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Big Bayou

Location: Lake Michigan - NE
Mile Marker: Pentwater Lake
Lat / Lon: N 43° 45.760' / W 086° 25.320'
Depth: 15-20 ft.

Holding:

5.00

Good, Mud

Wind Protection:

4.00

All around, but some NE

Current Flow:

4.50

Wake Protection:

2.50

All around, but some NE

Scenic Beauty:

4.00

Ease of Shopping:

5.00

Shore Access:

4.50

Cell Service:

4.50

Review for Big Bayou

Reviewed by: Tom Corya on Jun 6, 2024
Vessel Type: Sail
LOA: 47'
Draft: 6.5'

Overall Rating:

4

Holding:

5

Wind Protection:

4

Current Flow:

5

Wake Protection:

4

Scenic Beauty:

4

Shore Access:

4

Cell Service:

4

Deeper anchorage than I like @30 feet but plenty of room to swing with 5:1 scope (granted no other boats here). For context, using a Viking 15 on our 47 foot sailboat. Held solid through several 25-30 knot gusts on the anemometer. Can't comment on wake protection, too early in the season for those folks to be out. Would go 5 stars but fairly far from town (~12 minutes by dinghy at 10 knots).

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Review for Big Bayou

Reviewed by: Patricia And Steven Stanley, Calypso, on Aug 20, 2022
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 39'
Draft: 4.0'

Overall Rating:

4

Holding:

5

Wind Protection:

4

Current Flow:

4

Wake Protection:

1

Scenic Beauty:

4

Ease of Shopping:

5

Shore Access:

5

Cell Service:

5

Big Bayou anchorage in Pentwater is pretty deep (~30 feet) so we anchored over a shallow spot at its entrance. We anchored in 25 feet of water with 110 feet of chain and our Vulcan anchor held well and came up clean. We stayed for 2 nights and had 3-4 bars of T Mobile cell phone service. It's a great anchorage though the local ski boats cruised by often during the day leaving big wakes.

We took our dinghy to the Pentwater Yacht Club, which looks really nice. Unfortunately, their flag officer wouldn't let us stay since our Yacht Club is not on their reciprocal list. We walked around the town which has many stores and restaurants. There's also a nice vegetable stand where we bought fresh corn on the cob and zucchini.

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