Beaver Island: A guide for the casual tourist
by Jean Martin with photos by Tessa Link
Are you tired of being pampered and fawned over by service personnel in Northern Michigan this summer? If so, then we recommend a bracing visit to Beaver Island.
Your visit will begin in Charlevoix at either the airport or the boat dock located just along US-31. We chose the 2-hour boat ride for our excursion.
Dock porters? What are dock porters? If you want to see your luggage on the other side, make sure you sling it onto that cart over there.
Once aboard you are greeted with a recording advising you that the Coast Guard is making them tell you these things. Apparently there are some life vests stowed under some seats somewhere, and there are life rafts located on either deck somewhere. If you would like to know how to wear the life vest, just ask a crew member to demonstrate for you. We took that to mean that they doubted that we would survive the hypothermia long enough for the Coast Guard to make it to our location anyway.
Once we arrived on the Island we retrieved our luggage and headed across the street — and straight up a hill — to our motel. Next we set out to find out about our surroundings.
Across from the boat terminal was a sign that said Tours. Well, a tour would be a good introduction to the island; so we went inside. Except for one desk the place was empty. Eventually a young woman emerged from another office and explained that the man was gone, but he might be back in a half hour or so. She tried to read his schedule, but she couldn’t determine whether there were any openings or whether other tours were scheduled.
We headed on down the street to a welcome center of sorts. Once we were inside a very nice woman asked if we had any questions. We told her that we were straight off the boat and didn’t know enough yet to ask questions. She smiled benignly and walked away, obviously willing to wait patiently until a question or two might come to mind.
Next we visited the Shamrock Tavern for some lunch. The place was warm and inviting. In fact it was very warm. Beaver Island doesn’t seem to have much air conditioning. We presume that it isn’t needed most of the year.
One of us ordered a fountain Diet Coke with our meal. The food was good, but the drink was pretty awful. The taste resembled nothing so much as carbonated coffee. We asked the waitress if perhaps the syrup had run out in the dispenser. She assured us that this could not be the case because, in fact, people had been complaining about the taste of the Diet Coke all week! We traded for a Sprite.
There is another eating place, a small sandwich shop called Daddy Frank’s, within easy walking distance of the docks. The place opens for breakfast at 7 a.m. Bring cash because they don’t accept credit cards. This fact is clearly noted right on the front door which is wide open and flung back during the summer hours. Surprise!
The other eating/drinking place is the Beachcomber. This is a quiet and sedate hostelry — until it opens in the evening. Then it provides raucous entertainment up and down the whole street.
If shopping is your main interest, you are in luck. The village of St. James boasts three gift shops. One is a fully stocked store with many original items. Bicycles and kayaks can also be rented there. Another appears to be a liquor store with tee-shirts. The third is part of the hardware store. In there the casual tourist will find cat food and a few trinkets.
In the cool of the evening we decided to take a walk a block above the main street and returned to our motel from the parking lot. After we entered through the breezeway, we rested in the chairs outside our room waiting for the harbor lights to come on. Soon the owner, the woman who had checked us in, came rushing up demanding to know what we were doing there. It soon became apparent that since we had entered from the parking lot, she no longer recognized us. Apparently casual tourists, even paying customers, remain largely invisible to locals.
By this time it was beginning to dawn on us that perhaps we should have planned on becoming slightly more serious tourists by having a car. While the Emerald Isle, the ferry from Charlevoix, does accommodate automobiles and even large trucks, it probably would not have been worth bringing our own vehicle if we planned to for stay less than a couple of weeks.
Eventually we stumbled upon a notice in an old issue of the local magazine that mentioned car rentals. Apparently there is a marina somewhere, probably not the one adjacent to the ferry dock, where we could have rented a car. They even claimed that the vehicle could have been delivered to the airport or boat dock to await our arrival.
So here, dear somewhat serious tourist, are our recommendations:
– By all means do visit Beaver Island at least once in your lifetime. The boat ride is lovely and is over all too soon. The scenery is wild and beautiful. The harbor view by night alone is worth the trip.
– While you are planning your visit, be sure to find the elusive marina and rent a vehicle for the time of your stay. Remember, this is the real world. Nobody walks anywhere; everyone drives everywhere. This vehicle is your free pass to innumerable small coves and beaches, breath-taking vistas, lighthouses and other hidden gems.
– Don’t worry that as a tourist you might look foolish if you don’t understand something. Nobody will see you. Remember: if you aren’t a summer cottager or a year-round resident, you are pretty much invisible anyway.
– Enjoy!