Ferry service to the Manitou islands will again been relegated to South Manitou.
For the second straight season — and fourth of six seasons — Manitou Island Transit (MIT) will not provide ferry service to North Manitou Island because the permanent National Park Servicebuilt dock is clogged with sand.
The bottomlands around the dock will be dredged — prior to its anticipated removal in 2026 and after a new dock is built. Captain Jim Munoz, one of four principles of family-owned MIT, continues to question the need for a new dock as opposed to maintaining and dredging the existing dock.
Under such a scenario, visitation to North Manitou would have continued uninterrupted this decade.
“They are going to dredge after they pull the old dock anyway,” Munoz said.
Ferry service to both islands will be hampered during the next two years due to dock construction underwritten by a $32 million allocation from the Great American Outdoors Act passed in 2019. The bulk of funding has been allocated to building new docks on both islands at new locations, as well as other island capital improvements.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore received news earlier this month that an anticipated “no significant impact” finding had been issued for the dock projects, making them a go. Contracts were signed in the fall.
Work will start on North Manitou, where a 250-foot dock is planned that ends in a “T” design. The free-board dock would be built about 400 feet from the existing dock and north of a small point that juts into Lake Michigan. The placement and design, NPS engineers believe, will curtail shoaling.
“This project will benefit park visitors by creating safer and more consistent access to the Manitou Islands,” Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker said. “With funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, we are able to ensure the public continues to enjoy the special resources and experiences the islands have to offer.”
A previous press release from the Lakeshore stated that the North Manitou dock project will commence this season, with the South Manitou project planned for 2026. Ferry service from MIT — since 1917 the primary mode of transportation to the Manitous — will be cut off during construction..
Which means that ferry visitation to South Manitou will be shuttered in 2026. And that MIT — which successfully sued the Lakeshore for lost revenue in 2020 when North and South Manitou docks were unusable — will continue to face financial stress.
Lawsuits have been filed for lost revenue due to poor or nonexistent docking conditions on North Manitou in 2023 and 2024.
The problem on South Manitou more than five years ago was record-high water level on Lake Michigan that a federal judge ruled should have been anticipated and rectified through an elevated dock platform. Sand blocked the North Manitou dock in 2020, and again in 2023. Last summer the NPS purchased and installed a $1 million “temporary” dock that MIT refused to use, stating that its open design created unsafe conditions for the 33-ton Mishe Mokwa and passengers. The dock, which was scheduled to be in place for two years, has been removed.
The dock anticipated to be built this summer has a similar open design — supported by pillars that allow waves to pass under. While the design may alleviate shoaling, it will do little to knock down waves.
Munoz is concerned that the future dock will cause cancellations due to a lack of wave protection.
“The reality of it is we keep trying to hang on,” said Munoz, who wife is a member of the Grosvenor family that started delivering mail to the islands more than 100 years ago. “Every year we ask ourselves, ‘Hey, can we hang on or not?’ Who knows? If and when the ferry service ends, it would be ugly. It shouldn’t be up to us to have to sue them all the time.
“Even if we win, you still lose.”
During a typical year — and there have been few of them lately — the islands entertain about 10,000 visitors, with about 60% traveling to South Manitou.
Munoz and business partner Geoff Niessink in the fall purchased a smaller landing ship capable of carrying up to 25 people. Called the “Manitou,” it’s built to dock on island beaches including North Manitou.
Munoz said it was purchased mainly to meet the needs of small-group and non-profit organizations such as the Fox Island Light Association and North Manitou Light Keepers. Hunters piled into the Manitou for the North Manitou deer hunt in late October.
But the trips are expensive due to their small scale — especially for hikers and campers whose pocketbooks are accustomed to primitive accommodations. Virtually all of North Manitou, the more rugged of the islands, and most of South Manitou have been designated as Wilderness areas by the Department of the Interior.
“The cost would be significantly more (for the Manitou). That’s the unfortunate part of this whole situation. Any time you can transport 120 people as opposed to 20 on the same trip, you have to realize there is an additional cost per person,” Munoz said.
According to the MIT website, round-trip tickets to South Manitou will be $45 for adults, $23 for kids 12-years-old and free for children 2 and under .
Daily and overnight trips are possible. Weather allowing, the Mishe Mokwa will depart Fishtown at 10 a.m., arrive at South Manitou at 11:30 a.m., and leave for the mainland at 4 p.m. A limited ferry schedule will begin May 24, with daily trips offered from June 15 through Labor Day.
By Al Campbell, Michigan Stories
