Whew…After this Long Winter
Let's Start Boating at Belle Maer! 

On April 1, the traditional first day to launch, the water was still a little "hard" at the Belle Maer boat hoist. But not for long…

These tulips at Belle Maer can hardly wait for spring, too. 

Holy cow, it was a long, long winter. Snow, rain, more snow, thaws, rain changing to snow, sleet, then a few more inches of snow.  And of course, the omnipresent wind that kept most of us inside watching reruns on television.  Well, after this “winter of our discontent,” we want to go boating even more, right?

With as much cold and precipitation we had in Michigan over the winter, there is decidedly a plus-side:  our great lakes were ice covered for a much longer period, decreasing evaporation, and the additional snow and rain helped stabilize our lake levels.  As I write this, the ferry to Harsens Island is closed due to the ice flows — another harbinger of higher lake levels downstream.  (Read more in the related story, below.)

Winters this long and this harsh are “character builders,” people might say.  And man oh man, in Michigan we’ve got character.  We are going to pack as much boating fun as humanly possible into the next six or seven months—and no one or nothing will stand in our way!

So let’s get out to the marina, rip off the shrink wrap, shake off those cobwebs—and welcome the sweet smell of spring. Let’s savor the sunshine and the fairer breezes.  Let’s welcome our neighbors and make some new friends.

Boating is like nothing else and boating at Belle Maer on beautiful Anchor Bay is like no where else.

Contractors Required to Pay Nominal Fee

BMH policy is that all outside contractors are required to pay a $20 per day charge or $200 per calendar year to be permitted to work inside the marina.  The fee helps defray the cost of utilities and marina services used by contractors while they are servicing boats inside the marina. Since the Condominium owners reimburse for their share of such services as road repairs, rubbish removal and water, the contractor fees are shared with the Condominium Association.

Contractors who regularly work inside Belle Maer Harbor will likely choose to pay the $200 annual fee and treat it as a cost of doing business.  If your contractor tries to profit from this procedure by charging all customers a $20 daily surcharge, you might wish to check with the marina office to find other contractors who are not directly passing these costs to you.

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Lake Levels Expected to Bounce Back,
Thanks to a Very Wet Winter Season

- Excerpted from an article in the Detroit Free Press on March 7, 2008

According to a Detroit Free Press report last month, the melt from one of the snowiest winters in years around the Great Lakes is expected to boost water levels in the upper lakes, which had hit or approached record lows last fall, by as much as a foot this summer, bringing joy to boaters and lakeside businesses.

"We didn't expect this dramatic turnaround," Scott Thieme, chief hydrologist of the Detroit office of the Army Corps of Engineers told Detroit Free Press Staff Writer Tina Lam. "It's a much better picture than it was six months ago. ...We're just amazed at the weather we've had."

Meteorologists across the Great Lakes said this season's heavy storms have pulled in moisture from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico. This snow is heavy, dense and full of water, compared with the usual lake-effect storms that suck moisture off the Great Lakes and drop it back as fluffy, dry snow, merely recycling the water from lake to land, back to lake. The imported moisture also bodes well for thirsty streams, rivers and inland lakes, some of which also had reached extremely low levels.

"We've had copious snow and rain across the Great Lakes into Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, so I would think they'll be on the high side of the projections," said Bill Deedler, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in White Lake Township. Those projections generally suggest levels in the upper Great Lakes this summer will be 6 to 12 inches higher than they were last summer.

In Grand Rapids, weather service meteorologist Janis Laurens agreed with other colleagues. "Michigan has gotten hammered," she told the Free Press. Grand Rapids, Flint and Saginaw had their snowiest Februarys ever, and tiny Wellston, near Manistee, already set a new record for the winter season.

Scott Rozanski, weather service meteorologist in Gaylord, said the heavy snow this winter tends to melt less quickly than lake-effect snow. "It's staying on the ground, so when it melts, it will soak in," he said.

Although the Great Lakes are expected to rebound higher through August, the Corps said the upper lakes - Superior, Michigan and Huron - will be below their long-term averages.

In December, Lakes Michigan and Huron, joined by the Straits of Mackinac, were just inches above a record low. The two lakes will still be 18-24 inches below longtime averages this summer, but 6 to 12 inches above record lows. "There aren't any more scary records looming," Thieme said.

Lake Superior is expected to be about 8 to 12 inches below its average. Levels for Lake Ontario should be at or above average for the next six months.

Lake St. Clair is up considerably - on year-to-year comparisons - since December. That is likely to moderate this spring, though, leaving the lake 3 to 11 inches below average into summer. A wet spring could bring the lake closer to its average, Thieme said. Lake Erie should be near or above normal.

All the lakes but Superior rose in February, a time when they normally fall. Evaporation remains an issue, as lake temperatures heading into winter were higher than normal, leading to low ice cover. Erie froze over only in late February, three weeks later than normal, the National Ice Center said.

Lake St. Clair's projected August levels are 1-2 inches higher or lower than in 2007; Lake Erie's projected August levels are 2-3 inches lower than in 2007; Lake Superior's projected August levels are 7-13 inches higher than in 2007; Lake Huron's projected August levels are 6-12 inches higher than in 2007; Lake Michigan's projected August levels are 6-12 inches higher than in 2007

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Mergansers off Belle Maer March 30th – these Common Mergansers, spotted off the Belle Maer shore, were en route to their northern breeding grounds from eastern Alaska to Newfoundland. Mergansers winter as far south as Mexico, mainly on large lakes and rivers, occasionally on saltwater.

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