Ferries on the Great Lakes

Most of the Great Lakes crossings on this site go out across open water to islands with no bridge, and each has its own way of meeting winter. On Lake Erie, Miller Boat Line takes cars from Catawba to South Bass Island by the short route to Lime Kiln, while its neighbor Kelleys Island gets everything from bicycles to cement mixers from Marblehead. On Lake Superior the Madeline Island boats hand over to a windsled and then a plowed ice road once the channel freezes. On Lake Michigan the Beaver Island run is by far the longest here, a little over two hours of open lake, and between the December finish and spring there is no boat at all. In the Straits of Mackinac, a single family-run boat out of Cheboygan serves Bois Blanc on a timetable that thins through the fall, and from December it sails only when the weather allows.

Harsens Island is a Michigan island too, but it is reached over the St. Clair River's North Channel rather than open water. Champion's boat runs continuously by day and every half hour through the night, takes cash only, and adjusts its truck limits to the level of the river. The lake runs thin out through the fall, and none of them promises a sailing once the ice sets in.

Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, the Straits and one river channel