On our way to visit friends in Hayward WI we realized the Apostle Islands were not far off our path (and looked SO COOL!!!). So, of course, we decided to swing by for a few days and explore the sea caves.
The Apostle Islands are near the town of Bayfield which was definitely winding down for the season. This worked to our advantage as it allowed us to snag a sweet campsite at Dalrymple Park for two nights with a view of Lake Superior. #winner
The Sea Caves (attempt #1)
As our objective was to explore the sea caves, we booked a kayaking tour for the following day. But unfortunately our tour was cancelled due to high winds.
The strange thing about this was that the person telling us not to kayak was located in Florida. And there were other groups heading out. And it wasn’t really windy at all.
Due to the strange cancellation our tour guide (Eli) felt bad, and instead took us out to see the Red Cliffs. Which were quite awesome!
The water on this side of the lake was super calm and it was a really fun afternoon of paddling. The Cliffs were neat and you were actually able to kayak under a few of them!
Along the way we passed over an old steamboat wreck. It’s is so close to the surface of the water you can reach down and touch it! That was super cool! And on the return paddle the water was even more clear so we could paddle up and down the main frame of the boat.
After the paddle we kept in touch with our guide Eli to see if we could get out to the sea caves the following day. With his help and some research we discovered a different company that was confident in getting out to the caves.
The Sea Caves (attempt #2)
Before heading out we did brief half day of work prior to meeting up with our new guides for the sea cave tour. They gave us a not so brief safety lesson and we were off!
This time there were some definite waves on the lake! Nothing too scary, but it did make for quite an adventure! And WAY bigger than the day before when we were sidelined. There were even people on the tour that were taking Dramamine, if that tells you anything…
The caves were really neat, but unfortunately due to the wind and waves we were unable to explore them as much as would have been awesome. But we were able to kayak into a few notches and through a sea arch, so not all was lost!
While we were happy we made the side trip to the Apostle Islands I think there was a lot more to see around the caves and the area in general. We will definitely have to head back sometime to explore more. And would recommend that you do so as well!
Links for planing your trip
- Trek & Trail for kayaking tours (that actually went out)
- Dalrymple Park is where we camped
If you have any questions about planning our anything else just let us know.