Grew up in Forest hills right off Forest Hills Road 34 years ago. Went to FHN. Great school area.

Ada and Cascade is a nice area also.

Welcome! As you can tell, there are plenty of helpful folks around here, which is one of the things that makes West Michigan a great place. Check out WestMiciganOffshore! Some coincidence on my part, I have a Brother in law that moved to Newburgh from Holland.

welcome to the GR area. i am on the southeast side over in caledonia. also a very nice area similar to ada/cascade just a bit less expensive.

Welcome to Grand Rapids. I'm about 1 hour south in Granger, IN but have a summer place in Three Rivers. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

We have put in at South Haven. Not too bad. The down side is that you have long ride to the lake- which for us is nice we only have a 226 Cobalt.

New Buffalo, MI which is absolutely wonderful. Very short ride to the lake, nice parking (the guys that welcome you to the ramp are 1st rate).

St. Joe but that in my opinion is marginal. You have to be very carful of the river - there is stuff floating all over the place.

Douglas - only did that twice and both were ok. Parking was not the best. But this offers up Saugatuk - which is a very nice places to eat and if you like the artsy fartsy stuff shop. The upside is that you only have about 6 miles to Holland.

If you get a chance you really should come down to the Michigan City Boat races in August -- it is something to see and experience. I have yet to see it from the water - again we don't have a monster boat- but even from land it is nice to watch.

All the best


3pointstar

I wish I would have seen this earlier, but am not on OSO much during the summer. Welcome to west Michigan!

There are loads of great things to do on the water around here, and lots of great harbors. Here's my two cents, some of which has already been said:

-Great ports include Muskegon, Grand Haven, Holland, and Saugatuck. There are others too, but these are the ones I stick to
--The Grand Haven police have not been bad on noise in several years. Some people still avoid it, but I've boater there for years with a fairly loud boat, and have never been messed with
-The best way to get involved in the offshore scene is to join West Michigan Offshore. Maybe you've already done this, but we have several great fun runs throughout the summer. We're one of the biggest clubs in the country, and have everything from single twenty-something footers to cats in the 40s and 50s. There are no clicks, and everybody gets along. PM me if you have any questions!

thanks all the information our move date is getting close, I have been watching announcements about events in the area and will join West Michigan Offshore this fall or winter. We need to decide what we are going to do about a boat and how much time we will actually get to use one in MI since we will be bouncing between Southern IN and Michigan.

I live in the Cascade area but used to live in Forest Hills. Cascade will get you more for your $ but the taxes are just a bit higher. I live 5 minutes from M6 or 28th St.

Tinkerer where you live in Cascade?

same here.

I live on a street just off Buttrick - South of 48th St. It is an Alto mailing address but is in Cascade township.