Reviews: Monroe Harbor

Reviewed by: Lance Williamson on Sep 4, 2024
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 3.8'

Rating: 1

I would only stay here if it was dead calm for the day before you arrive and the time you are here. All of the pluses listed in previous posts are not worth it.

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Reviewed by: David Rowe on Sep 7, 2022
LOA: 38'
Draft: 3.5'

Rating: 3

The good: Convenient to the city mooring field. Also, the least expensive way to see the windy city from a boat. Free tender is just a radio or phone call away, leaving you ashore just mere steps from Chicago Style Pizza, which is more like a casserole made with pizza ingredients, but still delicious.

The bad: This harbor is ringed with concrete bulkheads, and if the lake's wave action is just right (coming straight out of the east), the waves will enter the harbor and start reverberating in all directions giving you a roll-y, uncomfortable night's sleep.

The ugly: if the wave action, as described above, gets bad enough, your boat will not only rock uncomfortably, but start beating your bow against the aluminum mooring buoy, making a hell of a racket. You will not sleep through this, even if you have managed to catch a couple of winks around the rocking. This is a special kind of discomfort, which I'm sure was designed by Al Capone himself to torture his enemies while waiting for their "concrete boots" to cure. You will regret your life choices, and you will be driven to leave Chicago first thing in the morning, whether you've seen it or not. I had one of these nights here, and the only thing that prevents me from giving this one star is the previous night, which was perfect in every way. Had we left after that one night, I'd give this place five stars.

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Reviewed by: Bill Mcmahon on Sep 12, 2021
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 40'
Draft: 3.5'

Rating: 4

Great location!

Right in downtown Chicago with the privacy of a mooring. The free launch service is good and runs late into the night, so you can enjoy Chicago. It will drop you off at the end of Monroe street. We walked everywhere from there. The view from our mooring of the city skyline was magnificent, particularly at night.

It is a very large harbor with a long fetch and hard walls, so waves reflect and amplify. It got very rolly on 2 of the 7 nights we were there. Mooring balls do not have any lines, just a big metal ring. You will have to use your own line. This creates 2 challenges: 1) getting a line through the ring can be a problem depending on how much free board you have and 2) a line on a metal ring will chafe, but for only $1/ foot right in downtown Chicago it is well worth it.

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