A 15,000-ton luxury cruise ship, two tall ships available for overnight trips, and some ships used for everything from scientific testing to life lessons will be on Grand Traverse Bay this summer.

“The coolest thing will be the new ship, the Utopia,” says Inland Seas Education Association Executive Director Fred Sitkins. A 65-foot schooner donated to Inland Seas, Utopia will kick off its first full season May 25 with school groups. Sitkins says Inland Seas is pursuing a license for it to carry adult leisure passengers, but this year it will likely be available for the public only as a dockside attraction, though he adds it will be “out there (on the bay) at least ten times.”

The organization’s other large craft, the Inland Seas, will have a full schedule on the waters. “There’s not one open day,” Sitkins says, noting it will be sailing all around Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and will be used by both high school and college students.

The tug Bay Monitor, a 23-foot aluminum craft owned and operated by the Watershed Center, will be on the water by early June, being used by staff and volunteers who will measure things like water clarity and the amount of oxygen in the water and available to aquatic life. “We like its stability – it’s nice to have a stable deck and hull,” says Grand Traverse Baykeeper Heather Smith. It will also be available for tours both on the water and dockside.

The Maritime Heritage Alliance’s 56-foot Madeline, a reconstruction of a mid-19th century Great Lakes schooner, will continue numerous community and heritage sails around the bay. It also travels the Great Lakes, stopping at various ports and festivals.

The MHA fleet also includes the Champion, which MHA Board President Doug Roberts says measures 52 feet including the bow sprit; the Witchcraft, a 33-foot sloop built in Northport; and the Arcturos, a 28-foot craft built in 1943. The Champion is used for programs for at-risk youth, who are taught sailing during daily sails over the course of a week.

The 114-foot tall ship Manitou, one of two ships operated by the Traverse Tall Ship Company, will again sail West Grand Traverse Bay as it has since 1991. It offers three two-hour sails daily, weather permitting. The ship is a replica of a “coasting” cargo schooner, similar to those that sailed the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean in the 1800s. 

Joining it is the sailing yacht Scout, a 38-foot yacht that’s now available for private groups of up to six people; both vessels also offer overnight trips.

The State of Michigan, owned and operated by Northwestern Michigan College as a teaching ship for Maritime Academy students, is one ship that will not be seen often on the bay this summer. “It will on the Detroit River, the Soo Locks – it will be away from Traverse City more than here,” says Jerry Achenbach, Maritime Academy superintendent.

The biggest boat in Traverse City this year will arrive on October 2, when the 15,000-ton luxury cruise ship MS Hamburg will bring 420 international visitors to town.

Dave Lorenz of Pure Michigan says the state has been working hard to showcase Michigan to the international cruise market, which he says has great potential. One challenge has been the lack of a suitable deepwater port, something that could be addressed as Traverse City Rotary finalizes its plans for the Discovery Pier.