Tour the Lake on a Summer Cruise

Take a tour of the lake with Summer Discovery Cruise at Metro Beach Metropark.

The 2011 season offers 13 different educational cruises around themes such as fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, shipwrecks, lighthouses, weather, shipping and more.

Cruises go on all day, starting with a 2.5-hour “Fisheries” tour at 10 a.m.; “Wind, Waves and Weather” at 2 p.m.; and “Lighthouses of Lake St. Clair” at 6 p.m. 

Summer Discovery Cruises are scheduled through Sept. 10, and are presented by Michigan Sea Grant and Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) in partnership with the Huron-Clinton Metroparks. 
          
Tickets for 2.5-hour cruises are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 6 to 17. Tickets for longer cruises are $25 for adults and $15 for children ages 6 to 17.
 
New 2.5-hour cruise topics for this season are:

• Aliens Among Us – get an up-close encounter with Great Lakes invasive species.
• Night Watch – take a nighttime look at marine navigation and its reliance on the stars, the skies and lighthouses that have guided mariners for centuries.
• Handy Billy - Join Handy Billy, entertainers who love our Great Lakes and its related music, as they sing songs that have much to teach about shipboard life and the Great Lakes themselves. Bring your best sing-along voice for this nautical, musical cruise.

Other 2.5-hour cruise topics are:

• Shipping Out - Voyage into the world of Great Lakes shipping with former sailor and ancient mariner Patrick Livingston, author of the Library of Michigan award winning Eight Steamboats-Sailing Through the Sixties. As the Clinton heads across Lake St. Clair toward the shipping channel, you will learn about lakers and salties, legendary sailors and Lake St. Clair shipwrecks.
• Wind, Waves & Weather - The Great Lakes influence our weather, and the weather can have a great influence on the Great Lakes. Join NOAA National Weather Service meteorologists on a cruise that explores the “why” behind the wind, waves, and weather around us. Learn how to be safe the next time weather threatens, what some of the old sailor sayings really mean, why we don't have hurricanes on the Great Lakes, and more.
• The Nature of Lake St. Clair - Take an educational tour of Lake St. Clair to discover the rich variety of aquatic life that makes the lake so special. Plants, animals, and habitats - including the world’s largest fresh water delta - will be explored.
• Shipwrecks - See how the latest technology in shipwreck identification is used to discover wrecks as we investigate the remains of a sunken mystery ship in Lake St. Clair. Along the way, explore historic shipwrecks and the lighthouses built to help prevent them. 
• Great Lakes Science for Teachers - This cruise, for teachers only, will focus on the Great Lakes from a science education perspective. Learn how to relate biology, chemistry, geology and physics to the Great Lakes that define Michigan. This “research cruise” is designed to help share the Great Lakes with K-12 students.
• Lighthouses of Lake St. Clair - Join a representative from the Save Our South Channel Lights organization to learn the history of the two lighthouses built on Lake St. Clair in 1855 to guide vessels through the treacherous St. Clair Flats. Learn about navigating the Great Lakes then and now, and discover what is being done to preserve these historic landmarks.
• Lake St. Clair Fisheries - Learn firsthand about the fish that are found in Lake St. Clair, many of which are available for hands-on examination. We will be joined by a Michigan DNR fisheries biologist and rendezvous with their research vessel while out on the lake to observe fish tagging, measuring and other research operations.
• The History of Lake St. Clair - Cruise Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair Flats in search of the geologic past of the St. Clair River Delta and tell the human stories that shaped the history of this unique area.

4-hour cruise:

• Wildlife & Wetlands of Lake St. Clair - Explore further into the Flats in this extended 4-hour tour to discover the variety of plants, animals and habitats that make the world’s largest fresh water delta so unique and valuable. This cruise has an additional cost of $5 per participant.

 Special 5-hour cruise:

• Journey Through the Straits II - Park at Sinbad’s in Detroit to board the Clinton for a voyage from the upper reaches of the Detroit River to Lake Erie. The cruise begins just south of Peche Isle, the first island in the straits and the site of Chief Pontiac's summer camp, passes by the old French ribbon farms, Cadillac's landing, the Detroit Riverwalk, goes under the Ambassador Bridge, then passes the old Bob-Lo boats on the way to our industrial heartland’s steel mills. Then, enter the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, with its beautiful islands and abundant wildlife. Once on land, take a shuttle bus back to Sinbad’s to your vehicle.

To learn about the Great Lakes by being on the Great Lakes, visit the Summer Discovery Cruises website at www.discoverycruises.org for complete cruise descriptions, locations and schedule, as well as directions on how to register for summer cruises. Advance reservations are required and on-board space is limited to 30 persons. Group bookings welcome. For park information, call Metro Beach Metropark at 586-463-4581.