LAKE HURON ISLAND FERRIES

MACKINAC ISLAND
If there is one island in the Great Lakes that just about everyone has heard about, it's Mackinac Island.
Set in the Straits of Mackinac, it sits between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. It is noted for its charm, it's lack of cars (people get around by horse-drawn carriages or by bike), its fine restaurants, fudge (Oh yes, can't forget the famous Mackinac Island fudge), sweet bike rides around the island (you can rent bikes right at the island dock), history (a Revolutionary War era fort) and, of course, The Grand Hotel.
For folks of a certain age with a romantic turn, you will remember the movie "Somewhere in Time," with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.
Staying at the Grand is pricey. The lowest price room is $225 per person in a double room, not including an extra 19.5% charge and a 6% Michigan state tax. But you do get a first-rate dinner and breakfast with each night's stay.
Of course, the island has lots of places to stay -- resorts, hotels, wonderful B&Bs and so on.
Mackinac Island also has not one, but two butterfly houses, several golf courses and is one of the very few places where you can rent a horse-drawn carriage and drive it yourself.
Ferries
Three ferry boat companies service Mackinac Island from both Mackinaw City (at the tip of the state's Lower Peninsula) and St. Ignace (in the Upper Peninsula). All three charge the same price for a round trip -- $25 for adults, $12 for ages 5-12, $7.50 for bikes.
Arnold Line Ferries boast it has the newest, smoothest, fastest, quietest ferries with its three-decker catamarans which makes the trip in 15 minutes. It also has a regular ferry that does the crossing in 30 minutes. They run every hour through the summer.
Shepler's Ferries runs every half hour most of the day.
Star Line Ferry have the boats that shoot up a big roostertail of spray as they run across the straits.
Each of the ferry services runs special cruises twilight, out to visit nearby lighthouses and so on.
Plug, plug, plug. For insights into Mackinac, it's fudge, it's less than sterling military history and, yes, it's ghosts, check out Islands: Great Lakes Stories .

MANITOULIN ISLAND This is the world's largest fresh water island. Not just the biggest in Lake Huron. Or in the Great Lakes. But the biggest in the whole, wide, watery world.
Manitoulin is also a fascinating stretch of land with a number of Indian tribes (Pow wows are scheduled throughout the summer), quiet roads for cycling, first-rate fishing, kayaking and -- along with a lot of ordinary restaurants -- some top quality ones.
This is an island where the locals are not devoted entirely to tourism. They do everyday things that many rural people do who live on the water. They are commercial fishers, farmers, run drug stores, groceries, hardware stores and so on. If you are looking for authentic . this is authentic.
Manitoulin Island can be reached from the north from the TransCanada Highway (17) by taking Highway 6 south from Espanola. You get the island by crossing a much-photographed swing bridge.
The Chi-Cheemaun ferrybrings people up from the south. Leaving from Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula for a two-hour ride to South Baymouth on the island.
From June 20 to September 1 is the summer schedule when the ferry leaves Tobermory at 7 a.m., 11:20 a.m. 3:40 p.m. and 8 p.m. After reaching the island it, of course, turns around and comes back.
The fares . $14.50 for adults, $7.25 for ages 5-11, $12.55 for ages 65 and older, $31.55 for a car, $16.50 for a motorcycle and $6.50 for a bike. But there's a catch. If you want to sail at the convenient hours of 11:20 a.m. or 3:40 p.m., plan to pay $20 more for each ticket.
I know I should be embarrassed by this, but honestly if you want a good overview of the island and some of its eye-popping history and Indian legends, check out Islands: Great Lakes Stories.

LAKE MICHIGAN ISLAND FERRIES

NORTH AND SOUTH MANITOU ISLANDS
If you quake at the thought of paying for the gas to drive to the Upper Peninsula and then pay to take a $100 ferry to Isle Royale all for a solid taste of island wilderness, you might consider the Manitou Islands, a part of the Sleeping Bear National Lake Shore. North Manitou, although it has a few remaining buildings from the old town,is turning more and more into a wilderness area. You can camp pretty much anywhere you want. And the likelihood of seeing a six-point buck are pretty good. But no wolves and no moose. No foxes either. The ferry visits there once a day. So if you go to North Manitou, you are there overnight. So bring a tent and some food.
South Manitou, which has some pretty good wilderness of its own, can be visited in a day trip. In fact, a great idea for a picnic is to take the ferry over to the island, visit the old farmhouses, wander the trails, climb up to the top of one of the prettiest lighthouses in the Great Lakes and then take the ferry back to Leland.
You'll get in about 5:30 p.m., just in time to clean up for a fine dinner on the deck of the Riverside Inn in Leland. South Manitou has two official camp sites.
SOUTH MANITOU ISLAND Manitou Island Transit runs round trips aboard the Mishe-Mokwa to the island -- leaving Leland dock at 10 a.m., arriving at South Manitou at 11:30 a.m., then stays four hours to redock in Leland by about 5:30 p.m. Schedule: June 1-15, it runs daily except Tuesdays and Wednesday; June 16 to Labor Day, it runs daily. Round-Trip Fares are $30 for adults, $16 for ages 12 and younger and $30 for a canoe or kayak.
NORTH MANITOU ISLAND The ferry leaves at 10 a.m., arrives at North Manitou at about 11 a.m. and leaves as soon as the passengers who are already on the island can get on board. The ferry does not return to the island that day. Rather it is held until the next scheduled trip.
Schedule: June 1-15, it runs on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; June 16 to Labor Day, it goes daily except Tuesday and Thursday. Fares are the same as for South Manitou Island.
Shameless commercial announcement the Manitou Islands are an important part of the legend of Sleeping Bear. That story and other details about the islands can be found in Islands: Great Lakes Stories.

BEAVER ISLAND has a fascinating history and is a terrific place to visit. It has a year-round population of islanders with a long Irish history. It's St. Patrick's Day celebration is one of the best in the country. In summer, the island is laid back with none of the frenetic feel of Mackinaw Island. It offers a choice of lodging, fine roads for cycling, good paths for hiking, kayaking right from downtown, plays, a fascinating history involving America's only king, James Jesse Strang and some first-rate places to eat. Try Nina's at Beaver Island Lodge for not only a first-rate meal but a fine view out over the water.
Also -- and this is relatively new -- you can go skydiving on the island.
Beaver Island Boat Company makes the two-hour trip from Charlevoix to the Island and the two hours back twice a day for the most part, except on Saturdays when it may make as many as four round trips.
One-Way Fares until June 5 are $21 for adults, $11 for ages 5-12, $75 for a car, $9 for a bike and $22 to $30 for a canoe or kayak depending on whether it is loaded or not.
Now two air services with twin-engine aircraft are making trips back and forth to the island.
Island Airways One-Way Fares are $42 adults, $28 for ages 9 and younger, $39 for seniors 65 and older and $10 for a bike.
Fresh Air Aviation One-Way Fares are $42.50 for adults and $27.50 for children.

WASHINGTON ISLAND stands as a place with wondrous surprises -- You can ride an Icelandic pony, join a long history and drink Angostura bitters in a local bar, feed an ostrich, roam through an old time farm, eat a fresh lawyer (fish), visit the cabin of Thorstein Veblen who wrote "The Theory of the Leisure Class" and coined the term "conspicuous consumption."
To get there, drive north up through the New Englandy villages on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula until you reach the very end of Highway 42 at Northport.
Here you catch the Washington Island Ferry. It can carry you, your car, your bike or whatever.
June through July 2 and then August 18 to October 26, the ferry runs every hour on the hour going to and from the island.
On the summer schedule, ferries rum every half hour between Northport and the island. From Northport, ferries leave at a quarter 'til and a quarter past the hour. From the island, they shove off from the dock on the hour and half hour.
Fare: $11 for adults, $24 for a car, $5.50 for ages 6-11, $14 for a motorcycle and $4 for a bike.

LAKE SUPERIOR ISLAND FERRIES

ISLE ROYALE
If you like your islands wild where you can hear the wolves howl at night and a moose is likely to wander through your camp site, this is your kind of place. Take my word for it, Isle Royale is simply magical. Great for hiking, paddling and fishing. And you are likely to find me there at toward the end of the summer -- when the moose are still around, but the black flies are long gone.
Getting to his 45-mile-long island off Lake Superior's north shore is something of a trick however. Fortunately, you can get there by any of three ferries or by sea plane.
Isle Royale has no entrance fee, but you do pay $4 a day per person to stay on the island. No your Golden Eagle Pass will not help you here.

RANGER III -- This is the biggest piece of machinery owned by the National Park Service. It is 165 feet long and can carry 128 passengers, plus their boats, backpacks and other luggage. And it's about as smooth a ferry ride as you are going to find to the island. It carries passengers from June 2 to September 13. It runs from Houghton, Michigan to Rock Harbor on the island every Tuesday and Friday, leaving at 9 a.m. The return trips are on Wednesday and Saturday, also leaving at 9 a.m.
One-Way Fares For adults, $50 before July 15 and after August 15; $60 from July 15 to August 15; Ages 7 to 12 are $20; Ages 6 and younger are free; Canoes/kayaks $20.
Isle Royale is celebrating two 50th anniversaries this year. It is the 50th anniversary of service by the ferry Ranger III and the 50th anniversaries of the wolf-moose study on the island.
To celebrate, the Ranger's birthday, the ferry will run same-day round trips to Rock Harbor on the island from June 17 through 21. Price: $50 And it will run same-day round trips to Windigo at the far south end on July 10 and 24, August 7 and 21 and September 4. Price: $75.
And for the wolf-moose study celebration, the Ranger will sail to the island on July 25, stay that night and the next and then return to Houghton on July 27. Price: One-way, $50; Round trip, $75.

VOYAGEUR II gives you a great way to get to Isle Royale from Lake Superior's North Shore at Grand Portage, Minnesota. The Voyageur makes clockwise round trips around the island. Leaving Grand Portage at 8 a.m. CDT every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, stops first at Windigo to leave at 10:30 and arrives at Rock Harbor at 3:30 p.m. to spend the night Then on Tuesday, Thursdays and Sundays it leaves Rock Harbor at 8 a.m., Windigo at 12:30 p.m. and arrives at Grand Portage at 3:30 p.m.
In addition to Rock Harbor and Windigo, the Voyageur will drop off and pick up passengers and their gear at other locations around the island. These are McCargoe Cove, Belle Isle, Daisy Farm and Chippewa Harbor.
One-Way Fares: For adults to Windigo, $59 for an stop beyond Windigo on that same day $69. Same deal for the trip back from Rock Harbor. For children, $39 and $46. The price for going from one place on the island to another is between $42 and $54.

ISLE ROYALE QUEEN IV makes a shorter commute to the island than the Voyageur by leaving from Copper Harbor at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. This crossing takes three hours instead of six, but it tends to be a bit bumpier in the smaller 100-foot boat.
All trips start at 8 a.m. from Copper Harbor and 2:45 p.m. from Rock Harbor on the island. In May, the Queen sails on Mondays and Fridays, June 2-30, every day but Wednesday and Sunday; July 1-14, every day but Wednesday; July 15 to August 15, every day of the week; August 16-31, every day but Wednesday; and September 1-29, Mondays and Fridays only.
One-Way Fares from July 15 to August are $65 for adults, $31 for ages under 11 and $25 for kayaks. From May 12 to July 14 and August 16 to September 29 are $54 for adults and $27 for 11 and under.

ROYALE AIR SERVICE Or you can fly, the shortest commute of all. Just 35 minutes from Houghton County Airport to Rock Harbor. The Cessna 206 seaplane carries four passengers and goes to either Rock Harbor or Windigo for the same price. One-Way Fare is $185; Round-Trip is $269.

APOSTLE ISLANDS The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore has 21 islands (yes, I know the apostles only numbered 13) and part of the shoreline and is one of the big lakes' most wonderful cruising areas and a terrific place to kayak. You can camp on the various islands and even get some great photos of sea caves along the shore and at Sand Island.
Bayfield, the jumping off place, elicits only one word. Charming. It is a bit of New England seaport transported to the Lake Superior.
Of the islands, which once hosted farmers, fishermen and miners, only one now has a resident population. It is Madeline. It's a great place to bicycle, pick up a fine meal, learn some of the islands fur trading history and drop in for a beer at the zaniest bar in the Great Lakes -- Tom's Burned Down Cafe. To get there, you need to take the ferry.
Madeline Island Ferry Line runs every half hour from Bayfield to Madeline Island. One-Way Fares: $5.50 for adults, $2.75 for ages 6-11, $11.50 for a car, $2.75 for a bike and $6.75 for a motorcycle. For the round trip, just double those numbers.

GRAND ISLAND is a small island compared to, say, Isle Royale or Manitoulin. But it is great fun -- with a terrific mountain bike trail that encircles the island, a couple of fine lighthouses, an interesting old cemetery and places to camp.
Grand Island Ferry leaves from, appropriately enough the Grand Island Ferry Dock which is about three miles west of Munising. As you go over the top of a hill, look carefully to your right for the road to the dock. The ferry -- really sort of a pontoon boat -- runs every hour on the hour in the mornings and on the half-hour in the afternoons. The whole trip takes about three minutes.
Round-Trip Fares: $15 for adults, $10 for ages 6-12 and $5 for a bike.
You also can rent a bike to ride on the island right there at the dock. Price: $30 a day for a rusting beater. But it will get you around.

Remember for insights on all these islands, you can check my book Islands: Great Lakes Stories available at Pen & Compass, at Amazon and, as the saying goes, at fine gas stations everywhere.

LAKES ONTARIO AND ERIE FERRIES

Warm weather has been side stepping into the Great Lakes and the ferries are running to our favorite islands.
I've always thought that a vacation trip that begins and ends with a boat ride is likely to be very, very good.
Here's the deal on ferries to islands, described in "Islands:Great Lakes Stories" in Lakes Ontario and Erie.
Coming up in the next few days will be the ferry info for the other lakes and islands. Yes, including Mackinac.

LAKE ONTARIO

Toronto Island Just a brief trip from downtown Toronto, this island (or islands, rather) is one of the best places for families with young children that will also charm adults. Ultimately, you will want to move there.

Ferries to Toronto Island's Centre Island, Ward's Island (at the east end) and Hanlan's Point (at the west end) run about every half hour from terminal at the foot of Bay Street, just to the west of the Harbour Castle Hotel. Round-trip Fares $6.50 (Canadian) for adults; $4 for students under age 19 or folks over 64; $3 for under age 14 and Free for age 2 or younger. Detailed info from the City of Toronto

LAKE ERIE

Lake Erie Islands Here you can find almost anything you want for an on-the-lake vacation -- South Bass Island with Put-In-Bay is a bit of Key West North for boaters with lots of fun bars and restaurants; Kelleys Island is more of a laid-back family place with a fine beach and camping area and Middle Bass Island is so peacefully quiet, it's almost comatose. Fishing everywhere is generally good.
Miller Ferries from Catawba to Put-In-Bay about run about every half hour. One-Way Fares $6 for adults; $1.50 for ages 6-11; free for ages under 6; $2 for a bike, $15 for a car or motorcycle.
From Catawba to Middle Bass Island ferries run about every two hours. One-Way Fares: $8.50 for adults; $3 for ages 6 to 11; free for under 6; $3 for a bike; $19 for a car or motorcycle.
Jet Express runs the speedy boats from Port Clinton and Sandusky to Put-In-Bay and Kelleys Islands.
The fast ferries run about every 45 minutes from Port Clinton to Put-In-Bay and then on to Kelleys Island. One-Way Fares: For adults $12 to PIB, $16 to Kelleys; for ages 6 to 12 $2 to PIB, $6 to Kelleys; age 5 and younger free; bike $3 to PIB AND $4 to Kelleys. No cars.
Jet Express ferries run about every two hours from Sandusky to Kelleys and on to Put-In-Bay, One-Way Fares for adults $12 to Kelleys, $16 to PIB; for ages 6 to 12 $4 and $5; age 5 and under free; bike $3 and $4.
Kelleys Island Ferry from Marblehead to youknowwhere runs about every half hour. One-Way Fares: $8 for adults (over age 12), $6 for seniors; $5 for ages 5 to 11; free for ages 4 and younger; $14 for a car; $8 for a motorcycle and $4 for a bike.

PELEE ISLAND
This is a tranquil Canadian spot on Lake Erie where islanders live much the way the did 50 or 100 years ago, making their living farming and to a lesser degree fishing with a longstanding affection for Americans. This is not a Disneyesque Put-In-Bay where every business struggles to entertain visitors, but you can have a fine, easy-going time fishing, boating and swimming from some fine beaches. Restaurants are few but generally good.
Pelee Island Ferries You can take the big boat or the small boat. The Ontario Ferries big boat is the Jiimaan which through most of the summer runs two to four times a day (more on weekends)through much of the summer from Leamington/Kingville to Pelee Island. The smaller ferry, the Pelee Islander runs an extended route from Leamington/Kingville to Pelee Island and on to Sandusky. Prices are the same for both ferries. One-Way Fares Leamington-Pelee Island are $7.50 for adults, $3.75 for ages 6 to 12, $6.75 for seniors, $3.75 for a bike, $8.25 for a motorcycle and $16.50 for a car.
The run between Sandusky and Pelee Island is $13.75 for adults, $3.75 for ages 6 to 12, $11.25 for seniors, $6.50 for a bike, $14.50 for a motorcycle and $30 for a car. To go between Leamington and Sandusky might be a good way to get around Lake Erie without the long, long drive. One-Way Fares are $21.25 for adults, $10.50 for ages 6 to 12, $17.50 for seniors, $10.25 for a bike, $$22.75 for a motorcycle and $46.50 for a car.