Come work on the water with us.
It started in 2012 with a couple of kayaks and one rule we still keep: always bring two, so you can bring someone along. That instinct is the whole company — it’s better with the right people. Today we’re a small team on Mackinac Island that takes guiding seriously and takes care of each other, and we’re looking for a few more for the season.
A flat crew — experienced folks guiding newer folks.
Mentors, instead of managers — the people who’ve done this guide the ones still learning, until they’ve got it too. Decision-making in the open — as a team we run retrospectives. What’s working, what’s not, what we’d do better. Everyone’s in the room.
We work to a triple bottom line: people, planet, future. Look after the team, protect the water we paddle, and the rest follows. That’s the flywheel. Caring for this place is the easy part. A clean, car-free island is why people come, so we keep it that way: a park cleanup to open the season, a bottle out of the water on a paddle or off the trail on a hike.
The island’s older name is Michilimackinac — “the Great Turtle.” We keep this place for the future to enjoy as we do, and we share it faithfully: cited history, natural science, and lore.
Two ways onto the team.
On the water and the trails
Guiding is physical: six to eight miles of paddling on a good day, or a hike on the trails, out in whatever the weather brings, on a car-free island where you bike and walk everywhere. But the boats live right where they launch, and every tour’s a round trip, so the job is paddling, not hauling kayaks around. Safety is the whole of it. You make the go/no-go call, and you bring everyone back.
The rest you grow into. We don’t hand you a script. We’d rather you learn this place because you want to, get the history right (the native history especially), and talk about what you’re actually into. Read the group, take care of them, and you become the best part of someone’s trip.
In the shop
Every tour that goes out, goes out because someone in the shop made it happen. As a reservationist you’re the first face guests meet and the hub the whole team runs through. You’re booking tours, working the retail floor, and solving the daily puzzle of fitting guests, guides, and the weather into one schedule that holds.
It’s a sales role at heart, but the good kind. You’re not pushing a time slot, you’re matching someone to the trip that becomes the best day of their vacation. Fast, people-heavy, and on a busy afternoon a real juggle. Phones, walk-ins, a group of twelve, a last-minute weather call, all handled with a steady hand. If you’re organized, unflappable in a rush, and you genuinely like people, this is your seat.
It goes somewhere, too — the Sales Director path is the same seat, a few seasons on. We pay you to take every tour yourself, and for the right experienced salesperson, we’ll build commission into the deal.
Wherever you’re starting from.
Never guided a day in your life? Good — that’s where we all start. To start each season we run an ACA Level 2 Trip Leader Development and Certification workshop. Already seasoned? Come in higher, take a group your first week, and help us guide the new crew. And it keeps going. Our Operations Director and Sales Director both grew out of these very seats. Same team, many roles.
Those workshops are led by our own ACA Level 3 and Level 4 instructors, with our returning guides helping train the new crew and sharpen the program each season. When they’re ready to go further themselves, we bring in instructor trainers for advanced certifications.
The deal, plainly.
You start at $14 an hour — a full hourly wage, not dependent on tips — and earn a $1-an-hour raise the day you check out as an independent guide. At season’s end there’s a $2-an-hour bonus paid back across every hour you worked. For the right fit and experience, the numbers are negotiable.
We house you (some at the beach, some up the hill toward the woods) and put real money into keeping it livable: kitchens, your own space, a bathroom you’re not sharing with half the island.
The good stuff.
Gear at our cost
Get in on our pre-season NRS order, vendor pricing straight through.
The island, on us
Free into the fort, the museums, the butterfly house. Go learn the place you’re showing people.
Paid to take the tours
Ride every tour yourself, on the clock. You can’t sell or guide what you haven’t done.
Paid to read
We lend you the island-history books and pay you the hours to read them.
The year-end trip
Whole crew, our tab. We’ve camped Pictured Rocks, Sleeping Bear, the Garden Peninsula.
Round Island nights
For the fun of it: load the kayaks, paddle over, cook out, swim, paddle back.
Free mainland parking
Leave the car on the mainland. Parking’s on us.
Local eats
Fresh food from around the island to keep you going.
Open roles.
Tour Guide
On the water and the trails, leading tours. No experience needed. We train and certify you.
Apply →Experienced and looking to lead? Our Operations Director and Sales Director seats open up too. Get in touch.
How to join.
Fill out the team application. It’s thoughtful on purpose, and we read every one. If it’s a fit, you’ll meet a few of us for a conversation (not a grilling, just how we hire). We take our time to get it right, on both sides. Then it’s an offer, training, and a season on the water.
We hire year-round — no deadline, and the off-season is often the best time to find us. The season opens with spring training and runs on the water into late September, then moves to the fall hiking trails; reaching us in time to train for the season you want is the ideal.