Apostle Islands get a glass bottomed tour boat

One of Wisconsin’s first glass-bottom tour boats will check out shipwrecks in the Apostle Islands.

Wisconsin Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett and Apostle Island Cruises owner Dan Boucher christened what they believe is the state’s first glass-bottom boat: “We ask the sailors of old and the moon of God that is the sea, to accept the Superior Princess as her name, and to help her through passages, and to allow her to return with her crew and her passengers safely.”

Klett sees smooth sailing for the future of the vessel: “How awesome to be on Lake Superior and be able to look down and go over shipwrecks, go over old growth timber that is on the bottom of the lake and some of it is floating up toward the top. It is really going to give visitors a unique experience.”

Tourists Kayth Brady of Ashland and Judi Ingelido of Stevens Point say the new glass bottom on the Superior Princess will have them coming back to the Bayfield area sooner than later: “I think that would be fascinating, and I am not a big water person.”

The two hour cruise will check out some of the Apostle Islands’ dozens of 19th century shipwrecks. This cruise will begin with the 195 foot Lucerne, which went down with all hands in a November 1886 storm off Long Island. Or there’s the 375 foot Sevona, which broke in half during a storm in 1890. The remains are in about 20 feet of water, and Boucher says the clarity of the pure Lake Superior water allows them to see as deep as 80 feet on a good day.