New trip being planned. Need suggestions for Milwaukee, WI

skennelly

Wife and I are trying to plan a boat trip this summer.

Plan is to attend Irish Fest in Milwaukee in August.  So I'm looking for anyone who is familiar with Milwaukee's harbor system and could recommend anything.  There is a state park that is located right next to the fest grounds, but I know it has limited slips.  Plan on calling them today to get some info.

Thanks.

nick92675

We went there a handful of times, usually for day trips.  Discovery world/Lakeshore Park has a great location, beautiful grounds nearby.   http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/lakeshore/

McKinley Marina is the bigger one, more to the North - wide, open area - but much harder to get to the city and explore.   (This is a relative statement - obviously, you can just call an uber in a city that size.)

The only time we overnighted was I think at Harborside Yacht Center, we got a slip on the eastern bank of the river just in from the bend North.   This was a great location after cruising up/down the river all day, but when morning came there was quite a bit of traffic rocking the boat. (Again, relative - but noticeably worse than a standard slip in a marina).

The river heading North is a more pleasant cruise, heading south is more industrial.  I think there's one or two restaurants to the south you can tie up at, and then also a handful more heading north.
  
MKE is a great city, tons to do there.  Big drinking town, as the whole state of WI.

Pop into Southport in Kenosha on the way up - my old harbor.   Great amenities & restaurants steps from the slips.

nick92675

Looks like Harborside got bought by Centerpoint - we got our key at Centerpoint, but the slip was in front of the red buildings 

http://centerpointeservice.com/centerpointe-milwaukee-marina/

and you can see Discovery world just on the other side, inside the breakwall - and the McKinley is outside the breakwall north of that

nick92675

McKinley http://county.milwaukee.gov/BoatingampMcKinleyMa9139.htm

skennelly

nick92675 - Thanks for the info...we plan on going for Irish Fest so trying to get a slip as close as possible to the fest grounds.  I put a call into Lakeshore State Park to see what the deal is...the only way to apply is to fill out a form and mail it in..seems a bit behind the times.