Great times on a great lake: Blue Harbor Resort brings seaside ambience and Victorian splendor to Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Travel America, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Randy Mink

FROM THE BALCONY OF YOUR suite, vast expanses of blue water stretch as far as the eye can see. It conjures up visions of Hawaii, California, or some other palmy, balmy place on the ocean.

But this is Wisconsin and the "open sea" is Lake Michigan. The city is Sheboygan, more famous for bratwurst than resort amenities. Located north of Milwaukee, Sheboygan may be fun to say but usually is not considered much more than a stop on the way to somewhere else.

The spiffy new Blue Harbor Resort & Conference Center, however, has put Sheboygan on the vacation map. A destination in itself, Blue Harbor abounds with all the ingredients for family fun the year round because it's always 84 degrees and sunny inside its signature attraction, an indoor water park called Breaker Bay. During summer months, guests can enjoy the beach or simply view the third largest of the Great Lakes from the outdoor swimming pool and deck. The idyllic site in Sheboygan's South Pier District once was part of a working waterfront, serving as storage grounds for tons of coal, clay, and oil.

Sporting a nautical theme, Blue Harbor harks back to grand Victorian-style beach resorts that welcomed those of privilege at the turn of the 20th century. All 183 guest rooms are family-size suites. Blue Harbor Condominiums, a charming village adjacent to the resort, provides additional accommodations.

The three-story atrium lobby, besides offering lake views, dazzles guests with the world's largest hand-blown glass fish fountain, "Dancing Blue Fountain." Three times a day, it puts on a computerized show with water effects and lighting choreographed to music.

Soon after check-in, the kids will want to take off for the aquatic adventures at Breaker Bay. The four-story indoor water park boasts seven waterslides, including the Soaker and Splashdown, dueling tube slides that exit the building before re-entering and opening into a plunge pool below. At the largest of the park's four swimming pools, guests can play water basketball or hop atop a floating sea monster, crab, and snake. Adults like to float on inner tubes on a lazy river (Molly's Moat) and relax in the Turtle Tub, a gigantic whirlpool looked on by three large turtles. Shoreline murals, oversized cattails, and rock outcroppings surround the massive water playground.

At the center of Breaker Bay is an activity center with more than 60 kid-activated geysers and sprays on 12 levels connected with bridges, cargo nets, and web crawls. Every few minutes a 1,000-gallon "tipping ship" at the top fills with water, tips, and douses the entire tort and everyone gathered below.

Beyond the water park, kids can play more than 100 games at the enormous, black-lit Northern Lights Arcade and ticket redemption center. Next door they enjoy arts and crafts at the Crew Club, a children's activity center supervised by the "Ambassador of Fun."

The water theme washes over to the resort's restaurants. At the Rusty Anchor Buffet you can dine "underwater" on the lower level or go upstairs and hop aboard a massive sailing ship. Artifacts include a helm and antique deep-sea diving helmet used on the set of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Enter the two-story, lighthouse-themed On The Rocks Bar & Grille and you're greeted by a huge aquarium featuring fish of the Great Lakes, including yellow perch, largemouth bass, and bluegill. A map of Lake Michigan covers the entire ceiling.

For fine dining with panoramic lake views, try Weissgerber's Seabird Restaurant, located in Blue Harbor's conference center. The menu offers seafood, steaks, pastas, and Weissgerber's signature German entrees. Upstairs, Blue Point Wine & Tapas Bar serves tapas--those delectable small bites so popular in Spain--in an atmosphere reminiscent of the Costa del Sol.

Other resort facilities include Sweetshop Landing confectionery and cafe; Ship Shape Place, a fitness center; and Elements--An Aveda Concept Spa, which offers facials, massages, spa treatments, manicures, pedicures, and a hair salon.

When it comes time to bed down, guests have a choice of 10 suite layouts, including rooms with a fireplace and/or Jacuzzi. For families with younger children, the KidAquarium Suite is engulfed in underwater decor and has separate kids' quarters with bunk bed, minnow bucket chandeliers, and TV with Nintendo.

The Victorian-style, four-unit cottages of Blue Harbor Condominiums, with striking red roofs, white clapboard siding, and gracious porches, give added space and come with a full kitchen. The one-story, two-bedroom, two-bath "Captain's Quarters" unit accommodates up to six persons. The two-story, four-bedroom, three-bath "Royal Commodore" can sleep 10.

Nightly rates at Blue Harbor generally range from $179 (for the basic Family Suite) to $799 (large condos). All suites open onto decks or patios and include such amenities as a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and hair dryer.

Blue Harbor is a development of the Madison, Wisconsin-based Great Lakes Companies, Inc. (www.greatlakesco.com), America's largest family of indoor water park resorts. Other resorts include the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio; Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; Traverse City, Michigan; and Kansas City, Kansas. Opening this year are Great Wolf resorts in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. In 2006 the company unveils its first international property in Niagara Falls, Ontario.