Lake Superior - Apostle Islands

 

The Apostle Islands are a 22-island chain formed by ice, wind and waves.  Sandstone cliffs, sea caves, windows and arches, sea stacks, beaches – all  surrounded by the cold, blue water of Lake Superior.  Fishing, quarrying and lumbering were major industries here in days gone by.  For centuries the Ojibwe have fished this area of Lake Superior. The great Chicago fire of 1871 spurred demand for sandstone building materials quarried first on Basswood Island and then on Hermit and Stockton.  Logging decimated the forests of white pine and hemlock; while logging here ended half a century ago the forests are still in varying stages of recovery.  Now these islands are viewed less as a source of raw materials and more as a resource for recreation.  But over and over again, you will hear “the big lake is the boss.”  Careful planning and attention to the weather are paramount to exploring these islands.

The Apostle Island National Lakeshore, established in 1970, comprises 21 of the 22 Apostle Islands.  (Madeline Island, the largest of them, is open to commercial development and private ownership.)  It is believed that the name Apostles came into being in the late 1600’s due to the erroneous belief that there were only twelve islands – the French missionaries then named the islands after the Twelve Apostles.  The islands have been renamed several times over the years since then and none of them has retained the name of an apostle.

Approaching Madeline Island

On July 27^th we left Ontonagon and spent seven hours cruising to Madeline Island Yacht Club.  It was a gorgeous day for cruising but way too long.  We have had Lake Superior pretty much to ourselves and we would welcome more camaraderie at this point.  We hear that the Apostle Islands area has more boats per square mile than any other area on Lake Superior.  We shall see.

Mooningwanekaaning - Home of the Golden Breasted Woodpecker - is the island's Ojibwe name.

We had heard a lot of talk about Tom’s Burn’d Down Café in La Pointe, the only town on Madeline Island.  So of course we had to go there.  After partaking in the Thursday evening community pizza party at ArtBar, we went across the street to Tom’s, an open air bar reminiscent of the Florida Keys. 

 

Tom's Burn'd Down Café

 

Leona was a woman of the 1950’s who wanted to get away from it all.  What better place to chose than Madeline Island.  In the winter, Lake Superior between mainland Wisconsin and Madeline Island freezes over and an ice roadway links the two – it is even maintained by the state of Wisconsin!  Leona opened her beer bar and dance hall here catering to  summer tourists, winter hunters, snow mobilers, and dog sledders.  In the late 1980’s, Leona called it quits.  Enter Tom and his partners who wanted to preserve Leona’s and its legends. They loaded the buildings onto sleds and moved them closer to the ferry dock and spent seven cold months renovating.  Within days of opening, the place burned to the ground!  But the beer delivery truck showed up as scheduled and Tom turned the trunk of his 1978 Impala into a new home for two kegs of beer.  He was open for business. 

 

Improvements over the years have included chairs and tables scavenged from the local dump and a tarp for the roof.  The floor and half walls are a patchwork of plywood, traffic signs and old license plates. The half walls are covered with witty observations of life.  The bar patrons the day of our visit were an eclectic bunch.  An assortment of friendly dogs were sprawled around the bar, some youngsters flopped around the makeshift stage, and behind us at a rickety table a young gal with a nose ring munching a pizza was getting a tattoo!?!?

Our membership in the Great Lakes Cruising Club got us a free night of dockage at the Madeline Island Yacht Club and we happily stayed a second day.  Hopping on our bikes we pedaled six miles to Big Bay State Park.  At Big Bay Point we had a nice view of Lake Superior.

At Big Bay State Park

 

 

Prior to our Lake Superior excursion, we joined the Great Lakes Cruisers Club and listened to several of their podcasts on cruising this big lake.  One of the questions they addressed was, “Can you swim in Lake Superior?”  The answer was,  “Yes you can, but you won’t like it!”  Well, Frank tried jumping in a few times and he didn’t like it!  The top 12 inches or so is a toasty 65⁰ but below that it is even much cooler.  (I noticed that the anchor was quite chilled on mornings when we left an anchorage.) However, the cold water temperatures do not deter all swimmers on the lake.

 

The Captain takes a quick dip in Lake Superior

 

 

The morning of July 29^th marked the start of the 11^th  annual Pointe to LaPointe Open Water Swim.  This 2.1 mile swim from Bayfield on the mainland of Wisconsin to LaPointe on Madeline Island follows the route of the winter ice road.  From a modest field of 24 people in 2006, this fundraiser has swelled to 400+ hearty souls clad in wetsuits who brave the chilly waters of Lake Superior.  The NOAA weather forecast noted that the surface temperature of the lake ranged from 55⁰ to 68⁰.   By the time we left Madeline Island Yacht Club and cruised through the North Channel there were only a few swimmers still in the water but plenty of standup paddle boarders, kayakers and Cost Guard boats were on duty to protect and monitor the remaining swimmers.  The best finishing times for men were posted at 45+ minutes and for women 47+ minutes.

Cruising the Apostle Islands

 

 

We continued our cruise through the North and West Channels passing the islands of Basswood, Oak, Stockton and Otter.  All the islands appear thickly forested just like the rest of the Lake Superior shoreline with the exception of the spectacular Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore looks to be a good cruising area but I am spoiled – I am awaiting more spectacular landscapes to appear to make the trek worthwhile.

Successful anchoring off Rocky Island

 

Our dinner companions off Rocky Island

 

After a calm clear night at anchor off Rocky Island it was time to hoist the anchor and move on to further explore the surrounding islands. We made our way to the bow to remove the snubber and lo and behold, the windlass failed to spring to life.  This was no time for the windlass to be out of commission as we had laid out 150 feet of anchor chain! 

The captain went below to check on several things in the engine room and at the electrical panel.  After awhile he found, to his great dismay, that the number 1 house battery that powers the windlass (among other things) was dead.  The great thing about traveling with a captain who is a SUNY Maritime “Domer” is that he never lets these mechanical/electrical boat issues stop us.  He just keeps muddling through until he comes up with a workable plan.  And I know enough to stay out of his way during that process.  By 10:45 he had come up with a solution to bypass the dead number 1 house battery and energize the windlass with the number 2 house battery.  We were on our way.

After some debate it was decided that we could anchor out one more day before having to get to a marina and replace the house batteries.  So we cruised north to Devil’s Island where the scenery was touted as spectacular.  It did not disappoint!

The Devil's Island Lighthouse on the north shore of the island was a popular place for sightseeing.  We hadn't seen this many boats on the water since Pictured Rocks!

Devil’s Island is the northernmost of the Apostle Islands.  To the earliest Indian inhabitants, the island seemed to possess supernatural powers and the name they gave it meant ‘Island of Evil Spirit.’  The island’s north shore is exposed to the wrath of the winter storms of Lake Superior and its sandstone shoreline is carved with intricate sea caves and arches.

Sea caves along Devil's Island

 

 

Island Princess cruises past Devil's Island Light

That night we boldly anchored in Raspberry Bay and hoped that the windlass would not fail us the next morning.    The guide books suggested that this anchorage would be quite crowded with weekend boaters.  Not so!  By nightfall only two sailboats had joined us there.

We had spent three days without internet or phone access!  Our only means of checking for weather updates was NOAA weather radio.  All reports indicated that Monday, July 31^st was ‘a go’ for making the 54-mile cruise to the twin port cities of Superior, Wisconsin/Duluth, Minnesota. With light southwest wind, the waves were expected to be calm. 

That morning the windlass worked flawlessly and, with the anchor securely stowed, we were on our way by 6:40AM.  We rounded Sand Island and headed west.  It was a great day for cruising.

Built in 1881, the Sand Island Lighthouse was constructed of locally quarried sandstone.

 We encountered no boat traffic along the way until we were about 14 miles from Duluth.  The heavily-loaded laker Burns Harbor was heading east on Lake Superior.

Burns Harbor