August 25, 2008
Great Lakes Cruising
Many people like to go on cruises, but did you know you can take one on the Great Lakes? The Great Lakes Cruise Company offers cruises on the Great Lakes. You can tour Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, or check out the many canals or islands that make up the watershed for a week or more.
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August 22, 2008
BWI's on the Rise
According to officials in and around the Twin Cities of Minnesota, high gas prices have led to more BWI's or "Boating While Intoxicated" arrests. The Hennepin County Water Patrol has made over 60 arrests this summer, mostly on Lake Minnetonka. The theory is, more people stay anchored because of the price of gas. The captains or drivers then end up drinking with other boaters, instead of touring the lakes.
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July 29, 2008
Boating and Businesses Take a Hit
Boating has taken a big hit this summer. It started with horrible weather and flooding earlier in the summer, and now the economy and gas prices have also taken their toll. Boat sales across the U.S. are at 40 year...
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June 5, 2008
Straits of Mackinaw Underwater Preserve (Video)
Dive down to two ships lost in the Straits of Mackinaw Underwater Preserve, in this video. The Sandusky and the Martin Stalker are well preserved by the cold temperatures of the Straits. The Sandusky was lost at sea in... Continue reading "Straits of Mackinaw Underwater Preserve (Video)"
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Ballast Water and VHS
David Hand, a professor at Michigan Tech, has devised a way to treat ballast water in boats. The method would kill the virus that causes viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a disease that has been attacking fish populations in lakes. The... Continue reading "Ballast Water and VHS"
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May 23, 2008
Gas Prices and Lakes
High gas prices may increase visitors to lakes across the Midwest. Lakes in Minnesota and Wisconsin are expected to be busy this Memorial Day, and throughout the summer. High gas prices are keeping Midwesterners closer to home, with some resorts... Continue reading "Gas Prices and Lakes"
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May 19, 2008
Deadly Weekend In Missouri
The MLPC reminds people to follow basic safety while enjoying local waterways, after a deadly start to the boating season. Please try to never swim alone, and wear a life jacket at all times while boating or fishing. Three people... Continue reading "Deadly Weekend In Missouri"
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May 13, 2008
Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan
A new exhibit, titled "Lost & Found Shipwrecks of West Michigan," opens at the Dekker Huis/Zeeland Historical Society Museum in Michigan. The show features exhibits on 14 ships that were lost in Lake Michigan.... Continue reading "Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan"
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April 25, 2008
Largest Boat on the Great Lakes
What is the largest boat to ever sail or cruise on the Great Lakes? The Paul R. Tregurtha, at over 1,013 feet long. The video above shows the ship heading into Lake Huron.... Continue reading "Largest Boat on the Great Lakes"
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April 22, 2008
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes
Did you know, that there are about 8,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes? The freshwater of the lakes, and cold temperatures keep the ships preserved in a more pristine state than their ocean counterparts.... Continue reading "Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes"
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March 26, 2008
Icebreaker Samuel Risley
The Icebreaker C.C.G.S Samuel Risley signals the start of another shipping season on the Great Lakes.... Continue reading "Icebreaker Samuel Risley"
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March 24, 2008
St. Lawrence Seaway
Learn more about the history of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and the amazing effort it took to complete the project in this article.... Continue reading "St. Lawrence Seaway"
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February 27, 2008
William Young Shipwreck
Dive down to the William Young, a wooden schooner lost in the Straits of Mackinaw in 1891 in this video.... Continue reading "William Young Shipwreck"
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February 15, 2008
Chain O' Lakes Noise Pollution
The Fox Waterway Agency is working on an idea to stop the loud noise on the Chain O’ Lakes in Illinois. People with loud, high performance boat engines might have to pass a specific test when obtaining required boat stickers... Continue reading "Chain O' Lakes Noise Pollution"
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January 16, 2008
Coast Guard Icebreakers
Are you interested in ice cutters or icebreakers on the Great Lakes? The following sites feature the Mackinaw, which is a Great Lakes Icebreaker. The design of the Mackinaw was based on the Wind Class but was wider and longer,... Continue reading "Coast Guard Icebreakers"
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January 11, 2008
Dunderberg Video
Dive to and explore the shipwreck "Dunderberg" which was lost in 140 feet of Lake Huron, in this video. This three-masted schooner was lost in 1867.... Continue reading "Dunderberg Video"
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December 4, 2007
Dive to the Samuel P. Ely
This video is from a dive to the Samuel P. Ely near Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Samuel P. Ely was a topsail schooner measuring 200 feet in length, with a 31-foot beam, and a 13-foot depth of hold. The... Continue reading "Dive to the Samuel P. Ely"
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December 3, 2007
Michigan Underwater Preserves
What are the Michigan Underwater Preserves? The Michigan Underwater Preserve system was created in 1980. Michigan’s eleven underwater preserves include nearly 2,300 square miles of Great Lakes. They preserve a legacy of shipwrecks and artifacts along the bottom of the... Continue reading "Michigan Underwater Preserves"
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November 29, 2007
Chain O' Lakes Speed Limit
Fox Waterway Agency officials in Illinois will hold discussions regarding speed restrictions on the Chain O' Lakes. Those changes might include establishing a speed limit for certain areas to help curtail accidents and reduce noise. There is no speed limit... Continue reading "Chain O' Lakes Speed Limit"
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November 1, 2007
Muskegon Harbor
Muskegon's harbor is a deep-water port where 1,000-foot lake freighters are a frequent sight. In 2007, two 1,000-foot freighters were stuck in the lake bottom at the harbor entrance. Muskegon's harbor, which normally requires dredging every two to three years,... Continue reading "Muskegon Harbor"
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October 23, 2007
How do you Eskimo or Kayak Roll?
Watch one of the most important maneuvers to learn, if you want to advance your kayaking. The kayak or eskimo roll is shown in this video.... Continue reading "How do you Eskimo or Kayak Roll?"
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September 12, 2007
Shipwreck-Cyprus
An ore carrier like the one in this video, was found at the bottom of Lake Superior. Scientists have discovered the wreckage of an ore carrier that sank during a storm on Lake Superior 100 years ago. Only one... Continue reading "Shipwreck-Cyprus"
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August 31, 2007
Powerboat Ban
High water levels at 21 lakes in Indiana have prompted a ban on motorized watercraft going into the Labor Day weekend. The DNR lifted watercraft restrictions on three lakes that had first been issued Aug. 24 following heavy rains. The... Continue reading "Powerboat Ban"
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August 27, 2007
Great Lakes Cruise Ships
Efforts to revive the cruise industry on the Great Lakes have stalled, due to low water levels and a short sailing season. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, a German company, has pulled its popular ship, the MS Columbus, from the Great Lakes for... Continue reading "Great Lakes Cruise Ships"
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July 24, 2007
Geneva Lake Heavily Used
Another busy day on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Geneva Lake in Walworth County is the most heavily used body of water per acre in the state. Aerial photos taken of the... Continue reading "Geneva Lake Heavily Used"
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June 26, 2007
Frank O'Connor Shipwreck
This video shows the wreck of the Frank O'Connor. One of the largest wooden ships ever built, the steamer Frank O'Connor lies in 65 feet of water in Lake Michigan. It is about 2.6 miles from Cana Island in... Continue reading "Frank O'Connor Shipwreck"
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June 22, 2007
Shipwreck Found
A steamship that sank in 1850 after its boilers exploded has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Erie. An amateur shipwreck prospector, used sonar on his boat to discover the General Anthony Wayne in 50 feet of water. The... Continue reading "Shipwreck Found"
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May 18, 2007
Lake Superior Ports
Dry-bulk cargo shipments on the Great Lakes have fell 28 percent compared to a year ago. Falling water levels and lack of adequate dredging were leading factors in the decrease. Vessels loading iron ore and coal at Lake Superior... Continue reading "Lake Superior Ports"
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May 4, 2007
Three Lakes Chain
Boaters who use the Three Lakes Chain of Lakes in Wisconsin this summer may find themselves being watched more carefully than other summers. After months of studying traffic patterns on the chain, the Three Lakes Town Board has decided to... Continue reading "Three Lakes Chain"
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April 13, 2007
Did you know?
For every inch the Great Lakes recede, ships must reduce their loads between 50 and 270 tons. At the end of last shipping season, with waters particularly low on Lake Superior, ships lost about 8,000 tons per trip -- about... Continue reading "Did you know?"
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March 26, 2007
Boathouses on Lake Vermilion
Clusters of boathouses on Lake Vermilion, Mn., date back to the early 1900s and are a piece of Minnesota history that many want to preserve. To keep the boathouses afloat and the memories alive, a group of local residents is... Continue reading "Boathouses on Lake Vermilion"
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March 23, 2007
St Lawrence River and Seaway
One of the many ships to use the St. Lawrence. The Saint Lawrence River originates at the outflow of Lake Ontario. From there, it passes Cornwall, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence,... Continue reading "St Lawrence River and Seaway"
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March 1, 2007
St Mary's/Southdown Challenger
Currently holding the honors of being the oldest lake boat still trading on the Great Lakes, the self unloading cement carrier Southdown Challenger was built as a traditional Great Lakes bulk carrier as hull #17 by Great Lakes Engineering... Continue reading "St Mary's/Southdown Challenger"
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February 20, 2007
Great Lakes Shipping
Lack of investment in the country’s navigation infrastructure has significantly reduced the efficiency of waterborne commerce said a leading Great Lakes association. The President of Lake Carriers’ Association and an officer of Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, believes Marine transportation... Continue reading "Great Lakes Shipping"
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January 31, 2007
Great Loop Waterway
Only days from becoming the first woman to sail solo around the 6,000-mile America’s Great Loop inland waterway, Mary Ellen Mangile was almost killed by eight-foot waves in a storm on the body of water known as the graveyard of... Continue reading "Great Loop Waterway"
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January 8, 2007
Ice Boating Video
You are in the drivers seat in this video as you race across Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.... Continue reading "Ice Boating Video"
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December 20, 2006
Ice Boating/Sailing
An Ice boat (seen here on Lake Wingra, Wisconsin) is a boat or purpose built framework similar in appearance to a sail boat but fitted with skis or skates and designed to run over ice instead of water. Iceboats... Continue reading "Ice Boating/Sailing"
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December 13, 2006
Milan Shipwreck
Shipwreck explorers Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville said they located the schooner Milan about five miles off Point Breeze, 30 miles west of Rochester, New York. They videotaped the 93-foot-long, square-stern vessel this year using an unmanned submersible built with... Continue reading "Milan Shipwreck"
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November 27, 2006
Rouse Simmons
The story of the schooner Rouse Simmons, a Muskegon-owned lumber boat better known as the "Christmas Tree Ship," has some added chapters after a diving expedition over the summer probed the site where the vessel went down in Lake Michigan... Continue reading "Rouse Simmons"
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November 13, 2006
Canoes
Last few days of canoe season creeping in....Link to this article | Comments (0)
November 10, 2006
Sailing
Quick clip of sailing the open sea....Link to this article | Comments (0)
November 1, 2006
Shipwreck Dive Video
Have you ever wanted to dive to a shipwreck in the Great Lakes? Watch the video and see what it is like.... Continue reading "Shipwreck Dive Video"
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October 2, 2006
Spencer F. Baird
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently put into service the M/V Spencer F. Baird, a new vessel that will stock millions of native lake trout in the Great Lakes. The boat was christened and commissioned during a ceremony at... Continue reading "Spencer F. Baird"
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September 21, 2006
EPA, Ballast Water
A federal court in California has ordered the U.S. EPA to regulate ballast water discharges from freighters, a ruling that has major implications for the Great Lakes shipping industry. Environmental groups sued the EPA in 1999 after the federal agency... Continue reading "EPA, Ballast Water"
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September 15, 2006
Marina
A small marina on the shore of Lake Superior....Link to this article | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
Ballast Water
Many cities and states must toughen disappointing new rules intended to stop more destructive invasive species from devastating the Great Lakes. Regulations introduced this summer continue to put the lakes at significant risk from invaders that damage the underwater and... Continue reading "Ballast Water"
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July 18, 2006
Shipwrecks
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes Griffon--Lost in 1679 on Lake Michigan or Lake Huron, the boat was built by French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. Lodner Phillips' submarine--Lost in 1853 on Lake Erie, this was one of the...Link to this article | Comments (0)
May 12, 2006
Wisconsin Boating Safety Course
Registered boats in Wisconsin number about 636,000, up about 100,000 from a decade earlier. Last year, 22 people died in Wisconsin boating accidents. That followed a record 24 deaths a year earlier. So it makes sense to ensure that operators... Continue reading "Wisconsin Boating Safety Course"
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April 27, 2006
Sailing
Sailing season begins....Link to this article | Comments (0)
March 30, 2006
Boats
Boats lined up for a day on the lake....Link to this article | Comments (0)
March 24, 2006
The Griffon Shipwreck
A ship that has been missing since 1679 may lie 100 feet underwater near the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A legal fight over rights to the wreck so far have prevented anyone from confirming whether a shipwreck near Poverty Island... Continue reading "The Griffon Shipwreck"
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March 10, 2006
Iowa Boating
The Iowa Natural Resources Commission approved a nighttime speed limit of 25 mph from a half-hour after sunset to sunrise on all Dickinson County lakes. That move was supported by residents of the Iowa Great Lakes vacation area to improve... Continue reading "Iowa Boating"
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February 28, 2006
Great Lakes Shipwrecks
The Edmund Fitzgerald is not the only ship to wreck on Lake Superior. But the giant ore freighter is the only one to get a haunting musical elegy from folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. The Edmund Fitzgerald which sank on Nov.... Continue reading "Great Lakes Shipwrecks"
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December 2, 2005
Shipping, Great Lakes
Oceangoing vessels cruise the Great Lakes loaded with midwest commodities, but they also can carry unwelcome invasive species deep inside their hulls. The invasion of zebra mussels and other non-native species that live in ships' ballast tanks is a multimillion-dollar... Continue reading "Shipping, Great Lakes"
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November 18, 2005
Rock Lake
Rock lake near Lake Mills, Wisconsin may have smaller boathouses if regulations pass this fall. Included in the city's proposal are regulations that a boathouse can be a maximum of 550 square feet in size, and must be a minimum...Link to this article | Comments (0)
November 11, 2005
Edmund Fitzgerald
In an eerie coincidence, freighter traffic stopped as storms swept over the upper Great Lakes late Wednesday and early Thursday - the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Ships headed into safe harbors to ride out the... Continue reading "Edmund Fitzgerald"
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November 7, 2005
Tankers Collide
Two tankers collided on Venezuela's western Lake Maracaibo on Sunday, but authorities expected key oil shipping lanes to be unaffected by the accident, a port official said. Local port official Capt. Oscar Ramirez told Globovision television that one of... Continue reading "Tankers Collide"
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November 6, 2005
Missing
A man was missing Saturday night in Lake Michigan after the sailboat of which he was captain tipped, and he fell into the water. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Police Department and U.S. Coast Guard officials would not release the man's name, although...Link to this article | Comments (0)
November 4, 2005
Disappeared
All Capt. Donald Erickson saw on that cruel November night on Lake Superior 30 years ago were two ducks tossed about in the waves. Battered by hurricane-force winds, the skipper and his crew frantically searched for the Edmund Fitzgerald, one... Continue reading "Disappeared"
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October 24, 2005
Shipwrecks
Will Lake Erie become a Shipwreck holiday destination? Ohio state officials, lake historians, and underwater archeologists are taking another tack. They hope to designate an area east of Kelleys Island and three other Lake Erie zones as Ohio's first "underwater...Link to this article | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
Boat Storage
Boats getting ready to be put away for the season.... Continue reading "Boat Storage"
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October 5, 2005
Mott Lake
A dozen years ago, a paddleboat sank in about seven feet of water on Mother's Day as it approached the dock at the end of its maiden voyage on Mott Lake northeast of Flint. The 110 passengers put on...Link to this article | Comments (0)
October 4, 2005
Lake George
Two Finger Lakes tour boat operators said Monday they were baffled by the capsizing Sunday of the 40-foot Ethan Allen on Lake George. "I was just talking about this with my dad (William Simiele), and we can't conceive of how... Continue reading "Lake George"
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October 3, 2005
Hackercraft
Tony Nalbandian owns one of the most sought-after World War II-era boats on Lake St. Clair: a 35-foot mahogany Hackercraft Runabout equipped with a 1944 Allison fighter plane engine. The 17.10 cubic inch motor that powers the wooden gem was... Continue reading "Hackercraft"
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September 17, 2005
Shipwreck
Until a fuzzy, black blotch showed up on Paul Ehorn's sonar, the 420-foot steamer Senator was the largest undiscovered wreck in Lake Michigan. Using research he had put together over several years, Ehorn, 60, of Elgin, Ill., located the Senator...Link to this article | Comments (0)
September 12, 2005
Boats
Boats waiting to be used on a Summer day....Link to this article | Comments (0)
September 7, 2005
Michigan Lakes
Area lakes resembled aquatic parking lots this summer as parched metro Detroiters looked for any way to beat the persistent heat. But an increase in traffic on the lakes didn't always translate into a rise in danger on the waters.... Continue reading "Michigan Lakes"
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August 18, 2005
Safety
Always remember to be safe around any body of water, no matter how experienced you are. MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- About three-quarters of the way into a grueling, 80-mile kayak trip from Milwaukee, eight men raising money for cancer research...Link to this article | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
kayakwisconsin.net
We have been linked to this kayak site. Check them out if you are interested in kayaking some great routes throughout the Midwest and the world. www.kayakwisconsin.net... Continue reading "kayakwisconsin.net"
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June 27, 2005
Boat Jumpers
Interesting article by John Maniaci - State Journal, neat summer job. LAKE GENEVA - Perched on the edge of a moving 75- foot yacht and clutching a handful of rolled-up mock mail, a confident and smiling Adam Derus braced himself... Continue reading "Boat Jumpers"
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