Come Labor Day in most areas, the docks buzz with the annual debate: is the boating season over when the kids go back to school, or do we still have eight good weekends left? I subscribe to the latter theory.

I’ve extended my boating season from April 1 to October 31, so the passing of the Labor Day weekend merely means that while my boating changes somewhat, I do indeed have two full months left on the water. Fall boating is one of those things in life that has to be experienced to be truly appreciated. I share with you now seven ways to spend great fall weekends on your boat.

The biggest change between fall and summer boating is in our thinking. In the summer, we focus on getting to our destination so we can get to the important stuff—like swimming. In the fall, our focus shifts to enjoying the journey. We take our time driving to the marina and maybe stop for an early dinner at one of the restaurants that always had a long line outside during the summer. As the sun sets earlier, we stay at the dock on Friday night to relax.

Saturday, we sleep until the morning sun kisses the top of the cabin. After we put the coffee on and enjoy a hot shower, we head out—not at breakneck speed—but at what we call putt-putt speed. We settle the boat into about an eight-mph cruising speed and peel back the canvas to enjoy the gift of a cruise across the glass-calm water when our boat is the only one out there. We watch the reflection of the changing leaves dance in the liquid mirror; breathe deeply as the warm breezes carry the earthy smell of rotting leaves across the bay and straight into our senses. We take pictures and soak it all in to last us through the cold winter.

Fall boating may require some adjustments to life in the cabin as well. Our girls like to wrap themselves in their flannel jammies and snuggle into their sleeping bags. We trade the summer sheets on our V-berth for a sleeping bag on the bottom and a flannel-covered feather duvet on top. As the nights cool down, we often light a pillar candle in a hurricane lamp. Firelight makes the cabin feel cozier, and even in our 30-footer, two candles easily raise the cabin temperature a few degrees. Later in the season, we take an electric heater aboard and stay on the dock plugged in overnight, opting to go out for short day cruises.
The menu changes, too. Summer’s finger-food lunches get replaced by soups, stews and other hot meals. Paired with a fresh loaf of bread and reheated slowly on the butane stove, soups and stews provide a simple meal that fills the galley with wonderful smells and warms our stomachs.

So now, with a slowed outlook, a warm bed and a delicious menu, you’re ready for some great fall weekends.

Get Off The Boat.
So often we spend our boating weekends going to the same places and hanging around the boat. Instead, take a weekend this fall to explore and get off the boat. Take the dinghy gunkholing in those waters that your mothership can’t access. Getting closer to the water in a small boat lets you see so many things that you miss from the helm of a cruiser.

Take a hike. Hey, it’s the fall and that means no bugs. Find a state park or forest in your area and walk around enjoying the splendor of the fall colors. Well below the forest canopy, sheltered from the fall winds you’ll find the day warmer than you think. Read the interpretative guide and learn something you didn’t know. Use the opportunity to help your kids or grandkids see and touch what they’ve only read about in textbooks at school. From fault lines in the bedrock to flood plains on the rivers edge, kids get right into this stuff. Before heading home, find a deadfall branch and carve your initials and the date into a hiking stick. Hang it on your trophy wall at home.

Canvas Greenhouse
If you’re like me, you’ve awoken more than once to find six inches of snow on the dock. Nonetheless, you’re already on the boat, so why not stay?

Leave the canvas up and sit basking in the sunlight inside the cockpit, reading, talking, listening to music, or take a guilt-free nap. With your cell phones turned off, enjoy the peace and quiet of doing absolutely nothing all day long. Go out for a cruise with all the canvas up. Or break out the charts and revisit some of the notes you made about places you’ve been this season. Make a wish list of places you want to get to next year. A bad day on the boat with nothing to do sure beats a day at home doing chores.

Couples Only
After spending the entire summer entertaining friends and family, or showing the kids an amazing holiday time, reserve yourselves a romantic fall weekend away on your boat.

Friday night is dinner out. Stay on the dock and curl up in your bunk with a movie you missed catching on the big screen this summer. After lunch, cuddle together at the helm and take a short cruise to a secluded anchorage. Spend Saturday afternoon cooking dinner—together. In the galley with a bottle of wine shared between you, prep the appetizers, marinate the steak, ask your partner for feedback on the homemade salad dressing. Set up a table on your afterdeck overlooking the water. Light the candles. Dial in some light jazz or classical background music on the satellite radio. Enjoy dinner alone. Talk. Reconnect.

Visit Your Favorite Anchorage
You’ll be amazed at how different everything looks in the fall. The water may be lower, revealing a beach you didn’t know was there. Enjoy making an elaborate sandcastle when you’re not being fried to a crisp by the summer sun. The trees will no doubt have changed color, so pick some colorful leaves for your dinner table that night. Take a picture from the same angle as one you took earlier this season and compare them later at home.

It’s a whole new world and it’s one of the things I appreciate most about living in the Great Lakes Region—the seasonal changes give us four destinations in one location.

A Ceremonial Campfire
A great campfire is one of the best memories of summer. However, for much of the summer in the many regions of the U.S., fire bans prevent boaters from having a fire. My crew welcomes the lowered fire watch ratings that come with the autumn weather. If you can have only one or two campfires a season, make them good ones. When you arrive at the scene, send a scout in the dinghy to locate the best existing campfire pit ashore and find some pinecones and twigs to use as kindling. Before sunset, clean out the fire pit, set up your camp chairs, light the kindling and sing your favorite camp songs as the fire begins. Take some pictures, tell stories, sing some old folk songs. As the embers start to die down, toss in the banana boats you made earlier. After we’ve extinguished the fire fully, we take one small charred piece of wood from the heart of the fire and place it into a plastic bag. We’ll use that piece to carry the memories between now and when we use it to start our next fire, over time kniting the good times together.

Wishing on the Stars
In some areas of the north country, a couple of weeks offer the best stargazing, and the Northern Lights are at their peak. When you find out when that is in your area, get to an anchorage that has the least light pollution as possible. Set up on deck with blankets and pillows and lie back to enjoy the show. If you’re not knowledgeable about the constellations, bring along a copy of “The Night Sky.”

Celebrating the End
For the final weekend of the boating season, involve everyone in the cleanup of the boat. Book your haul-out for a Saturday morning when everyone is available. Head up Friday night, go for a short sunset cruise and spend one more night afloat. Inevitably, as you remove all the stuff from the boat you’ll find things that will remind you of something and the “remember whens” will start. This sharing of stories always makes for laughter all around and it’s a great way to wrap up the extended season. Take some notes of who said what about when.

When you’re back at home in a few weekends wishing you were still on your boat, use these quotes to spice up your photo album of a full season of great memories. And pity those poor folks who pulled out early.