![\"Set](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/07\/SubstandardFullSizeRender.jpg\")
Set sail aboard Traverse City’s tall ship “Manitou” in the east bay and beyond<\/p><\/div>\n
I recently watched just such a scene unfold from ten stories above the west bay of Traverse City as the sun set. Cocktail in hand at the piano bar in the Park Place Hotel\u2019s Beacon Lounge, I gazed out at the bucolic, blue bay and listened to the very talented Tom Kaufmann tickle the ivories while he sometimes sang along or simultaneously playing harmonica. Going up to drop in on Kaufmann\u2019s keyboard evenings, Friday or Saturday nights, is a must for the scenery and the maritime music he provides: songs such as \u201cBeyond the Sea,\u201d and \u201cSunrise Sunset\u201d timed like a soundtrack to the setting sun. I became especially moved when Kaufmann played and sang Louis Armstrong\u2019s \u201cWhat a Wonderful World,\u201d because I watched the boat float north up the west bay and fantasized about how that freshwater highway into Lake Michigan and beyond could take that cabin cruiser anywhere in the wonderful world its\u2019 helmsman wanted the to go. Would it moor in Mackinac or Miami\u2026or would the Windy City\u2019s skyline be soon in sight? What kind of weather would she encounter on the way, and how would she handle it? Was someone on board looking longingly back through the wake at the 25,000-watt beacon atop the very hotel in which I sat?<\/p>\n
![\"Kids](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/07\/SubstandardFullSizeRender-1.jpg\")
Kids can help the captain and crew aboard Traverse City’s tall ship Manitou<\/p><\/div>\n
The fifth-story, open-air rooftop bar of the snazzy, new Hotel Indigo, in Traverse City\u2019s hip, emerging \u201cWarehouse District,\u201d is the swell spot from which I saw the tall ship \u201cManitou,\u201d a 114-foot, double-masted, replica of an 1800\u2019s cargo sailing schooner, meandering throughout the west bay the next day. It was my chance, via a two-hour day tourist trip, to get on the water. Passengers, who can sit on and climb all over the deck and explore the captain\u2019s quarters and galley down below, can also help the crew, if they wish, hoist the 3,000 square-feet of white, billowing sails. The Manitou, like the boat I watched heading up the bay, also ventures up and out into Lake Michigan for multiple-day, bed-and-breakfast sails to remote locations such as Beaver Island and Manitou Island. \u201cWe don\u2019t set a specific cruising itinerary ahead of time,\u201d a rookie deckhand, who lives on the boat all season, told me. \u201cIt\u2019s the winds and the waves that decide where we sail and when.\u201d Day cruises to wineries up the Leelanau Peninsula are offered, but for a truly salty maritime experience, Wednesday evening cruises feature the musical group \u201cSong of the Lakes\u201d playing jigs and ballads of sailing and life on the sea. Visitwww.TallShipSailing.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"