on a crash course with her in this picture! I wish she'd had her sails up!

"Where does the light come from, and where does the darkness go? Can you take it to its home? Do you know how to get there? ... Where is the path to the origin of light? Where is the home of the east wind? (God talking to Job in 38:19, 20 and 24)

When we first left the channel, we sailed south for a little while ~ but by the time the sun was setting, we had turned about and were sailing north ... not very far, though, because the lighthouse was always in view ... very very far off ... but we could still see it. We passed the North Shore Beach (two miles north of the lighthouse) and I took a few pictures of it ... plus, many beautiful lakeshore homes!

And then we motorsailed back into the channel, leaving the beautiful colors of the sunset behind. Thank you, Mr. Jones, for this priceless gift!