Millers, Kelleys ferry services already active on Lake Erie after light winter
Area ferry services have opened their operating seasons this month after a mild winter with light ice cover.
Kelleys Island Ferry began its season March 4 with rides from Marblehead to Seaway Marina. The ferry is the only daily automobile and passenger ferry service to Kelleys Island.
The ferry began service in 1991 and employs 50 to 60 people in the summer.
"This first week is going great," Eddie Ehrbar from Kelleys Island Ferry said. "Normal first week of operation as everyone gets back into the swing of things."
Kelleys is the largest freshwater American island in Lake Erie. The island is home to a glacial grooves monument, a brewery, a wine company and Kelleys Island State Park.
There are approximately 150 year-round residents, with the population swelling to around 1,500 during the summer.
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Glacial groves popular on Kelley's Island
The most popular destination on Kelleys is the glacial grooves, which measure 400 feet long, 35 feet wide and up to 15 feet deep.
They were created by the slow movement of the massive glacier that created the Great Lakes and Lake Erie Islands. When glaciers move across the earth, they pick up rocks, soil, and other debris, and drag them along.
As the ice crept over the soft limestone bedrock of Kelleys Island, these harder bits of rock gouged the grooves.
These grooves are the largest and most easily accessible example of the geological phenomenon anywhere in the world.
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Miller Ferry already running
The Miller Ferry Boat Co. began its season March 2 with trips between Catawba Island and South Bass Island (Put-in-Bay) and select trips to Middle Bass Island.
"The beginning of the season is going great," Katrina Reed with Miller Ferry said. "There are some projects on the islands so we will have steady vehicle traffic with trucks, construction workers and materials."
Miller Boat Line is the only scheduled means of transporting freight, cars and commercial vehicles to Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass. It’s the only scheduled ferry service to Middle Bass Island. They also provide freight charters to North Bass Island and Rattlesnake Island.
Started in 1905 as a fishing charter, water taxi and ice harvesting business, the company has grown to become the largest ferry service on Lake Erie.
Their most recent addition is the M/V Mary Ann Market, a drive-on/drive-off passenger and vehicle ferry, which stands 140 feet long, 38? feet wide and has a 7-foot draft. The fifth and largest vessel in the Miller Ferry fleet, it has a capacity of 600 passengers and approximately 28 vehicles.
Miller Boat Line employs 100 people during peak season.
Approximately 750,000 people visit the islands of Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass Island each year. Year-round Put-in-Bay population is about 450 and Middle Bass is 45.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Lake Erie Islands ferry services get early start on 2024 season
