Day 38 Apostle Islands - Sand Island to Meyers Beach

Saturday 26th June.

So at 5.30am and after a long non interrupted sleep as it did not rain last night for a change, we were in the boats at 6am. The waves were slightly more choppy say from calm to 1ft which was definitely manageable. By carrying on round the island anti clockwise we were protected in the water from the NE wind. How typical is it we get an easterly wind when we are not on the cycles! Anyway, at the southerly most point we headed south toward the mainland which actually we found by compass and map reading as the mist and fog had set in and we could not see more than 100 feet in front of us.

A bit apprehensive we set off again as fast as we could South and when half way across we could see the mainland and the island behind us so we felt safer but tried our best to reach the mainland as quickly as possible to avoid any motor and sail boat traffic. At the mainland we followed the coast round now more relieved we could rest more as the worst bit was over. After a few more miles we reached more Sea Caves which were just as amazing but as the water was more choppy we kept our distance. We made it back to Meyers Beach at 10am after 8 miles kayaking where we were being picked up by Northland College at 3.30pm! Oh well, better to be safe than sorry.
We dried off and as we sat getting warm with a blanket the rangers lent us we watched the wind getting stronger, and the waves getting bigger with white horses getting more frequent. This means that the waves are 3 ft and more than a novice on the lake should encounter so I was well glad to be watching them from the shore! We sat chatting to Tam and Kevin the Park rangers for approx 5hours! This time actually went quite quickly and we had an interesting conversation the whole day. We even accompanied Tam on her lunch break to the local town to grab a coffee and a scone which went down really well!
We were collected by Andy on time and were dropped off at Karl’s. We want to say a massive thanks to Jess and Andy at Northland College for helping us with the amazing trip of the Apostle Islands and making it not only possible but so enjoyable, we could not had done this without you! We have not mentioned that Kris’s research in finding this contact saved us a total of nearly £500 which is incredible and it must have taken great trust for the Jess to let us take out their top quality equipment where just he boat alone was worth $4,500.
To thank Karl for putting us up again and storing all our gear we took a short trip to the beer store where we also bought a growler of Creamy Ale to have with our home cooked spaghetti dinner. Karl had ordered Kris a new rear tyre as his was bald already which had arrived while we were away, so he replaced it and carried out some bike maintenance while I have written these long (sorry) blog entries and did another overdue laundry! Dinner smells so nice wafting up the stairs! Since being on dry land we have both experienced random dizziness which the ranger said was usual after being on water for a while but it’s a bit freaky. Also, we have given our cycle legs a good rest the last few days but now our arms are aching.