On Island Time - Pelee Island

The large modern MV Jiimaan ferry accommodates buses, semi tractor trailers and alot of cars - with a large drive-in bow and drive-out stern.

We stayed at the cozy "Island Cottage B & B" and were treated fabulously. Thanks Gina!

MV Pelee Islander - This smaller, older ferry alternates service runs with the large modern MV Jiimaan ferry. The MV Pelee Islander holds only 12 cars which have to loaded, then backed off by staff...and offers a fun crossing.

Fun to watch the MV Jiimaan come around the end of the west dock, then pull a 270 degree spin and back in...

Built in 1833, it served to guide ships through the hazardous PeleePassage until finally dropping out of service in 1909.

The Pelee Island lighthouse is secured by large timber buttresses

Biult offshore on a cassion footed on the shoal, the modern Pelee Passage light is an automated light, with a helipad for servicing. The western end of Lake Erie is shallow and riddled with limestone uplifts and shoals. There is only one safe passage and all shipping bound for the upper Great Lakes must pass through here.

While hiking and rocks on Pelee Island, you meet some *interesting* company. Lake Erie Watersnakes ... sunning thenselves on the rocks, but within the spray of the waves... "The Lake Erie watersnake is found along the shorelines of Pelee and other western Lake Erie islands. These snakes use the dolomite and limestone rocks, ledges and crevices along the shoreline for basking and hiding, and are rarely found far from these rocky shoreline habitats." The snakes were fascinating... and these guys swim WITH you off the east beach - they don't bite unless severely provoked, and eat the round gobi fish which are invasive... so cheers to them!.. Fun to watch a snake "water bathe" in the spray. I don't have a clue what kind of spider it was, other than friggin' HUGE - a couple of inches across and *alive*... that was enough for me! Just serves to makes you alot more cautious as you move across the rock faces to CHECK crevasses carefully - BEFORE you place hands/feet in..