Day 16: Sea Caves at Sand Island (Apostle Islands)

There are 21 Apostle Islands in Lake Superior (on the southwest corner), which were named by French missionaries after the 12 apostles (they clearly couldn't see all 21 islands). The islands were formed by wind wave erosion between ice ages, and were glaciated repeatedly after that. Terraces and wave cut platforms suggest that water levels used to be higher in Lake Superior. Of particular interest are the sea caves found on many of the islands. The Devils Island Formation geology is a red sandstone that formed from rivers depositing sediment thousands of years ago. The sea caves form when waves erode and undercut the base of the cliffs.

See the Apostle Islands on the SW corner of Lake Superior (in the Wisconsin portion)

Today Jeff and I had a chance to explore the sea caves of the Apostle Islands. We left Mike and Tonia's house at 8:30am and headed into Bayfield for some coffee at Big Water Coffee Roasters (also where I happen to be sitting at this very moment). We continued to Little Sand Bay where we unloaded boats and ate breakfast. Car after car loaded with expensive sea kayaks arrived and began unloading. One fellow paddler noticed my Greenland paddle and invited us to attend a Greenland-style camp in Minnesota.

Little Sand Bay harbor

We aimed for the western tip of Sand Island and began the ~2 mile crossing. The lake was calm, and we zipped across in 40 minutes. A horsefly insisted on buzzing in our ears/faces repeatedly. We hugged the shore for a couple hours, discovering our first sea caves on the north side of the island. A family of common mergansers (beautiful brown/gray ducks) perched on a rock withdrew from us a series of "ooooooo"s and "awwww!!"s.

Jeff thinking, "I'm not in Colorado anymore."

Jeff in sea cave

Nena in sea cave

More sea caves

At the northeast point of the island stands the Sand Island Lighthouse, which was first lit in 1881. It was built from sandstone quarried on-site. Unlike many of the other islands, Sand Island maintained a small population of year-round residents (farmers and fisherman). 4 years after the lighthouse was built, the lighthouse keeper paddled several miles into Lake Superior to save the entire crew of the flaming steamer, Prussia.

The Sand Island Lighthouse

We stopped for a short lunch break on some flat rocks on the west side of the island (mmmm champagne dill mustard). Jeff made friends with an ant while I basked in the sun. On the return crossing we encountered some cross-winds and choppy waves, but the breeze and spray was refreshing (and not salty!). We arrived with spare time for showers before returning Pierre, the yellow sea kayak, to the rental shop. Some of the employees noticed my BASK bumper sticker and said they were familiar with the Bay Area sea kayaking group. 

Back at the coffee shop, Jeff caved and purchased a Sugarbush Latte, which contains local maple syrup. YUM

Date: August 3rd, 2014

Distance: 13.5 miles

Time: 4.5 hrs

Southport Island in Boothbay, Maine

(This day actually happened before the previous post)

Now that you're all (the 3 of you who actually read this) probably getting bored of my posts, I've invited a guest blogger!!! I now present you with Jeff Buchman, kayaking partner for the weekend of 7/9-7/11 on our visit to Boothbay Harbor in Maine...

(Plotting our course on Friday night by candle lantern light)

Saturday morning we awoke to the sound of what we though were rain drops on the tent but it turns out it was only large amounts of fog dripping off of the trees. Since it was predicted to thunderstorm I was more than willing to deal with heavy fog since last time I checked no one was ever electrocuted by fog. When we arrived at the beach at Gray Homestead Oceanfront Camping where we were staying we couldn’t see Squirrel Island which is only about 1 mile off the coast of Southport Island where we were due to the thick fog. As we were launching, the fog began to lift and a little bit of sun began to shine from behind the clouds. The first part of the trip was against the tide toward the open Atlantic. While paddling against the tide is a bit more challenging, it is somewhat reassuring to know that if something goes wrong you won’t be getting swept out into the North Atlantic. The wave height was probably 3-4 feet but unlike the Lake Ontario waves we are used to where 3-4 feet means breakers these were all swells with a long wavelength so it was very gentle.

(Nena paddling east towards the open ocean)

As we approached the Cuckold Island Lighthouse, the waves began to get a little bit bigger and we could see fairly large breakers in the distance so we made the decision to cut through Cape Harbor on the south end of Southport Island. We had been debating crossing Sheepscot Bay to the Five Islands area but since there was thick fog moving in and out we decided it would be best to stick to shore and paddle the circumference of Southport instead. While paddling along the western coast of the island we found a number of pleasantly named coves (Christmas Cove, Cozy Cove, etc...) to explore which ensured us that our decision to forgo the crossing would not be regretted.

(Jeff paddling past the Cuckold Island lighthouse)

While in Cozy Cove we saw an area that had a gate built across it and an opening just big enough for a kayaker to squeeze through so naturally we had to investigate (Note from Nena: I managed to run head-on into the edge of the gate and nearly flip myself, but Jeff is being nice and not mentioning it). Inside we found a large salt water pond with a few unused docks that were covered with the remains of seabird meals. Nena found a nice sea urchin skeleton and cleaned it up to take with her but sadly it was later crushed. We stopped for lunch on what we first thought was an uninhabited island but after getting out of the boats we found there we a number of cabins near our landing point. Upon closer inspection no one was in the cabins so we decided to stay and eat lunch while the sun was shining. After lunch some threatening clouds appeared in the west so we decided to up the pace and try to get into the shelter of Townsend Gut (a gut is a small body of water connecting two larger bodies of water) on the north end of the island before any sort of storm appeared. In what became a theme for the weekend, the threatening clouds produced only a slight drizzle. The bridge on Route 27 crossing over Townsend Gut onto Southport Island is a swing bridge so taller boats can get through. Rather than splitting in the middle the whole bridge pivots on a center point and rotates 90 degrees, moving itself out of the way.

(A pile of lobster traps in Christmas Cove)

The paddle back to the campground at low tide was rather uneventful until we reached the take-out and decided to get out on the small floating dock they had there. The combination of two sea kayaks, a steeply angled ramp, and a moving platform made getting the boat up to the beach a bit tricky so after maneuvering Nena’s boat up the ramp we decided it would be best if I paddled back to the beach. Our first day of paddling covered 13 miles and about 100 feet of swimming off the dock once we got back to the campground.

Date: Saturday, July 10th 2010
Distance: 13 miles
Time: ~4.5 hours (incl. lunch)

After paddling we decided to head to the lovely little town of Boothbay Harbor where to cure her headache most likely caused by dehydration Nena had some espresso and double chocolate gelato. I decided to go local and try the sea salt gelato, it was surprisingly good. We spent a few hours exploring the town before going back to camp to get ready for Sunday’s paddle. (see previous post)

~ Jeff