A long swim there, a hitched ride back by freespirit13
After hiking down the mountain to go swimming in beautiful Emerald Bay of Lake Tahoe, we jumped off the wooden dock into cold, fish smelling water. We decided to ignore the sign on the beach that said "No Swimming to Island" and started swimming. About 20 minutes later, we got to Fanette island. The water is so clear, we could see our feet the entire way. So we climbed up the mountain to the rock "tea house" (I think that was its purpose, back in the day) and got a beautiful view of Lake Tahoe. Fortunately, we didn't have to swim back (at that point, we were cold and a little dehydrated); 2 girls and their parents from Michigan were nice enough to give us a boat ride back.