GF and I are going to Montague for the weekend and staying at the Weathervane hotel. We are taking the Scarab and wondering what bars/ restaurants to go to in either city? Is there any public docks I can tie up to in Muskegon that is close to any shopping/ restaurants? Any places to avoid in either city? I'm am going to launch at the Montague public ramps, any recommendations on what ramp to use?

The ramp in Montague is very nice and seldom busy unless there's a fishing tourney going on. On the Southwest corner of White Lake is a resort called Buzz's that is a little pricey but really good with good docking facilities. Walk through downtown Whitehall and stop into Pub 111 and Fetch's brewery if time permits.

Is there anywhere in Whitehall that has a public dock I can tie up to for a few hours?

I have only been on white lake once but there's not much going on up there. Not sure on the ramps either. Muskegon has multiple ramps that would work for you. Dockers is closed for the season so the only options in Muskegon for food is the lake house and bear lake tavern. Also, there's really nothing to see in downtown Muskegon as far as shopping or tourist stuff. About 14 miles south grand haven is much more boater friendly and has plenty of parking along the wall or at the municipal marina. Many restaurants and boutique shops in grand haven.

What kind of hassels can I expect in Grand Haven? My boat is really not loud with the dry exhaust because of the turbos, but what other violations do they look for if I get pulled over. I have all the necessary safety equipment. Where are the no wake zones in GH? Are there any parts to watch out for?

As soon as you enter the pier heads in gh it's no wake. You won't get on plane again until you go back to lake mi. You shouldn't have anything to worry about with proper safety gear and water levels are fine everywhere. They've been much much better about loud exhaust the last couple years so just play it cool and you should be fine. There's also a nice beach on the north side of the channel to hang out and swim.

You can easily walk to Whitehall from your accommodations. Just walk across the bridge and voila', you're there. Whitehall has a real nice municipal marina too. You could dock at Crosswinds marina and have a dinner or drink at the Crosswinds Restaurant patio bar too, but we have had a couple bad experiences there. All in all, it's a nice small town atmosphere. We like it so much, we have a get-away there. The people are great. Oh, I almost forgot Old Channel Inn. A really nice place on the backside of the dunes North of the channel about a 1/2 mile. You would have to anchor and swim in, then walk a couple hundred feet...or catch a ride with someone from the Weathervane. I'd pick you guys up, but we are heading way up North this weekend!

Shawn

Well the weekend in Montague went well. I launched the boat at the Montague municipal ramp and ran down to Grand Haven. The wall was completely full and there were no open spots in the Grand Haven municipal marina. We went up the river a little was and asked some guys at the Wharf Marina that were hanging out on a Sunsation where was a spot we could dock and grab some food. The one guy (Scott ) said that he had his Powerquest on the wall and could move it so we could dock there. We gave him and his buddy a ride back to his boat. We ate at Snug Harbor, and they had good food. Saw a few Cigarette's going in and out of the channel in Grand Haven. We watched the sunset on the way back up to Montague. When we got back to Montague, we loaded the boat on the trailer and high centered the trailer pulling the boat out of the water at the "Bad" ramp. I actually had to reset the the boat on the trailer and had no problems with the trailer scraping on the "good" ramp. Overall the weekend went well and the boat ran good. Good food in Grand Haven and nice people

Glad you guys had a good weekend over here. Next year you should try and make one of the west mi offshore fun runs. Slips are discounted for those weekends.

is your scarab a flat deck with darker colors? dark orange's, maybe some browns and yellow with race hatch's?

todd