Large population centers in the southern part of Lake Michigan and unpopulated shoreline in the north create variations in the types of cruises, destinations and vessels used for lake boat tours. Uncertain weather conditions sometimes disrupt schedules. Tours are rare during the winter, but tour boats share the lake with pleasure craft and working ships the rest of the year.
Types of Tours
Narrated schooner tours aboard a Class A tall ship leaving from Chicago last an hour; they explore the lake’s pirate history and the city’s architecture. Passengers aboard sailboat tours departing from Ephraim are asked to help steer the boat. A number of dinner tours operate from Chicago and Milwaukee; sightseeing cruises depart from locations around the lake. A topsail sloop sails daily from the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven.
What to See
Big city boat tours offer views of the Chicago and Milwaukee skylines by day or night, sometimes lit by fireworks. Cruises of the Sleeping Bear Dunes include two lighthouses, bluffs, beaches and the dunes themselves. A cruise to Beaver Island includes a stop at “America’s Emerald Isle,” where the village of St. James is home to a lighthouse and museums. Wildlife, migratory birds and eagles are the highlights of boat tours in upper Lake Michigan and sunset tours are popular when the weather permits.
Ports of Call
The lower western and southern borders of Lake Michigan are heavily populated; they offer many opportunities for boat tours. Small cities in Door County, Wisconsin, such as Sturgeon Bay, and northern Michigan towns like Charlevoix center on the tourist trade. A variety of cruises and charters are easy to find in these areas. While some might not consider ferry rides to be boat tours, ferries operate between Milwaukee and Muskegon, Ludington and Manitowoc, as well as to and from Grand, Beaver and Manitou islands.
About the Lake
Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely in the US. The lake’s 22,300-mile water surface is dotted with islands, including the Manitou islands and the Beaver Island archipelago. The lake stretches about 300 miles north to south; it is the third largest of the Great Lakes by water surface and the second largest by volume. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan border the lake; the Straits of Mackinac is where the lake meets Lake Huron. Michigan’s name comes from Michi Gami, from the Objibwa word for large lake.
Lake Michigan rarely freezes over completely, but ice along the shoreline and ice jams, where rivers flow into the lake, prevent almost all wintertime cruising. The weather is changeable during the spring and fall, when warm air from the south and cold air from the north clash. Cloudy days are common in the region because of condensation from the lakes; summers are generally mild, because the lake acts as a heat sink. High temperatures in the summer rarely exceed the mid-80s Fahrenheit.
- mackinaw bridge and ferry image by Paul Retherford from Fotolia.com