Two groups of about 20 people got the chance to learn about Lake Michigan and how it used to be sailed on.
The schooner Inland Seas made a stop in Manitowoc yesterday near the Wisconsin Maritime Museum to take passengers out into the lake to teach them about the science and natural history of the Great Lakes.
Passengers took water samples, learned about the fish in the lake, and were able to sail on Inland Seas as shipmen would back in the day.
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary Outreach Coordinator Alyssa Saldivar says the morning crew had a very good time on Lake Michigan.
“We had a lot of smiling faces, a lot of kids (saying) ‘Wow’, and just mouths open,” she explained. “We had a lot of lifelong learners that were on board that said this was the first time they had been on a sailboat in 50 years and were just enjoying every single second of the sunshine and the wind.”
Saldivar noted that the Shipwreck Coast Marine Sanctuary teamed up with the Inland Seas Education Association to provide an opportunity to give residents on the lakeshore a way to get on the water and for them to understand its cultural heritage.
She calls it a great partnership, adding, “This partnership hopefully will start this year and continue for the next decade.”
One unique thing found on the morning Inland Seas sail was a native brown trout, which Saldivar says she hopes will continue to thrive in a lake filled with invasive species.
The schooler itself was built in 1994, making it 32 years old.
But the unique thing about the boat, Saldivar says, is its lead keel.
“It does not have to sit in the water as deep as schooners used to have to,” she noted. “So, this can get into ports like Two Rivers, where it was yesterday so that it can be even more accessible to ports that don’t have sailing vessels in it anymore.”
Saldivar says the Inland Seas will be coming back to Manitowoc and Two Rivers next year and could make its way down to Sheboygan in the future.
The Inland Seas Education Association is based out of western Michigan.
