02 Nov Sailing on Lake Michigan with Sea Dog Sailing

After staring at the glimmering waters of Lake Michigan all throughout lunch, we had the chance to actually get out on the water right after we ate. We were heading out for an afternoon of sailing, and I couldn’t have been more excited.

I’ve been sailing on a few different occasions, but never on the Great Lakes or a boat of this kind. The weather on the Great Lakes is known to be unpredictable and it can change for the worse in barely a minute’s notice, but we were lucky to have absolutely perfect weather all afternoon long!

We made our way down to the McKinley Marina along Milwaukee’s lakefront and boarded the 38-foot yacht, Quinn Marie. Captain Bob of Sea Dog Sailing welcomed us onto the gleaming white boat and we all settled into our seats.

Everyone started off sitting in the main seating area, but soon enough we were all playing musical chairs to check out the views from all angles. At one point, we all even crowded at the bow of the boat for a group photo! I was on this trip with Visit Milwaukee and several other bloggers, and the group consisted of Katy, Maggie, Lauren, Carolynn, Red, and Cedric.

One of my favorite spots on the boat was sitting out on the bow. With the sun shining bright and a gentle mist of water spraying up from the lake, I was in heaven. I also enjoyed the high seats in the back of the boat, especially when we made sharp turns and it felt like I was about to take a dunk in the water! If you can’t already tell, I don’t know many technical sailing terms, but I did make an effort to learn a little bit about sailing when we were out on the water.

It was fun to explore one of the other Great Lakes for a change—we spend a lot of time near Lake Superior as it is located only two hours north of our base in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lake Michigan is unique from the other Great Lakes as it is the only one that is located entirely within the United States—the other four Great Lakes are shared with Canada.

Our sail brought us through the Milwaukee Harbor and out on Lake Michigan for fantastic views of the Milwaukee skyline and the Milwaukee Museum of Art. We were graced with calm water and perfect wind all afternoon long, which allowed us to keep the sails up for almost all of our adventure!

Guests are welcome to bring refreshments for your sail, and on private sails you can even bring along your own playlist of music. Sea Dog Sailing offers a variety of different tour options—you can go on a 90 minute day sail, a two hour sunset sail or book a private charter.

While I had never considered learning to sail in the past, this little trip out on the water had me dreaming about learning the ropes. I would love to head out on more sailing adventures in the future, but for now, I’ll keep dreaming about our wonderful afternoon out on Lake Michigan!

Special thanks to Sea Dog Sailing and Visit Milwaukee for hosting me on this fun adventure in Milwaukee. As always, all opinions are our own.