Alpena is the Lake Huron town NOAA uses as the door to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. NOAA designated the sanctuary on October 7, 2000, the first national marine sanctuary in the Great Lakes, and expanded its boundaries in 2014. 2

What to see

The sanctuary protects a collection NOAA calls nearly 100 historic shipwrecks. Together they span about two hundred years of Great Lakes commercial shipping: wooden schooners, early steel-hulled steamers and vessel types that belonged to these lakes. 14 More than 50 of those wrecks are marked with a mooring buoy. 4

You do not have to dive. NOAA says a calm day can show wrecks from a glass-bottom boat, a kayak or a snorkel from shore. Seasonal moorings, in the water from May to September, keep boats off the wrecks and make the dive safer. Depths vary, so the same collection reaches different skill levels. 3

The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center is the sanctuary visitor center in downtown Alpena. NOAA points land visitors there for exhibits before they go on the water. 3 The DNR's Harrisville State Park page, a short way south on this shore, also sends people to the sanctuary. 5

Best seasons

The moorings NOAA maintains are a May-to-September piece of the year. 3 The heritage center and the town stay the winter door: film and education programs are how NOAA describes the off-season in Alpena. This page does not name a festival week.

How to get there

NOAA places the sanctuary visitor center in downtown Alpena, Michigan. 3 Lake Huron off this coast is the sanctuary itself. Current programs, boat operators and which wrecks have moorings belong on the Visit page.

Tips

  • Start on land at the heritage center if you have not been on these wrecks. NOAA built that building as the first look. 3
  • Shallow wrecks such as William H. Stevens and William H. Rounds are the ones NOAA describes near shore, in water a snorkel or a kayak can reach on a calm day. 4
  • The next Sunrise Coast pages we keep are Harrisville, Oscoda, Tawas Point and Port Austin.
  • We do not have an Alpena listing in the shop. The Great Lakes map ornament is the piece that names Lake Huron.

Safety

Cold freshwater, changing weather and depth are the hazards of this lake. This page does not report today's seas, visibility or which moorings are in. Check the Thunder Bay Visit page and the shipwrecks page before you go. 34