Plan your next trip with Lakeland Boating's Online Cruising Guides. We've got every port on the Great Lakes. Just click on your destination, and you'll see the latest news in the harbor, lots of helpful links to marinas and chambers of commerce -- even the current weather in port.
You can also order our cruising guide books for each of the Great Lakes.
For some people, reeling in a 40 pound catfish is as easy as jumping into the water. Watch these "anglers" catching catfish with little more than their bare hands, a pair of sturdy gloves and some bravery.
Our publisher, Bing O'Meara wants to see your videos for our Captain's Clip section on the left of your screen. You can e-mail us your digital videos or send us a link for them to info@lakelandboating.com. To see the archives of previous videos, click here.
Did you see a link at the end of a story in one of our magazine's issues? They're all in here. Exclusive stories, pictures and Captain's Logs from Lakelandboating.com.
Listen To Your Lakes
The Shedd Aquarium's blog about what's happening on, and to, the Great Lakes.
Thousand Islands Life
An online magazine about the Thousand Islands, updated periodically. Featuring a broad overview of the region, Thousand Islands Life is not a commercial venture and has no advertising. It is a volunteer community program.
How the Great Lakes Were Formed
An interactive guide to the history of the formation of the Great Lakes, all the way from the Ice Age to the Modern Age.
Maritime History of the Great Lakes
A simple and easy to use continually updated digital library of Great Lakes history, collecting documents and photos of value for everyone from researchers to those who just want to see how the Great Lakes have changed over time.
Lighthouses Forever
Steve Huyser-Honig runs this frequently updated blog of lighthouse photos and lighthouse history. It's a wonderful resource on an often overlooked part of Lakes history.
The Photography of Ian Coristine
We featured Ian Coristine's magnificent 1000 Islands photography in our Buyer's Guide but there are many more photographs to explore on his site. Take a peek and see the Islands in a way you never imagined.
Lyle Dean's Great Loop
Lyle Dean's great blog about doing the Great Loop was recently featured here in the Chicago Tribune. You can experience the whole thing with his updates on his website. You'll need to turn the calendar on the page back to September 2006. The days he update will be highlighted in red. It seems like a little bit of work but, trust us, it's worth it.
Save the River
Save The River's Clean Up the Ballast campaign is fighting to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species by addressing the primary path for introductions – ship ballast tanks.
The Great Lakes Wiki
A fantastic interactive site covering the history, ecology and areas of concern regarding our lakes. You can write or edit existing articles - or just peruse what's already there.
Just released from Confederate prison camps such as Andersonville and Cahawba, Union soldiers board the Sultana to being their trip home. The Sultana, a wooden Mississippi paddlewheeler weighing 1,719 tons, was contracted by the government to carry the troops, weakened by incarceration and associated with illnesses. The Sultana would never complete her journey, ending in the worst maritime disaster in United States history.
Captain J.C. Mason and the Sultana left New Orleans on April 21, 1865 with 100 cabin passengers, deck passengers and livestock headed for St. Louis. She took on more passengers at Vicksburg, Mississippi and had had a leaking boiler patc... Full Story »
There are, apparently, no limits to extravagance. As megayachts populate the seas more and more, the shadow yacht has started to come to prevalence. Shadow yachts, a sort of trailer yacht, are floating garages to carry collections of helicopters, cars, motorcycles, jet skis and motorboats, keeping you free from that indignity of renting a car when you reach your exclusive port.
Sometimes coming with a garage-style interior, the ships can also carry extra fuel, water, spare part and supplies, leaving you free to visit more remote destinations for longer periods of time.
Newer shadow yachts come equipped with a more stately interior. Shadow Marine of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., the m... Full Story »
Four-year-old Carter Louisell wanted to go swimming while visiting his grandmother's house at Versluis Lake in Plainfield Township, Michigan, but his grandmother, Joan VanZee, told him it was too cold.
When Carter saw a man in the water, then, he knew something was wrong. He had, after all, been told it was too cold to go swimming. And the mane should have been in his nearby canoe. Carter knew that. "There's a man in the water," he told his grandmother.
VanZee had just taken her kayak out of storage a few days before and her equipment and life jacket were ready to go. After using binoculars to confirm that Carter did indeed see someone in the water, VanZee put on her life jac... Full Story »
IN THIS ISSUE
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE!
From the Writer of Restless
Roland Schultz, the writer of Restless Takes On the Great Loop, now tackles his perilous adventures on the Great Lakes from his time spent in the Coast Guard.
Places to go... April's Port o' Call features Grand Haven, Michigan , where an annual Coast Guard Festival has earned the town a title of "Coast Guard City, USA."
Lake Huron's last Victorian lighthouse is on the market. You can view photographs of the Coastguardville property here.
Things to know...
Electronic devices such as PLB's and EPIRB's can save your life, while others like the Lowrance LMS-522C Ice Machine make a great cold comfort companion. Read about the latest marine gear in our New Gear section.
Stay informed with April's Coast Guard Opsums Page, where you'll find a story of a mariner indicted for sinking his own boat .
These features and more are reason enough to check out what's going on in Lakeland Boating and on Lakelandboating.com!
