“Iceberg right ahead!”
Frederick Fleet, Titanic Lookout

While those words were uttered in the North Atlantic, seeing these icebergs reminded us of that night in 1912, and the sheer power the Great Lakes hold within them.

Last weekend, we posted photos of the ice at Grand Haven. Since then, Lake Michigan had a strong storm roll through with winds coming down it’s length out of the north/northwest. Yesterday, after the storm passed, we went to Oval Beach in Saugatuck to take a look. This is the same beach that taught us to respect Lake Michigan when we took a day trip from Holland on a friend’s 16 foot Prindle Cat. We were tossed into pilings by a squall that kicked up and snapped our mast rigging. (Ask us about that at a campfire sometime).

As far as the eye could see, the ice that lined the lakeshore the week before was broken apart and lodged into the lake bottom at odd angles.

Wind gusts in excess of 60 MPH broke the ice into large bergs. Did these chunks originate in Michigan or Wisconsin?

This gentleman ventured out for a closer look.

Last week, most of the lake was open water at Grand Haven. This week had broken chunks out as far as we could see. It should be stated that Saugatuck is 30 miles south of Grand Haven. It is 100 miles north of the southern end of the lake. When the wind comes down out of the north, the southern end of the lake fills with ice.

The sand and snow on the beach were swirled together into a parfait.

Even though the winds were fierce, the temperatures broke record lows and the wind chills were well below zero, the sun was out through most of it. It was absolutely beautiful.

Once again, Lake Michigan did not disappoint in either its beauty or its power. We never know what we are going to find when we arrive at the shore. We are very fortunate to live so close to this natural wonder. And just so you know, it is really beautiful in the summer too! 🙂