Had a fantastic trip we chose the Paddlers Choice which is a 6 hr trip. The weather was great sunny,warm, and calm winds our guide Macy was fantastic very knowledgable about the rocks and history. I would definately go again probably try the combination hike and kayak next time read more

Turned out to be an amazing day! Our guide, Lynn, was extremely knowledgeable about everything out the lake and nature surrounding it! She was very personable and outgoing because of that we are now sitting at a great little bar and grill drinking great craft beers and enjoying scrumptious pasties thanks to her recommendations! Will recommend to people in the future and may even come back for more next time. read more

Given the choices for kayaking tours in the Munising area, I would not recommend Uncle Ducky's. We planned our trip to Pictured Rocks months in advance, and no matter the amount of planning, the rain has a way of changing your plans. There were torrential rain storms on the day of our planned kayak trip. Ducky's could no longer provide the promised trip to Pictured Rocks because of the aggressive waves. They offered a more timid tour of Grand Island instead, and we were told that it is much "less appealing." The only alternative is a rain check to return another time. We explained that we live too far to return and asked for a refund. We were denied and told to call Gayle who could issue a refund. We called Gayle and she was rude, unapologetic and unflinching. While I understand the company's policy, I also value customer service above all else. Therefore, I would definitely not recommend going through Uncle Ducky's. There are several superior kayaking companies in the area that are more accommodating and understanding. read more

Do NOT book with Uncle Ducky's/Paddling Michigan. They went out in unsafe weather (3' waves) and rerouted us to a Grand Island tour, which did not have any scenic views whatsoever. The kayaks were not well maintained as they were missing the foot pedals that help you to brace yourself during kayaking and the life jackets smelled so terrible that I think I would have rather risked my own fate than have to wear one of those again. We paid for a Kayak & Hike trip, and received an absolutely miserable trip instead with no hiking. The guides are not great at communicating- we had no idea where we were headed and they did not inform us of when other groups turned around, yet made us feel terrible for wanting to be done with the trip after battling through ridiculous waves for 2 hours. When they changed the trip location and length, they informed me that they would refund the difference between the trips. I have contacted them several times about this refund, and after an initial answer of "no" have been receiving the silent treatment- not an appropriate way to handle this type of issue. I trusted their judgement on the rerouting of the trip and that they were still planning to go out, but sincerely wish I would not have trusted their advice. If there is any sign of bad weather at all, reschedule. I would not purchase from them again and had a miserable time on our trip. read more

beautiful scenery, good equipment, very unorganized operations, poorly trained guide. 1. gorgeous, picturesque cliffs. I would definitely recommend doing some kayaking here. 2. equipment was in good shape. I'm no kayaking expert, but I've done a few tours like this and the gear was as good as any I've used. 3. took the "Paddlers Choice" full day tour, and was incredibly disappointed. Bring your own lunch, which was fine. website said a cooler would be available, which didn't turn out to be the case. had we known that, we wouldn't have brought deli ham and cheese sandwiches on a July day. I ate mine, but the wife was too nervous, so that was a bummer for her (and for any married guys, you know that's a bummer for me). check-in time was 8:30AM, we weren't in the water until after 10:23. had to check in at their office in Munising, then drive to a loading point, then get bussed to the beach. GMAFB. back from tour at 2:45pm, bus wasn't there. "10 to 15 minutes says the guide". try 40 (not exaggerating for effect). then 15 more on the bus to parking. I value my vacation time greatly and 3 hours of non-valud-add was a serious detractor from my enjoyment of the day's experience. they only ran one full day tour, so there was a bigger crowd than i'm used too -- six kayaks on our tour. if they had run 2 or 3 tours per day, staggered out 30 or 60 minutes, it would've been a better more petsonal experience for the money. worse yet, they launched their one morning half day tour at the same time, with over a dozen kayaks, so getting good pix without strangers in the shot was difficult. at mid-point of our tour, an additional kayak appeared in our group. turned out they started in the wrong tour and then corrected and joined us, but our guide had no idea what was going on until lunch break when they explained. these guides had no clue who or how many were supposed to be in which group. not to overstate the danger, nobody was in any peril, water was calm and we hugged the shoreline the whole way so it wasn't likely anything was going to go wrong. That day. 4. our guide (Steve) was new, poorly trained and unprofessional. if this had been my first time kayaking, I would've found the safety training quite lacking. one dude actually had to ask him, after the training was over, "what happens if we flip over". "oh, yeah. good question..." the clincher though was when we stopped for lunch and the guide recommended using the woods instead of the pit toilet. Dude, you're supposed to be the guide, trained in leave no trace. the people you're leading might not know better. Uncle Ducky should provide a reasonable option for bathroom use on their full day tour and they should reconsider where they stop for lunch or if they might provide additional amenities themselves. worst of all, I got the impression that it's standard practice for their guides to recommend this -- the NPS should take a look at the companies their allowing in for commercial tours. Steve, if you're reading this, know that I brought $30 to tip, with every intention of tipping $20 or $30 depending on quality of service and at that moment when advised the group to violate LNT, I decided you weren't getting anything. some fault lies in your employer, but you should know better. but then, I'm a big LNT believer and hold a professional guide to high standards. Also, it really hacked me off that you lied about how far off the bus was -- if you had been honest, I still would've been annoyed at your company, but we would have spent a half hour at the beach instead of waiting in the parking lot. read more

Disappointed. My wife and I received a gift to participate on a 4 hour tour. We didn't know much about the logistics and it was disappointing that 2 hours of the 4 hour adventure is traveling to 3 different areas before you get into the water. You must meet at their main office location to sign a waver then drive to another staging area and wait until everyone shows up. Then you are required to get on a bus to take you to the beach location. When we arrived they give brief safety and kayak operation instructions. When we finally got into the water, some people didn't know what to do and the guides had to rearrange their groups. There were large groups in front of us so you had to sit idle at times before going to the next site seeing area. The guide was new this year and when she described the significance of the spot, she didn't group everyone. She just talked to whoever was the closest. We could not hear her and have no idea what we saw. In addition, we were told to bring a lunch. We did but never had time to break and eat. Our time in the water was less than 2 hours and we felt rushed to get through the tour. I would highly recommend a different company and take an actual 4 hour (in water) tour. During our time in the water, the majority of time was spent paddling to the cliffs and back. Time at the cliffs was probably only 45 minutes. Shame as they had many opportunities to make this a great event. read more

If I could give this company a zero I would. We absolutely loved the paddling! Our tour guide Miles was amazing. My problem is with management. We decided to stay at their camping facilities. Worst decision!!!! We arrived with five people and they had given our larger tent to another group. Myself and my fiancé ended up sleeping on the floor because there were not enough beds. We were staying for two nights and there was no way they could straighten things out. The management was extremely rude. I spent time on the phone worth Greg and I had to calm him down because he was being extremely rude to me. All I was asking for was for him to refund us our money so we could go stay at a hotel. This way everyone could have their own bed. I asked Greg to have the owner call me and he stated, "If you think I'm being rude you don't want to talk to the owner. He has no time for your problems." I don't think this is too much to ask for. I wish all the kayaking guide tours well but the camping side of this business will never be successful because management is very unprofessional. I advise you from passing this review off as just another crazy person. I encourage you to go kayaking, just find somewhere else to stay. read more

A mature woman was very helpful over the phone so we decided to book with Uncle Ducky. Booked a 4-hour trip. Showed up at their facility on time and were checked in and told to wait with the group outside. Took about 1/2 hour before everyone was checked in and the "guides" were ready to begin. Our orientation talk consisted of very little information (like how the whole trip was supposed to work, which would have been nice) and lots of attempts to loosen up the crowd by making lame jokes. We were told to get back in our cars and caravan to Miner's Beach by following the (unmarked) car with the two kayaks on top. Got to Miner's Beach and again mass confusion as they attempted to just hand everyone spray skirts, life vests and dry bags, with no one in charge to explain how to wear/use these items. A broken life vest was reluctantly traded out for a working one. We were told to hike down the trail to the beach and stand near the kayaks at water's edge. Again mass confusion as the guides tried to pair everyone up into the tandem kayaks and groups of about 12 people per guide. A "safety talk" consisted of instructions to reach for the rope on the spray skirt and rip it free "if we happen to flip." Then we were shoved off the beach and into to open water . . . to pretty much paddle around by ourselves fairly aimlessly for the next few hours. Which I could have done myself. With my own kayak. For free. I was sold a Guided Tour and expected one, with info on the different areas we were seeing, the geology of the rocks, info about Lake Superior, etc. While our young lady guide was pleasant enough, her ho-hum attitude and lack of initiative suggested a serious lack of training. The rest of the guides seemed no better. To boot, Uncle Ducky attempted to charge us for a full-day trip (which we had also booked initially, but decided to forego due to their bad service as well as the weather) which we canceled. Their cancellation policy is not clearly stated on the website, in their literature or verbally when booking. We called to dispute the charge and were angrily hung up on. Disputed it through our CC company and Uncle Ducky caved. Uncle Ducky, please get your business act together: train your guides. Be clear about your policies. Get organized so you don't waste your customers' time and give them very little paddling time (among other things) for their money. Above all, please drill into everyone who comes into contact with your organization that customer service is hard work -- but it's key. read more

I understand that weather does not cooperate however Uncle Duckys pulled a fast one. The itinerary changed due to high winds but we were still promised kayaking through caves and still a 3 1/2 hour excursion! Crazy talk because all we did was paddle across Lake Superior to Grand Island and were told the the winds and waves were too strong so we paddled back! Ended up with an hour wait for the bus to come get us! Maybe that way they could say we still got 3 1/2 hours out of the deal! Oh and water was so bad that the 300 passenger boat to pictured rocks cancelled the entire day of excursions! Funny how it was ok to send us out in a kayak- read more

Kayak trip was awesome, staying at the paddlers village was terrible. Nobody on site to oversee problems. We had terrible neighbors, 5 feet away, keep us up all night. After 2 nights we left even though we paid for 3. Nice concept, poor execution. We asked at the office for a refund. No one has authority to do anything. No one to call. At the steep prices they charge somebody should be able to make a decision. read more

I loved my experience on this tour! There were a few weird things about it, but what a great way to experience Pictured Rocks. There are multiple price points and length options. The cheapest is a couple of hours and maybe $40, the next is about 3 and a half hours and $80, then there are half day and whole day tours and even overnight tours where they provide all the gear and meals. We did the 3.5 hour tour that left at noon. We actually stopped in an information place by Family Fare and talked to the lady working and she made it sound like it would fill up if we didn't book, so tried to call and see what was available but they didn't answer so we drove there. They were super laid back and not pushy and ALL tours had available spots (it was a beautiful July Wednesday FYI), so we needn't have worried about not getting one. We selected the one that left at noon. We had to ask, but we met at the same place we registered about 15 minutes before the tour started to sign a waiver. Then everyone followed down to Miner's Beach. We had gone there the day before so we just left when people started going to their cars. Most of the guides were already there anyway. We got a life jacket and a spray skirt and could have a giant dry bag if we wanted it. Then we walked down to the beach where the kayaks were lined up, got a few brief safety guidelines and then guides claimed groups based on numbers in each party. Ryan was our guide and he gave us some more tips and help. They're all tandem kayaks, so bring or make a buddy. The person in the back steers with foot pedals connected to a rudder and both have paddles. Tandem kayaks are quite large so they're quite stable. Ryan said your head is your center of balance and most people tip if they both try to look in the water on the same side at the same time (like at the shipwreck Jorge you go over!) or if you are parallel to big waves from boats going by. He taught us to go into the waves to surf them and have fun instead of tipping. I recommend bringing a waterproof camera. I had my phone in a little clear floaty case thing I bought from their store and some photos turned out cloudy from it. Ryan is in school for photography and documentary filmmaking so he took some peoples cameras and got some amazing shots of them and the rocks. I didn't have him take mine, just because it's my phone and awkward. Really though, if you are willing to spend $150 on the tour, you mind as well buy the $70 waterproof camera. Live and learn! DO THIS TOUR, be ready to paddle and float and ask questions and enjoy! read more

Terrible unorganized experience. I was told to shut up and that I can cry all I want andI would not get a refund. That was after the Uncle Ducky receptionist gave us the wrong hotel info so after driving from Duluth MN we had no room. Turned around and drove home with an 8 yr old who got car sick. Would never want to put my family through that nightmare again. read more

Having beer(s) at shooters from Lynn's recommendation and reflecting on the day. It was cold and gloomy this morning but the uncle duckys crew was up beat and excited for be day. The day trip was a great paddle and Lynn was a great guide, giving us interesting facts about the lake and geography. We had hiked the chapel rock/mosquito falls hike so it was great to see the shoreline from the water. I would def do again and recommend to friends!! read more

We did the Paddle/Hike tour and Zach was our guide. He did a great job making sure everyone knew what they were doing and that safety guidelines were clear. The scenery was amazing and breathtaking. We made a stop on Mosquito Beach for lunch and saw a beautiful waterfall along with another fall at the takeout on Chapel Beach. Thank you Zach for a memorable trip!! We would highly recommend this company for your kayaking adventure for seeing Picture Rocks lake shore!! read more

This company has ruined almost all the beaches that Munising had to offer. Once you get to the beach they have lined the beach with their kayaks. They destroyed all of the walking paths with their kayak cradles as well as drag other kayaks across the paths. We had a kayak cradle leaning against our car when we returned from the beach and there where 5 workers standing around just looking. I think it may be a good idea for a company but they need to own their own land to perform the tour guides. They should not be able to continue to use public beach from access for any of their guides. read more

I spent 600 dollars for a trip for 4 to the Picture Rocks I live in Milwaukee so the drive to the tour would be around 5 or 6 hours. My trip was cancelled however because the winds were so bad and the company then sent me an Email confirmation stating that, "my refund will be processed within a 2 week period". It has now been a month and a half sense reciving this email and I have yet to hear anything from this money stealing company. After calling several times they finally told me that "someone in our office spoke out of line and told you incorrect information". So because this company cancelled my trip and sent me an Email confirming a refund, they hope now that I have to just accept the fact that they were wrong and that I will never get my money back. I feel that company's live and die on how well they treat their customers. I will never recommend anyone to ever use this company. I am going to take this to small claims court and I hope others will do the same, if they got the same information and bait and switch as my family and I did. The address for small claims court in Michigan is 124 W Michigan Ave#6 Lancing MI 48933. read more

Terrible customer service. My paid for in advance tour change due to wind advisory for the day. I was given a couple of days notice by the company. I was told that I could ask for a rain check or take a lesser tour time/different route. I was told I would receive a refund for the price difference of the lesser tour. I was told this in an email as well as in person. Had a great time, nice view, tour guides were great. I was making plans with friends to go back next summer. Get back home and now the company says they will not refund the difference. This company has poor customer service. So if you choose to go with the company and have poor weather conditions be prepared for non reimbursement. read more

I think if we'd opted for a yurt or tent, it would've been better. Unfortunately we rented a pop-up camper and were assigned the oldest one, with mold smell, rips and holes to boot. And then it rained, so some of our bedding got wet & at that point I went to the office with my concerns. They refunded us for the next night (waiting for the credit to appear on my credit card). The website led me to believe the property was along the lakeshore, but only a SMALL portion is actually on the water (like yurts, #1 thru #4). I gave the 3rd star because the folks that work for Uncle Ducky's are very friendly, and I was relieved they didn't give me the run around when I asked for a refund for our next night. read more

Bad experience but handled the complaint like pros. Just a little background first. Me and my best friend were on our annual friend-cation. We have done our share of excursions all over the country including Alaska. We've done excursions and tours in big cities and little towns alike. We understand this is a business and they need to make money. There were no issues with the booking, rescheduling, and check in process. We were rescheduled due to the day's tours being cancelled because of rough waters. Understandable. I would rather be safe than struggling the entire time. We got rebooked to the next day. They bussed us over to the staging area and that was well organized. It broke down from there. Our guide was not doing her job. We found out later that she was having some personal issues. She ran through briefly some instruction on kayaking, which was fine. When we reached the kayaks and got in, we sat there the longest of any group - including the groups that arrived after we did. There was some confusion on whether another guide was joining our group and where her kayak went. Apparently someone had taken off with her kayak and gear. Once we were launched, it got worse. Let's just say at one point we felt left behind and unsafe. We ended up turning around and headed back to the beach long before we were scheduled to. We were supposed to do the sunset paddle but after 3 hours of paddling in rough water without the guidance of a guide from the moment we were launched, we weren't going to continue. We also did not get any information on what we were seeing. We wanted to kayak and see and learn about pictures rocks. Apparently we paddled right by Bridal Veil falls and no one pointed it out to us. Granted, it was rough waters and it's hard to give a guided tour while in the water but some guidance on what to look for before we launched would have been better. When we got back to the beach and back on land, we learned that more than half our original group of twelve for the sunset paddle turned back. You would think that the tour would have been cancelled with that many people turning back because of the rough water. Again, I fully understand if tours are cancelled due to weather. I would rather be safe than have something happen to me while on vacation. While we were waiting for the bus to take us back to our car, one of the guides came up to us and basically solicited is to buy his homemade jewelry. Also not professional. We were tired and he knew we didn't have a good experience. Well, we did go back to the office and spoke with the manager. He listened as we told him, without raising our voices or getting angry, just what we experienced. He was attentive and reasonable. We were only expecting a $50 refund per their refund policy. We understand it's a business and they need to make some money. However, we received an email early the next morning from Wayne that they will give us a rain check for the sunset paddle, good until the end of the 2017 season. So, they basically gave us another tour for the experience we had yesterday. I hope hat this was a fluke and that they generally are professional and tours run smoothly and professionally. I don't want any guides fired for having one bad day, however, I do hope that they learn a lesson - that if you cannot keep your group together and account for people's safety in your tour, you should not be working that day no matter what personal issues you may be going through. Chances are nothing terrible would have happened to us because kayaking is generally safe. However, in rougher waters in a large body of water such as Lake Superior, things can go bad quickly and as a guide, you should be more attentive to your group than in calm water. That was not professional. read more

Well organized company with good equipment and employees (guides) who are knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful...BUT - We had a great weather day....but upon arriving we were told....wind/waves are a bit high.... guides said...not going to Picture Rock tour....but rather the island....features there were minor in comparison. We were offered a re-schedule...no one but a local resident could normally do this....felt like bait & switch. There should have been an offer of adjustment for the price. Many of the other floaters we talked to on the float trip were also of the same opinion but we all wanted to do a float because it was such a beautiful day...sunshine, no wind, no rain and very light breeze - it did not appear that the other area's waves & wind were much different. The guides were well informed and full of history and tidbits of the area.....we would have liked a few breaks to be better able to hear...we paddled non-stop for over 2 hours....which is only possible when you have 2 paddlers.....hey guys...stop and take a break as a group every 20 min....give your speel....and then move on but take a few breaks out of compassion for older people AND to improve overall satisfaction with the float trip and the great information. Good lunch spot at the Island....but you should also let everyone know back at the original meeting building...what to expect IN ADVANCE as we all had a few eye openers and unexpected events. I think the company owner should periodically send along the "mystery floater" and see what his clients are experiencing which will always lead to an improved product. I will compliment the guides again...very friendly, informative, helpful and overall good personalities...worth a tip for sure and this company at least answers the phone...the other company missed the boat several times in this area...which is one of the reasons this company is busier than they should be....but still overall pleased....just bummed like the others that we missed the "pictured rock" events on such a nice day. read more

The excursion was great, the guides were great. I feel kind of bad for giving them only 2 stars, but really, I'm tempted to give them only 1. Here's why: like JS. said--the logistics were terrible. I only found out where to meet, what to wear, that we needed to pack our own lunch because I asked over the phone. If you're a detail-orientated person, this company will drive you crazy. I told myself that since they are very laid-back & nice that maybe it's just me? I need this trip where life slows down. But then it got worse so I know it's not me. After arriving in the meeting place (thankfully the dog kennel people told us where to go!!!), we got all messed up. There was no caravan of vehicles & no, the guides (without obvious pick-up trucks) did not go 1st. We ended up following 3 cars ahead of us who knew as little as we did, got all screwed around, & headed in the completely wrong direction (with them). I thought we would miss our trip for sure (at $250 pp I was a little bit anxious!) At last we met up with our group. As I said, the guides were terrific, knowledgeable, gave us interesting factoids about the rocks & the striations/colors...it was at the end, the hiking part of our kayak/hike trip that was so completely messed up. We said our goodbye's to our guides at the beach. It was a bit convoluted as to which way to hike out but we managed. We got to the parking lot where we expected to get picked up. They stranded us for an hour & 40 minutes!!! We were soaking wet (the spray skirt only does so much) + freezing cold (the day started out sunny & warm but Lake Superior can change in an instant & it did). We were left to sit on a curb with no shelter from the elements, no Visitor's Center, no warm blankets, towels, let alone a change of clothes. Uncle Ducky's/Paddle Michigan HIRES an independent driver to come pick up their people & drive them to the parking lot. He said he had a really busy day & was told to come when he did...since the guides finished when we did, couldn't they have called or walkie-talkied to the office that we were all done & needed picking up? A few of us had young teens in the group & they were extremely overwhelmed by the day's sport in itself, compounded by wet & cold, and hungry. When the driver did come in his 15-passenger van, he was super friendly & nice, however, he said he would only take ONE person from each group. WTH? He said it would take 20-30 min 1 way to get everyone to their cars then they would have to drive back to get the rest in their party. Of course it took 40 min. Everyone get in the queue 'cuz it's a 1-lane road. Our dogs were being boarded at Puppy Paws Kennel for the day. Thankfully we FINALLY got some cell service & called them. We arrived to pick them up 1 hour late. If they had closed, I was going to give the bill to Uncle Ducky's. Totally ridiculous this even happened. Too bad we already tipped. Too bad they haven't figured out after running this trip hundreds of times that their customers *should* park their vehicles at the end point (instead of the beginning) this is where the van driver should be hired to take the customers to the launch area instead of the other way around--because when you are done with your excursion, what you want to do more than anything is get in your car, get comfy, & go "home." PS. One last thing: altho there is a clean (composting) toilet in the lunch area, when we went it didn't have any T.P. (or hand sanitizer). Not to bring up the $ again, for $250pp having the guides bring this in would have been a decent thing to do. read more

Upon arrival on July 20, 2015 for our kayak tour, we were told that it was too windy and wavy to kayak along the Pictured Rocks. Instead, we were told that our group would kayak over to the East Channel Lighthouse on Grand Island and then continue north up the east coast of Grand Island. We were assured that we would see identical rock faces and coloration, with the benefit of the island shielding us from the winds. Because we were told we would be seeing identical sights, we chose to go on our tour that day. We paddled over to the island and the guides proceeded to take us west, along the south coast of the island. There were absolutely no rock faces, only trees and brush. Our group was 1 of 3 groups to paddle over, and our group was the only group that did not paddle north up the east coast of the island. Upon our return to Munising, we went to Uncle Ducky's and asked for a refund because we were lied to. If we had been told the truth, we would have rescheduled our tour for another day, as we were in the area for 5 more days. The woman at Uncle Ducky's said that a refund of $158 would be processed. We received only a $50 refund on July 29. We have since contacted Uncle Ducky's to resolve this issue on July 23, July 31, August 5, August 10, and August 25. On August 25, they asked us to allow 2 weeks for the full refund. We did so and still no refund. read more