Hands down the best pontoon service in Minocqua! The owner Chad and the rest of this staff is so…read morenice and they will show you a great time! This is perfect for any occasion - bachelor/bachelorette parties, family cruise, etc. I was here for a bachelorette party and we booked an afternoon cruise from 11:30-2:30 on Saturday. It was just 6 of us girls and we had the whole pontoon to ourselves! Chad was our driver and he did a great job taking us to all the fun spots/bars! They provide water, tea and lemonade and you are welcome to bring any snacks/drinks! We will definitely be booking with Minocqua pontoons cruises & rentals again!

We rented a pontoon with Chad for my bachelorette party. It was such a fun day!!! He was very easy…read moreto work with through the whole planning process. The boat was very nice and clean. It fit our group of 10 really well.. we had plenty of space! Chad made great recommendations of bars and swimming spots to stop at. He was also very patient with our crazy group ;) would highly recommend Minocqua Pontoon Cruises and will definitely boat again with them in the future!!!

Booked a seaplane tour with Bill for an anniversary gift for my wife. AWESOME time. She could not…read morestop smiling. Great guy, great tour, great day. Will definitely be doing another tour. Bill even let me use his boat to get my Lab, who jumped from my truck and was way out in the water. Highly recommend this.

My boyfriend and I decided to go kayaking last Friday to get outdoors and see some nature during…read morethis horrible quarantine we are going through. Shannon, Jeff, and Cody were so awesome! They made it possible so we never were in physical contact with anyone and the kayaks and paddles were disinfected. Enough about the pandemic, I want to talk about the amazing kayaking trip we made down the Cane Bayou to Lake Pontchartrain!! It was a gorgeous day and we saw 3 gators! It was beyond peaceful and therapeutic to paddle through birds chirping, cane reeds sounding like waterfalls in the wind, and finally arriving to the beauty of the glistening lake. It was about a mile paddle and absolutely beautiful. You paddle through 3 noticeably different ecosystems towards the lake. Can't wait to come back here when things get back to normal!! (Also-the main shop has every beer, wine, soda, and snack you could want! They also had seafood plates and boiled crawfish)

Super nice staff and you can get a bite to eat at the check in place (crawfish pie or a burger!)…read morebefore heading down to the loading dock! We saw a 12 foot gator while we rounded the bend and we thought he was FAKE! Time of a lifetime.

Took a sunset cruise on a beautiful Tuesday night. It went well over the scheduled 2 hour time. We…read morehad an excellent tour guide/pontoon driver named Duke. What a character! He grew up in the area and knew everything about the lakes and the people living on the lake and the history of the entire area and he was very funny and entertaining. A man who loves his job!! The chain of lakes was absolutely beautiful. We saw eagles nesting, beaver lodges and loons on the water. The cruise was well worth the money charged. Will definitely visit again. Note: Kudos to owner, Chad Bierbrauer. We had booked this cruise for August 2023 but had a death in the family and had to cancel. Chad issued us a voucher to use anytime ( no expiration) and are we ever glad we chose to use it this year (2024). I highly recommend this business and if you get Duke as your driver, you will not be disappointed. Another note: Chad also offers snowmobile tours in the wintertime. The rental office is very nice and is very easy to find on the main highway going through town.

Updated 7/20/2017 - visiting Ashland/Bayfield area. Had such a great time last year at good earth,…read moredecided to do it again. It was fantastic! Captain mike does a great job. We had a wonderful time. Be sure to give them a try and also check out their shop. Thanks!! July 2016 - We discovered these folks from a pamphlet we picked up in a restaurant down in Ashland. We had planned on going to Michigan for a day trip, but with the terrible storm damage and wash outs - decided to change our plans. Let me just say our Sea Cave trip with captain Mike could not have been any better! We had such a great time. The boat was so fun and fast. The lake and caves were great. And Mike was very personable and knowledgeable. Also, their gift shop is very nice too. I highly recommend. And the only thing I'm disappointed about, is the fact that we didn't discover them sooner. Our trip was ABSOLUTELY GREAT. Hard working people - helping families build lasting vacation memories. Highly recommend!!!!!!! Thanks again!!!!! Jamie Independence Iowa

Y'all were fantastic! I hope that your business grows because this place is great! I recommendread more

Have been coming up north for 35 years. This is the first time we have come to Pirates Hideaway…read more Upon arrival at 11 am when they opened we played bags outside and got some alcoholic beverages at the bar. Their pizza is amazing. Their margarita was good and not crazy expensive. The boat ride was great and it had a bathroom on it which was helpful. The owners are so kind and get everyone involved. They give out chips and lemonade/water they have pirate tattoos and pointed out eagles nests along the path. I wish they would've went one way down the chain instead of going halfway one way and halfway another. We got ice cream before we headed out. Overall, definitely a place to check out if you have kids or want to sit outside and look at the lake.

While the pirate ship ride is expensive our 7 and 5 year olds loved it. They give out snacks and…read morewater /lemonade on board and the kids get a 'tattoo' and a bandana. We grabbed a couple beers from the tiki bar to take with us. After we were finished we got ice cream as well. Fun little place to visit.

Ashley & Pete saved the day when the Apostle Islands Kayak canceled on us only after we showed up…read morefor our kayak tour of Devil's Island and was not able to reschedule us for the remaining three days of our trip. We joined another couple that day (cutting the price in half) for a glorious private speed boat tour of Bear and Devil's Island. We didn't have to navigate the challenging waves with kayaks, were able to cover much ground in significantly less time and were still able to get an intimate tour of the best sea caves as Pete deftly navigated the vessel in and out of the caves. We wound up having a much better tour and saved enough money to pay for the previous nights dinner in the process. HIGHLY RECOMMENED!!!

A big thank you to Ashley and Captain Pete. This was our first time up in the Bayfield / Madeline…read moreIsland area and there is much to see and do. Ashley helped recommend a list of islands and lighthouses to visit and Captain Pete made our time on the water / islands a blast. Thank you!!

We took the 3 hour Grand Tour and had a great day viewing and learning about the Apostle Islands…read more Book your reservations 1-2 days early if possible so weather forecasts are accurate enough, but seats are still available. We tried to book at 10am same day and only a few seats were remaining on the last cruise of the day (4:30pm departure). Seats are first come first served so we came 45 minutes early to line up and were able to get 4 seats together "upstairs" on the boat which had the best views and minimal engine noise. However, bring a jacket or sweatshirt since it gets so windy and cold once you're in the middle of Lake Superior (Yes, I was cold in the middle of July). There is a small concession stand inside the boat, but I chose to just bring some drinks and snacks.

Our captain was very knowledgeable of the Apostle Islands and entertaining. The Grand Tour was 55…read moremiles, 2 1/2 hours and the best way to see the islands. It's best to remember a jacket, even if you think you don't need one.

Wow, what a find! I really wanted to take a boat tour while I was visiting the Apostle Islands so I…read morecould see the fun sites you can't really see from shore in Bayfield or on Madeline. Karen at Adventure Tours was a total rockstar in helping me get a tour booked. I came a bit early in the season and with my dog, so getting a date and a group willing to travel with a dog was a bit challenging. Karen was constantly communicating with me while I was up there trying to find a group for me to go out on the boat with. And she did! We'd been chatting back and forth while she was checking the best date for the weather, and we were able to have a wonderful tour! Captain Lauren was likewise a rockstar and our all-lady tour (except for my male pup) was a total blast. I love that this tour was in a smaller speedboat and there were only four of us plus dog plus Captain Lauren. We got to chat and mention things we might want to know and see, and Lauren was a trove of information and fun facts. We also were able to get closer to some of the cooler islands and rock formations than the huge commerical tour boats we saw further out in the water. We got to naviate inside some of the sea caves and look out at the big boats who couldn't fit or get this close. This was 100% the way to go for a water tour. I cannot recommend this option enough, and extra love for being dog friendly.

We had hoped (and scheduled) the five hour boat/kayak tour but, unfortunately, weather had other…read moreideas. We hung on watching the weather for the next day and also hoped more people would sign up for the tour to meet the four person minimum. Sunday morning, it was very foggy so we waited until finally we took off on the four hour boat tour (no kayaking). Pete, our captain, was friendly and knowledgeable about the islands and made every effort to accommodate what his passengers wanted, especially my desire to take LOTS of photos! Although we never felt unsafe, he did give us pause sharing that the boat we were on was new to him and that he thought it didn't have sufficient horsepower. We did enjoy the tour and saw lots of great stuff: shipwrecks, lighthouses, bald eagles, a historic fish camp and, my favorite, sea caves on Devil's Island. Our communication with the office, especially Karen and Monique, was pleasant and we hope to kayak with them in the future.

We toured with a party of 11. 8 of is we're together and the other 3 included a young (carried)…read morechild. The 3 and one of our party did the shorter prospector's tour (all walking - no repelling or climbing harness needed). With the large party we were a little over 3.5 hours. Plenty to see and do, but the wait for the rappelling section was a little long (one at a time). Just walking through the mine, seeing the fog, feeling the cool temperatures, and the overlook before the repelling is nice. Plenty of story about the history, mining in general, and features in the mine. That's the prospector's tour and the first part of the miner's tour. Then there's repelling, clipping in to walk down a hill, walking over a shaky bridge, and exiting through the ice cave (temps in the 30s). We had a good time and I recommend it. Don't go overboard dressing warmly. There's a decent amount of activity, especially on the last part of the miner's tour.

Check out the Miner's Tour. This tour is LEGIT…read more This is not a commercialized, santized tour company. No guardrails. No lights inside. No paved trail that everyone has to stay on. There's exposed shafts and pipes sticking out. You crouch through tunnels that are less than 5 feet tall and have sharp rock edges poking down. You are seeing a real mine and how it looked back in the 1800s. I've done some mine tours in Colorado. This one is way, waaay better than those - this is the real deal. Really fun. Use the portapotties before the tour starts. You do not need to bring anything on this tour. You arrive in the gift shop and after checking in, they bring you to get suited up for the rappelling portion. You get a harness, gloves and a hard hat with headlamp. Then the tour group gets on a 6-wheel military bus over some extremely bumpy terrain to the mine entrance. Hold on! The tour is very hands-on and engaging. Our guide Katelyn had a lot of info to share about the mine and its history. Inside, there's lots of old artifacts like old tools recovered from the miner days. You can see the wooden planks from the old miner carts. You'll see how they actually worked using the quarter-crank rod, it looked miserable. You really get a feel for how laborous and dangerous mining is. *** 3 things I'll call out in case you have fears: BATS. Yes, there are bats in this cave. I am not afraid of bats, BUT not a fan. The bats I saw were tiny, maybe the size of a golf ball. They are terrified of people so they cling tight in the rock crevice and hope we don't notice them. None were flying around, but I could hear some chirping in the cathedral room. DARK. The headlamps are good at illuminating, so at one point everyone turns off their headlamps to see how dark it is. I knew it'd be dark, but once in it, it's kind of unsettling how pitch black it is. HEIGHTS. There's 2 places on the rappelling tour where you will be dealing with heights. *** Ok, so rappelling! I'm not athletic, so I wasn't sure how hard this would be for me. They have you practice on the vertical metal barrier fence around the top of the shaft. You get strapped in and do a trial run against the fence before going into the shaft itself. The practice is harder than the real rappelling! The scariest part of the rappelling was actually the first step off the ledge, because it's a vertical drop of 2-3 feet. The guide will go first so you can watch where they put their feet, the first spot to put your foot was a whitish rock. The rest of the way was MUCH easier, because you are at a 45 degree angle so it isn't straight up and down. When I was actually descending, I had to feed the rope with my hand. I was actually really worried about my arm strength not being able to support me, but it really wasn't a problem. Arm strength is not what is needed, the rope is supporting you. You just need to hang on to the rope, no prob. I'd estimate it took 10 min or less for each of us to get down. The bottom of the rappelling section is a steep slope as well. Again, remember that this is the real deal, no guardrails. Wood slat bridge. I missed everything about this bridge when I looked up the different tours online (not sure how since it's prominently featured). If you are afraid of heights at all, the bridge is going to be the scariest part of the tour. It's wobbly, narrow, and about 15? feet across a deep dark gorge that I did not look down into because I didn't want to pysch myself out. There's a rope overhead you secure to, so you are still in the harness for this. I went across pretty smoothly. My husband, who is a foot taller and 100 pounds more, had a more difficult time. I think it was because I'm shorter, I could use the rope to hold myself up since I was under it. My husband was above the rope so it was more difficult for him. Check out pictures online. Or dont. I think if I knew the bridge was a part of the tour, I'd have been more nervous leading up to it. PRO TIP: instead of walking normally across, try doing a shuffle, facing sideways, kind of sliding your feet. This keeps the bridge from rocking from the weight of each step. *** Wear: - Layers: think of a 45 degree day with no wind, so it's chilly. I wore a t-shirt, a fleece, and light jacket, and jeans, and I was fine. My husband wore a long sleeve t-shirt and light jacket. You will be moving so that keeps warm too. - Old shoes with grip: sneakers, hiking boots, trail runners. Everyone on our tour had sneakers on and they were fine. Wear shoes that can get wet or muddy; there are some areas of the trail that are wet. Not wet enough that my shoes let water in, but enough that you would not want to wear white canvas Keds. - Jacket with zippered pockets: if you're bringing your cell phone (for photos, no service obv), you'll definitely want pockets that zip shut on the rappelling part of the tour. The way you sit in the harness, you wouldn't want your phone (or car keys etc) in your pants pockets.