Photo Gallery Friday: Shepler’s Ferry Lighthouse Cruise, Eastbound Extended Trip

Photo Gallery Friday is a regular feature on Travel the Mitten that will help showcase photos from places where one post just isn’t enough to show off everything.

Last month we ran a post highlighting the lighthouse cruise options available from Shepler’s Ferry in Mackinaw City. For years Shepler’s has been known for its stellar service to and from Mackinac Island, and in recent years their trips that take visitors to some of the harder to get to lighthouses of the Straits area have grown in popularity and quality.

We’d like to thank Russ Katje for providing us with some photos of his recent trip with Shepler’s on the extended eastbound lighthouse cruise, a trip that took place in early July. This excursion is described by Shepler’s: “Begin with a pass under the mighty Mackinac Bridge, then cross the Straits of Mackinac towards the Round Island Light and Round Island Passage Light.  We’ll then head east passing the privately owned Bois Blanc Light, then finally the Poe Reef Light, and Fourteen Foot Shoal Light before turning into the South Channel.  A quick trip up the Cheboygan River takes us past the Cheboygan Crib Light and Cheboygan Front Range Light before heading back to Mackinaw City.  Underway, we’ll sail the clear blue waters of the Lake Huron while hearing plenty of maritime history from our narrator with the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association.”  This trip will run one more time this year (Sept. 13), while the standard eastbound cruise (without the trip to Spectacle Reef) will run on Aug. 13 and 19 as well as Sept. 10 and 16. Head over to sheplersferry.com for more information. We hope that these cruises continue to be popular and that eventually more lighthouses can be added to the itinerary!