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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA

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MUNISING
POINTS
OF INTEREST

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Sandstone bluffs up to 300 feet high have been shaped by wind, waves, and ice into dramatic columns and caves, and stained red, blue and green by seeping minerals to form colored "pictures" ... more

Hiawatha National Forest/ Pictured Rocks Visitor Center. This is a recommended first stop for every new visitor---for maps, handouts, scheduled talks and walks on nature and history, and customized, impartial advice from a knowledgeable staff of adults who live here and know the area well. Also a nature bookstore ... more

Pictured Rocks Cruises. This cruise is the way to see the Pictured Rocks, preferably in the late-afternoon light, unless you have your own boat or take a kayak tour, ... more

Glass Bottom Boat Shipwreck Tour. This tour combines perspective about shipwrecks with the chance to peer down through a large boat's viewing wells at three shipwrecks south of Grand Island. ... more

Lake Superior. Of all the U.P.'s features, none rival the largest freshwater lake in the world. ... more

Central Munising. A wonderful picnic spot, with grills, bandshell, and farmers' market on Munising Bay; a popular coffeehouse-bookstore, some specialty stores; and a kids' castle playground ... more

Alger County Heritage Center. Here you'll see an authentically furnished 1830s fur trader's cabin from Grand Island, and vintage Munising Woodenware products (clothespins, hand-painted bowls, and lots more), once marketed nationally ... more

Northern Waters Sea Kayaking. An adventurous way to see the cliffs, caves, and shipwrecks by Grand Island and the fabled Pictured Rocks ... more

Grand Island Scenic Overlook. A breathtaking vista out beyond Munising Bay of Grand Island ... more

Munising-area Waterfalls. Avoid crowds and visit four delightful, secluded falls in and near Munising: Horseshoe Falls, a quaint private attraction; the Twin Waterfall Plant Preserve; and Wagner Falls off M-94 ... more

Valley Spur Cross-Country Ski and Mountain Bike Trails. Artfully laid out, meticulously groomed, this 38-mile trail system is a favorite destination of dedicated cross-country skiers from far and wide ... more

McQuisten Recreation Area. The views from boardwalks on this beautiful pond are hidden gems for birders and naturalists, within walking distance of the Super 8 and Comfort Inn motels. There's an elaborate playground, too ... more

MUNISING

Glass Bottom Boat Shipwreck Tour

This intelligent, well-thought-out tour does everything a good tour should do. In two hours it shows you things it would be difficult to see on your own. The well-informed narrator provides perspective on what you see, and can field many questions. It's a complete introduction to shipwrecks. If you pay attention to the rather detailed narration, you leave having seen things in a new way.

Shipwrecks and marine archaeology are intrinsically detailed subjects, focused on piecemeal physical evidence that can be put together only by understanding something about ship construction and shipping. So the tour involves the detail and many historical observations that fascinate some, but not all. The tour's site, shipwrecktours.com, has a lot of background on shipwrecks in the Alger Underwater Preserve.

In any case, it's fun to get out on the water and see Grand Island's south shore. To reach the shipwrecks, the boat passes close to the weathered East Channel Light and sandstone cliffs on Grand Island — and it offers a distant view of the west side of the Pictured Rocks.

The shipwreck tour has become so popular that it now uses a much bigger, 101-passenger boat, 60' long, formerly used for the Pictured Rock cruises. The Miss Munising has been customized with two large 4'x10' viewing wells. Captain Pete Lindquist, a Munising native and a onetime Air Force diver on Okinawa, has been in the dive business since 1981. His son, Joe, and daughter, Kate, are now boat captains.
Pete now captains the 55' Fireball on scuba-diving adventures. It can handle up to 24 divers, or alternatively, a few divers and their friends and family who can relax on the sundeck, watch the divers, and grill a meal. Dives can be scheduled for morning, afternoon, evening, and night. A dive shop with rental equipment and air service is by the dock. The Shipwreck Bookstore is part of the gift shop at the ticket office.

Although Munising Bay is well protected from Superior's storms, 32 shipwrecks occurred in the area as ships sought refuge in the bay but failed to make it. Most wrecks occurred in November, mainly between 1860 and 1929. The shipwreck tour takes you to three wrecks and passes over each one three or four times. To help you understand what you're looking at, the experienced narrator passes out diagrams of how the wreck lies in the water and photos of the vessel's original appearance.

Information is delivered naturally and intelligently; this is not a wind-up, rote tour. Narrators are good at encouraging and answering questions. The iron ore carrier Bermuda, an intact wreck from 1860, is seen from on top. The wooden steamer Herman Hettler went off course in a 1926 storm and struck a reef off Grand Island's Trout Point. It is on its side. The third wreck, actually discovered by a tour customer,, is an anonymous scow schooner whose sinking went unrecorded. Scow schooners, in a pre-Civil War design unique to the Great Lakes, had rounded, barge-like prows instead of pointed hulls.

Some kids really get into this tour and enjoy speculating about wrecks and finding things like pop cans on the lake bottom. (—June, 2008)

2008 times: Sat. before Mem. Day thru 1st week of June 1 p.m. Rest of June: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. July & Aug: 10 a.m., 12:30, 1 & 4 p.m. Sept.: 10 a.m. & 1 p.m. Oct. 1 p.m. See shipwrecktours.com for more details about cruises and shipwrecks.
This dock is off M-28 at Division St., about a mile west of downtown . Parking off M-28 near tour dock. It is not the same dock as the Pictured Rocks cruise dock downtown, or the Grand Island ferry dock. Visitors are encouraged to make reservations the day before. Call (906) 387-4477. Cost: $28 for adults, $12 for ages 6 to 12, 5 and under free. Group tours upon request. Handicap accessible, except for motorized wheelchairs.

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