Cruising in Michigan

Four of the five Great Lakes touch Michigan (Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie), which is another way of saying no state in the country has more freshwater coastline to run a boat along. Lake Superior off the Upper Peninsula is deep, clear, and cold, a serious lake for serious boaters. Lake Michigan's eastern shore is the opposite mood: sand beaches, dune country, and harbor towns built around their marinas. Between the two lakes sit the Straits of Mackinac, the passage that funnels sailors and powerboaters alike toward historic islands and busy waterfronts.

The Lower Peninsula's west coast is the state's boating main street. Holland, Grand Haven, and Traverse City all run well-kept marinas with generous transient dockage and downtowns worth walking to from the slip. Push north into the Chain of Lakes country (Torch Lake, Elk Lake), and the water goes calm and inland, friendly to smaller craft and paddlers yet still reachable by bigger boats through navigable channels. Charters run the full range here, bareboat sailing through crewed luxury yachts, so there's an on-ramp for nearly any skill level.