DOWNTOWN — An Island Party Boat appears to have partially sunk Downtown this weekend.
About 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Carol Pandak was walking along the lake when she noticed the half-submerged boat near the Chicago Yacht Club by Monroe Harbor. There didn’t appear to be anyone on the boat, she said.
A photo from Pandak shows the boat’s back end underwater with people on a nearby dock looking on.
“‘Gee, that doesn’t look like much fun,'” Pandak said she thought when she spotted the boat. “But also, I kind of thought it’s bad publicity because it’s got the name emblazoned on the front and everybody can see the boat is half-submerged. So I thought that was kind of awkward.
“I’m just glad that it didn’t seem to be that anyone was hurt, and it seemed to be a couple people out on that little walkway trying to figure out how to get the boat upright.”
Island Party Boat declined to comment to Block Club Chicago, but in a post on Facebook the company said the “recent high waves in Monroe Harbor got the best of Havana,” the boat that partially sunk.
“She took on water but did not sink thanks to the efforts of our crew, the folks at Westrec and Towboat US,” the company posted.
The boat will be back in service “before you know it” and the company’s other boats are still operational, according to the post.
Pandak’s photo was first shared on Twitter by Loop North News, where dozens of people shared it or replied with jokes.
“Chicago’s newest watering hole,” one person opined.
“Is that good? It does not look good,” another user tweeted.
The Island Party boats, which can be used for ticketed cruises or rented for groups and private events, are decorated in a tiki style and each has a waterslide. Food and alcoholic drinks are available on the boats. The company has locations at Monroe Harbor and along the Riverwalk.
The Chicago Police and Fire departments and the U.S. Coast Guard said they did not have information about the incident.
Do stories like this matter to you? Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.