Between spring and fall it tours Great Lakes ports but spends much of its time docked at Clinch Park Marina where it is open to the public. Just a few blocks farther east along West Bay, you can visit a restoration project in progress at the Maritime Academy pier. Volunteers are restoring the Welcome , a 55-foot sloop originally built during the 1970s for the 1976 bicentennial festivities at Fort Mackinac and Colonial Michilimackinac. It is a reproduction of the original Welcome built by fur trader John Askin in 1774. The original vessel was purchased by the British Navy in 1779 and converted to an armed sloop.
Admission is free, donations are welcome.
With its abundance of water, the Traverse Bay Region is a favorite for canoeists. The local community college operates this observatory just south of Traverse City. The meetings are open to the public and feature discussions ranging from current sky happenings to the latest discoveries and theories. The Astronomical Society also hosts public viewing nights at least once each month where you can study the planets, the Orion Nebula, the Milky Way and other sky objects through the observatory's two high-powered telescopes. There is no admission charge.