Isle Royale Forums

Hello all,

I am excited to be visiting Isle Royale for the first time this June with 3 friends. Our current itinerary involves flying into Rock Harbor from Houghton, then leaving on a water taxi to Malone Bay to stay the night. From there, we will be camping in S. Lake Desor > Siskiwit Bay > Feldtmann > Windigo, then flying out the next day from Windigo. (~40 miles, 10 miles per day)

My primary concern is the timing between landing on the seaplane, and departing on the water taxi. (Reservations have already been purchased)
Seaplane Departure: 10:00am
Estimated Seaplane Arrival: 10:45am
Water Taxi Departure: 12:30pm

Barring any obvious weather delays, will we be okay for time to perform our ranger's orientation and shop for supplies before leaving on the taxi?

Thanks in advance!

While weather delays for the seaplane can very occasionally be lengthy, they are most often measured in an hour or two or just minutes. This is most often waiting for early morning fog to burn off. A severe thunderstorm can lengthen delays. The water taxi operators are part of the lodge concessions and they typically pay close attention to scheduling reports from the sea plane operator, especially when they know their customers or guests are due to arrive. If you haven't done so already, make sure the Lodge knows your plane schedule.

If you miss your 12:30pm WT departure, the WT operator should be paying attention as to why and I know they will do their best to accommodate your new seaplane arrival time. Having said all that, remember that once you arrive things run on what is often referred to as "Island Time". Let's assume your flight get delayed by an hour or two. If the water taxi schedule is busy for the day, there is a chance they might move someone else up a bit and put them in front of you, especially if they believe they can get back to RH to pick you up at your new arrival time.

There is a lot of daylight in June so your Malone arrival window can be pretty tolerant. On the more negative chance side, it never hurts to think through a couple of contingency plans (i.e. alternate routes) so you don't have the pressure on to make a hasty decision. Worst case, your plane gets delayed an entire day or you have to spend your arrival night in RH due to the water taxi not being able to sail or not have enough time to make the trip. I think though in June, these circumstances are quite remote. Shorter delays due to fog/low visibility are more common.

Thank you for the quick reply!

We are letting the lodge know our seaplane plans, so this should be no problem.

Also, the ferry schedule suggests that since we're landing on a Sunday, it should be relatively quiet in Rock Harbor.

Can you share where you made water taxi reservations? I cannot find anything online and my calls to the Lodge and email have gone unanswered. Thanks.

Hey Matt,

I'm with his group. The person that booked our water taxi was emailing info@isleroyaleresorts.com. They also provided us their phone numbers, (866)644-2003 for the Winter and (906)337-4993 for the Summer. If you are just looking for general information, their website is rockharborlodge.com. Hope this helps!