The only way to reach South Manitou Island is to take a ferry over to the island. You must pack in anything you will need and pack out all of your trash. I love to go camping for extended periods of time. My four year old son and I took the ferry to South Manitou Island and had planned to stay for a few days. We had numerous people gift us food they had packed over to the island and did not want to pack out. We ended up extending our trip by a couple days. There are numerous fun day hikes to do on the island. You can hike to see the wreck of the Corazon, the cedar forest or the old homestead farms. We ate sweet plums that were ripe from one of the old trees on one of the farms. We camped at the Weather Station Campground and swam daily.