Lake Michigan mystery boat; Milwaukee beach sees boat wash ashore

MILWAUKEE - If you've walked along the lakefront near McKinley Beach recently, you might have seen an abandoned "mystery" boat washed ashore.

It's got a lot of people wondering how it got there, and how long will it stay?

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Roughly two weeks ago, the boat washed ashore and landed itself in between Bradford and McKinley beaches.

"Here's a moment where you get to stop to smell the roses longer than you should," said boat spectator Marco Gonzalez. "It is really a mystery."

It took all hands on deck for people to figure out how a boat named "Deep Thought" got there in the first place.

"I seen it on Facebook, and it's just been here for days, and I’m curious," said another spectator, Judy Hinze. "I got to see."

"Somebody said I can’t afford this anymore between gas, and upkeep in the winter and just let it go," said another spectator, Mike Ray.

Despite lots of theories, the U.S. Coast Guard said the real story is that strong winds caused the boat to break loose and drift away. No one was on it and no gas was inside it.

And who is in charge of towing it?

"Everybody knows that we are the only people that do this crazy stuff," said Jerry Guyer with Pirates Cove Diving, Inc. "Every salvage is different, every salvage is dangerous."

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Guyer and his crew at Pirates Cove Diving say removing a boat of this size isn't exactly smooth sailing.

"The wind, the wind, the wind," he said. "This heavy equipment, the barge, we have to get right up to the boat, you can’t be rocking around."

Although it's really up to Mother Nature for when they'll be able to take it away.

"I was hoping this week but I only have a couple more days until I go on vacation," Guyer said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the boat owners are out of state right now, but are working with Guyer to remove it some time in November. So it might just be around for a little while longer.