Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Drive time: 1 hour 30 minutes

The Great Lakes have claimed between 6,000 and 10,000 ships over the centuries, with the biggest share of those lying at the bottom of Lake Michigan. The best way to see them? A scuba dive in the little-known but massive Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, which covers 962 square miles along the state’s shore, from Port Washington to Kewaunee County. Established in 2021, the sanctuary boasts 36 known shipwrecks (and 60 others still to be located), with plenty of others resting just off Milwaukee, and they are generally well preserved thanks to the lack of destructive shipworms in Lake Michigan’s cold waters. Jitka Hanakova, who helped discover the L.R. Doty and Alice E. Wilds wrecks, offers charters for certified divers via Shipwreck Explorers. You’ll depart from Milwaukee on a 28-foot Marinette customized for scuba diving ($270 for a full-day expedition). Among the other wrecks you might see is the 1876 Tennie and Laura, which sank in 1903 and lies more than 300 feet beneath the surface. Tip: May and June typically afford the best visibility.

While there Just over an hour north of Milwaukee by car, the town of Manitowoc is home to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, the largest of its kind in the Midwest. It has an operating steam engine, a re-creation of a 19th-century shipbuilding town, and a fully restored 312-foot World War II submarine, the USS Cobia, which you can rent out for an overnight stay on Airbnb (starting at $500).