Boating in Green Bay Wi
See the over 237 photos - Photo Gallery - After talking about boating in Green Bay for years my buddy Casey said let's go do it! So we packed up his 25ft Sunsation along with my wife, son and my son's buddy and headed out for Green Bay. I put together a map of locations and double checked water depths so we had a idea of were we should go. We decided to start off on the north end of the city where the Fox River and the Bay of Green Bay meet. We went to Metro Boat Launch, nice clean place with plenty of parking and nice, concrete launch ramps. There is a small pavilion with restrooms and a picnic area on the north end of the pavilion. Water seemed plenty deep and the docks were good. There was a fair amount of traffic when we got there but everyone kept things moving and we got into the water quickly. My son's friend had never boated before. We started to head for Longtail Point to let them swim but mother nature had other plans. We ran into about 3' to 4' waves right in the mouth of Fox River and decided we should head up the river first and see where the day would take us. About 5 minutes into the journey and our first time boater was chuckin' his cookies over the side of the boat. Poor little guy was almost green. We headed up the river to calmer waters and our first spot, Hagemeister Park. We figured we could stop and get some food and let our little buddy get back on land for a few minutes. Hagemeister Park has a patio right on the river walk area that is very cool. They have a nice set of piers for the boaters, clean docks with bumper rails and plenty of cleats. Such a cool vibe and has a small outdoor shack that is a little bar with a beach hut style to it. The main building is fun, industrial feel, with a huge patio. They also have the fireplace style tables for large groups of people. We got our table and sat down to a few drinks and some appetizers. Service and food were both good. We hung around for about an hour. Our new boater was feeling better at this point and we decided to move on down the river to see what else we could find. As you walk down the board walk there is an ice cream stop called The Creamery. We decided we would stop back later. We untied and headed down the river. There is a lot of slow no wake but the scenery is fun with large cargo ships, bridges and industrial buildings. We headed all the way down to Depere and stopped a little ways out from the locks. We let the boys jump in to swim and sat for a while, had a few drinks, watched the boats and soaked up the sun. We started heading back and decided to stop at Jimmy Sea's. Docks are all pretty high here but we found some on the north end of the piers that were good for us. They had a pretty good crowd out on the patio that overlooks the river. I was surprised to see that they had a bar on the patio but they took it out of the service area and used the bar as a table area. They have a sign to see the hostess inside to get a table. We headed in to use the facilities and were not sure if we were going to stay. I walked in and ran into some friends from Appleton so we stuck around and caught up with them and had a few drinks. The place seems like it could be super cool but looks like they are struggling. Between the patio bar being in shambles and when you walk in the back dining room area looks like someone's personal garage with boxes laying around some cars. There was a nice Thunderbird but the other cars were not impressive. Maybe I am missing something. Seems like a huge waste of space and just gives you the feeling that you are not sure if the place will be open next time. The bartender we had was a sweetheart and did a good job for us. We noticed they had a band coming in. We didn't stick around since we wanted to cover more of the river and try to get out to Longtail Island yet. We headed back up river and passed on going to Studio 1212, a wine bar on the river as it looked empty. We also passed on Fox Harbor, which looks like a cool little spot. We wanted to get back to ice cream for the boys. Both the boys got to drive for a little while which made there day. Nothing but huge smiles the whole time. We tied back up on the boardwalk and headed to the ice cream place but it was closed. We will just have to come back and hit the places we missed. We did hang out on the boardwalk and felt that the wind calmed down enough so we should make a run out on the lake. We got out to the lake and the waves were gone. It was a nice flat lake with the beginning of a sunset coming on so Casey throttled up the Sunsation and we made it out to Longtail, but by this time everyone was gone. We headed back to the launch to pull. We got to watch a group of people coming into the launch in a small sailboat. The guy was having a hard time getting the trailer backed and having enough line to hook the boat up. So he put his wife on the back of the trailer with the winch rope in her hand then backed up with her on the trailer which was interesting to watch. They finally got it hooked up and pulled onto the trailer. They left the sails up so as he pulled away from the launch the wind grabbed the sails and took the boat off from the trailer. I swear some days the best place to sit and watch is at the boat launch! It was a great day filled with fun, sun , good friends and great memories. We will be back to Green Bay for sure. I have some teaser photos for you below. I hope you enjoy the photos! See all the photos - Photo Gallery I have some map info below the photos for you to check out.
