Woke to a beautiful, calm morning, let’s hope that the rest of the day (at least during the boat ride) continued to be nice. Arrived back in Bayfield by 9am, we had to be at the waiting area on the dock by 9:30, but we knew parking would be a problem - something that the town of Bayfield really needs to address. Dave found a spot where we would not be ticketed, we got into line by 9:10 - other people had already started lining up. Glad we were early.
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| Our boat ride for next 3 hours, top deck, seated by flag in back |
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| Pink line is our route around the islands |
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| 3rd boat in from end dock, with dinghy on back - is that our Windows??? |
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| And we are off, Bayfield sits above waterfront |
Boarded the boat and decided to go on the top deck, in the back where we could easily stand up and not block other people’s views when we wanted to take pictures. Also, we were by the speaker so when the captain would talk, we could hear it without noise of the engines.
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| Don't realize how big the area is until you are on a boat, island after island |
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| Remains of sandstone quarry |
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| Rugged shoreline |
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| Sea Stacks |
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| Fish camp |
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| Many islands have large sandy beaches |
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| And some have boat houses - for park service use |
Boat left the town dock at 10am, and the first island we passed - the largest, was Madeline Island. Not part of the National Park, it has over 100 residents full-time, which disqualifies it to be protected. Saw some bald eagles flying about, ducks, cormorants, and learned that there is a large population of bears living on the islands. In winter while the body of Lake Superior does not freeze, the water around the islands do. Ice thick enough to drive a car on. Sorta reminded us of the islands on Lake Erie where in cold winters and the lake freezing, cars drive out on the ice and set up for ice fishing.
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| Devil's Island visitor's kayak beach |
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| To get an idea of how large (small) caves are |
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| Some caves go in 5 feet |
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| Water depth is about 12 to 15 feet deep here |
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| Captain was able to bring in boat to within 1 foot of bank here |
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| Devil's Island lighthouse above |
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| Very impressive |
Passed Madeline, Basswood, Hermit, Oak, Manitou, Otter, Bear, Stockton, and up around Devil’s Island, back around the other side of Bear Island to Raspberry Island, then hugged the mainland back to Bayfield. We were in calm waters for the most part until we got to Devil’s Island where we were in the open waters of Lake Superior. Definitely felt the coldness of the water and also the chop picked up.
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| First glimpse of Raspberry Island Lighthouse |
Highlights of the boat ride were seeing eagles, sea stacks, a quarry where sandstone that was mined from there was used to help rebuild Chicago after their great fire, a fish camp, then the best - the sea caves of Devil’s Island. That was very impressive. 2 lighthouses were also viewed on the trip. During the tour the captain provided many stories, legends from the Ojibwa (Cherokee) Indians, fishing tales, and one about the Outer Island work boat. We did get to see this legendary boat in use as it traveled by us, on it's way to Raspberry Island's light house, used during the Normany Invasion of World War II, and about the ice road that is maintained from Madeline Island to Bayfield in the winter. And about the 2 story house that a Madeline Island resident tried to take over on a trailer and sank.
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| Commercial fishing boat coming back in with catch |
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| Work vessels Outer Islands |
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| Lots of kayakers |
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| And sailors |
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| Group lined up for the 2pm 'grand tour' ride |
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| US Army - NOAA boat and US Coast Guard in |
After the boat ride we walked over to the free maritime museum about 2 blocks from where we caught the boat. We learned more info on the ice roads, the Outer Island work vessel, the shipwrecks of the area, and fishing industry. Nice museum.
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| Kinda like an airboat of the Everglades |
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| The 2 story house that attempted to cross on the ice road |
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| We saw the Outer Island on the water earlier |
Great day on the water. After we got back to the RV, we were treated to another beautiful sunset. People had come to the beach behind us swimming, built campfires, set off fireworks. How fitting for a perfect day. An ah-hah happened while we were waiting on the boat to take off from the marina. We saw our sailboat at one of the docks. Not ours, but one just like it.
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| Last night's sunset - North Shore in the distance |
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