Petoskey is one of northern Michigan’s best summer destinations, with its vibrant and historic downtown, beautiful sand beaches, miles of trails, parks, and Lake Michigan shoreline. A recent addition to the area is the Harbor Princess, a boat that offers Petoskey sunset cruises that take visitors out on the beautiful waters of Little Traverse Bay for some beautiful views. We recently had the chance to take one of these cruises and enjoyed seeing Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Bay Harbor, and more from the water. With a little bit of time left this summer, we thought it would be a great time to share a little information about this trip and show off some of our pictures.

The Harbor Princess offers daily trips that depart from the Petoskey Clocktower Pier at 7:30 p.m. The 65 foot boat takes visitors out past the Petoskey Pier Light on a narrated and scenic cruise.

Along the way we learned a little bit about the history of the Harbor Princess. The boat dates back to 1955 when it was known as the Emerald Isle and was a ferry to Beaver Island. After that part of its life, it shuttled passengers to Mackinac Island as part of the Arnold Line. In more recent times it operated as a dinner cruise boat on the Detroit River. This historic vessel is a great addition for Petoskey and now gets to bring joy to a new generation of passengers.

It was cool to see downtown Petoskey from the waterfront, then take in some distant views of the sand and dunes to the east at Petoskey State Park. Our first destination was Harbor Springs, home to the deepest natural harbor on the Great Lakes. This popular summer “resort town” is home to some large and beautiful houses and some equally beautiful boats.

One treat when entering the harbor was getting an up-close look at the Dancing Hare, a 180 foot yacht owned by Anna Murdoch. It’s not often you get to see a boat like this (that has its own Wikipedia page) in our Great Lakes!

After slowly making our way through the harbor, we headed back out and passed the elusive Little Traverse Lighthouse. Views of this 1884 lighthouse are hard to come by on land, as it sits inside a gated community where only residents and their guests have access. The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society will be offering tours this October, and our captain let us know that this opportunity only arises every three years or so. We were thankful to get some great pictures from the water before the boat started making its way to Bay Harbor.

A visit to Bay Harbor gave us a great chance to see how the other half lives. Multi-million dollar homes dot the shoreline, with stunning (and expensive) yachts docked in front of each one. Home to an award-winning golf course, a boutique hotel, specialty shops and restaurants, and more, Bay Harbor is one of Michigan’s crown jewels when it comes to luxury vacations.

The sunset was just about perfect as we left Bay Harbor, and we got to shoot plenty of photos while watching it slip below the horizon.

Another added treat was the bright Buck Moon, which was easily visible above the shoreline homes and trees as we headed back in to Petoskey.

We booked this trip just looking to do something new and different, and our cruise on the Harbor Princess far exceeded any expectations we had. This was an absolutely beautiful and well-run trip, and we’d recommend it to anyone heading to northern Michigan for a summer vacation!

The Little Traverse Ferry is part of the same fleet and offers multiple trips each day on a smaller boat that shuttles between Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and Bay Harbor. You can find out everything you need to know about both trips on their website, where they have the full schedule posted and online tickets available. Enjoy the photo gallery below from our July 2024 visit: