Help with Wisconsin Dells boating...

[jbruere]

Hi all, I'm a newbie both to CSR and owning a Sea Ray! Absolutely LOVE my 2006 Sea Ray 220 Select. I'm not sure how I've lived without it this long! Anyways, we're from Iowa and venturing north to the Dells this long holiday weekend. We are camping at Holiday Shores campground and from what I can tell, it seems to be the Wisconsin River that runs right next to it. From the pictures it looks like a beautiful place but I have to admit, boating on the river makes me extremely nervous! If anyone has any tips, advice, places to go, etc I would MUCH appreciate it! Thanks and HAPPY BOATING!!!

 

[beerman]

It is a beautifull area to boat on. We used to run our 18' all the time on the river but started to only go on Sunday afternoon because of the boat traffic. There is a large bay up at Holiday Shores and that is where most people do the tubing and skiing. To the north of the bay is a sand bar that most locals go to. Any futher north of that and you need a jet ski because it gets real shallow. I would not take your boat any further north.. If you go south out of the bay you will enter the Narrows of the Dells of the Wisconsin River. This is now a slow no wake all the way through the narrows. Between rental boats, tourists(sorry) and the tour boats and large 50 passenger jet boats the whole river can get extremely choppy, especially through the narrows. Once you are south of the narrows it opens up again. There is only one bar/restaurant on the water that is assessible by boat and I would not waste my time going there. The best part of the river is the sandstone bluffs and the nature. There is an island off the narrows that has a small beach but the DNR will kick everyone off of it. I love the river just not the hassel and on Labor Day weekend it will be nuts. Good luck and have a great vacation. Take a tour boat or Duck ride when you are in town. They are the best way to see the river.

 

[jbruere]

Thanks Scott! That is all information that I was looking for! I know the boating rules and regs are going to be a little different from here but I don't think it should be too much. The only thing I could see that was different was that you can't have your life jackets "stowed", they should be out of storage compartments. I know down in Missouri it's that way as well. Do they really mean all the life jackets have to be out? Here in Iowa, they can be stowed you just have to have enough. Any other things I should know??

 

[OldSkool]

I posted this to another thread but thought it might be interesting to you.

I was once on the Wisconsin river at the Dells on a 24' canbote my buddy rented. He had no clue how to handle it. Riding along I could see a 4 foot wake coming in fast from a sight seeing boat probably 60' or so long. We were in the narrow part of the river walled on both sides by cliffs.

We were running at speed when he did the stupidest thing possible. Just before the wake he cut the engine. A 1 foot wall of water cleaned the deck off completely. Anything that wasn't bolted down was now washed away in the wake. (I had previously instructed my wife to leave anything of value in the car as we were with an inexperienced operator.) The submarining nearing upended the stupid thing.

His wife came unglued. She knew I had boated before so I ended up piloting the barge the rest of the afternoon retrieving coolers, blankets and anything else that would float from the river. He spent the day listening to is wife go off.

BTW We stayed at Holiday Shores. It is a great camp grounds.

 

[beerman]

You can have the jackets stowed. As far as the wake from the sightseeing boat, that is the narrows and is slow no wake now. It is not as bad.

 

[jbruere]

Thanks guys! OldSkool-I can only imagine the wife's response I'm really looking forward to going somewhere different with the boat. Now...if Friday at noon would just HURRY UP and get here! Happy (and safe) boating!!!

 

[jbruere]

Thanks for all the tips! We survived the not so great weather and actually only spent about 4 hours on the river. Completely different boating than what we are accostumed to. Beautiful, but a bit stressful. I guess I'm more of a lake/tie up in a cove and relax kinda girl. Live and learn, right!?!? Not too mention the ramp at the campgrounds was.....interesting. Thinking next year we might try Lake Delton instead?? If anyone has any tips on good cabin rentals with lake access I would appreciate it. There are about 16 people total in our group.

 

[beerman]

I'm glad you had a good weekend. Just a tip for next year, look for a lake somewhere else. Lake Delton is worse than the river and no campgrounds on it. Only high priced condos.

 

[Woody]

Thanks for all the tips! We survived the not so great weather and actually only spent about 4 hours on the river. Completely different boating than what we are accostumed to. Beautiful, but a bit stressful. I guess I'm more of a lake/tie up in a cove and relax kinda girl. Live and learn, right!?!? Not too mention the ramp at the campgrounds was.....interesting. Thinking next year we might try Lake Delton instead?? If anyone has any tips on good cabin rentals with lake access I would appreciate it. There are about 16 people total in our group.

How much farther you willing to drive? Minocqua or Lake Tomahawk, WI are very nice.