West Sister Island Cruise

West Sister Island NWR Sunset Cruise

2017 Sunset Cruise Schedule

August 18, 2017 - West Sister Island Sunset Cruise
(7:15PM - 9:45 PM). Tickets are $50.

August 11, 2016, history came alive as President Teddy Roosevelt (Gib Young) joined us on board the Jet Express for the sunset cruise. President Roosevelt shared his involvement with the National Wildlife Refuge System, and explained why protecting these areas is so important. He also signed a few autographs!

West Sister Island NWR is a rookery, a place where all of the area herons, egrets, and cormorants nest. Located nine miles off shore, the island is covered with tall hackberry trees and an unforgiving understory of poison ivy and stinging nettles. The area is closed to all but permit holding researchers. On the cruise, we learned about the National Wildlife Refuge system from President Teddy Roosevelt (Gib Young), heard from Ohio Division of Wildlife research biologist Dave Sherman, and chatted with US Fish & Wildlife Service staff.

Proceeds from this benefit will help our Friends group to support Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in carrying out its conservation goals.

Thank you to all who joined us!
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Port Clinton, Ohio

"Last evening, Thursday, from about 7:15PM to about 9:45PM, my wife Denise and I were fortunate enough to be part of a benefit cruise to and around the waters along the shoreline of West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge. The event was sponsored by the Friends Of Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. The cruise was on The Jet Express departing from the Port Clinton Dock. The weather was perfect! On our way out to the West Sister Island area, visibility was so clear, that with binoculars, on the Lake Erie horizon, we could amazingly see the numerous wind turbines located twenty miles or so to the north, along the shoreline of neighboring Ontario. Travel time was entertaining with a presentation by Teddy Roosevelt (Gib Young), about the origin of The National Wildlife Refuge System. After viewing the probable thousands of birds coming, and going, and roosting, on the island, we watched a beautiful and colorful sunset with The West Sister Lighthouse in the foreground. Bird species seen were Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Black-crowned Night-Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and a pair of Mallards. Tom Bartlett and Dave Sherman enlightened us to the history of West Sister Island, providing numerous interesting facts about the island, such as it being covered with fifteen foot high poison ivy, stinging nettles, the hackberry tree thickets, and obviously, the numbers of birds that call this their summer home. A fun fact we learned was that the sometimes despised Double-crested Cormorants, are actually doing a good deed, eating the invasive Round Goby fishes that are now in the Lake Erie waters. The return to port in the dark was absolutely breathtaking. The moon and all the stars in the sky were crystal clear and spectacular. Yesterday was also my wife Denise's birthday. What a way to celebrate it."

Bob Lane / Mahoning County

A little background info...
President Teddy Roosevelt established the first National Wildlife Refuge, Pelican Island NWR in 1903. Since then, the refuge system has grown to encompass more than 150 million acres of habitat essential for the survival of America’s astounding diversity of wildlife.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established West Sister Island "as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife" and it was specifically designated to protect the largest wading bird nesting colony on the U.S. Great Lakes. The refuge is jointly owned by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Staff at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge manage the island as a wilderness area, as provided under the Wilderness Act. West Sister Island is Ohio's only Wilderness Area.