Ephraim Bay & Menominee Marina

Before leaving Door County and the Door County Peninsula, I took Ticaboo into Ephraim Bay to see the huge limestone caves, in the bluffs, around the bay.

The Menominee Marina is large with 265 slips and all of the facilities are beautiful.

The old Menominee city water plant has been completely renovated, into a first class boater's lounge.

This is a picture of the entrance hallway in the boater's lounge. Art, artifacts and photographs decorate the walls.

This is one of the "bathroom suites" with sink, toilet and shower all in one private room. If you can look behind the photographer, you can see the shower and toilet. Sorry about the flash.

This is a view of the card room. The windows to the right look out onto the marina. A telescope is provided, in the card room, for boat watching.

This is something I haven't seen in any other boating facility. This is a map table with a complete set of charts of the Great Lakes and some excellent cruising guides. There are rolled and flat charts in the drawers and cabinets under the table.

This is one of the sitting areas, with a beautiful salt water aquarium, boating magazines and comfortable couches & chairs.

This is the eating area, with coffee, tea, juice and hot oatmeal. There is a suggested donation and a donation box if you want to help keep the drinks & food available. The lighthouse in the background is made of cut, stained, glass.

This is a view of the sitting area, taken from the vicinity of the fish tank. Notice the boat models, T.V., furnishings and art. This is such a nice place to meet other boaters and discuss your adventures and get some local knowledge of the waters nearby.

Yesterday morning I left Fish Creek, Wisconsin, at 6:30 a.m. for Menominee, Michigan which is on the west coast of Green Bay. The winds were to increase all day, with waves to nine feet, so I wanted to get a very early start, for the 2.5 hr. crossing of Green Bay. I missed the worst of the winds but I still encountered some waves in the 5-6 ft. category.

When I arrived at Menominee Marina I couldn't believe my eyes. This marina should be rated in the top three in the United States (I've seen lots of marinas and actually evaluated marinas, as part of my work with the Corps of Engineers). The pictures I've attached will show you what I'm talking about. This is a municipal marina, run by a Board of Directors, who contract out the day to day operation of the marina and what a job they have done.

The boater's lounge was created, in what was the cities water plant. The building is approximately 4000 sq. ft. and contains: Bathroom suites with shower, toilet and sink in one private room. These bathrooms are much nicer than those in most homes. The living room is huge with sitting areas, computer tables, giant fish tank, book shelves, a chart table, and T.V. There is a card room with a dozen tables, a refreshment lounge with free coffee, juice and hot oatmeal and there are several tables, where you can sit down to eat or have a cup of coffee.

The art work in the boater's lounge is beautiful, with cut glass, paintings, photographs and artifacts. The pictures above paint a thousand words. The marina itself is first class also, with 230 slips and a fuel dock. Even the dock hands were very nice uniforms including white shirts, navy shorts and applets on the shoulder.

Prior to leaving Door County I took one short trip to Ephraim Bay, a place I hadn't visited previously. The bay is large, with the small town of Ephraim located on the east end of the bay. There are several high limestone bluffs around the bay and I took a picture of several caves, that had formed in the limestone.

If all goes well tomorrow and the forecast is correct, I should be able to continue north to Cedar River Marina. The facility at Cedar River is called a "marina of last resort." Along the Michigan coast of Lake Michigan, the Dept. of Natural Resources, wanted a marina every 25 miles, so if the weather got bad, or someone needed assistance, they wouldn't have to travel more than 12.5 miles to a marina. A number of boaters have told me that Cedar River is beautiful but very under utilized. There's no city at Cedar River and the best food is at the British Petroleum Station. It should be interesting.