Kayaking the Apostle Islands Lake Caves

We had explored the area around the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore back in 2018. While we were invited on a delightful private boat ride around the islands that trip, we left without experiencing the lake caves that are famous in this area

Kayaking through those sea caves had been on our bucket list ever since. 

When we were brainstorming family vacation ideas for this summer, it seemed like a great option.

After seeing a few pictures like the ones we have already posted, both of our sons and their families agreed to meet on the southern shores of Lake Superior in late July to kayak (and do other fun things) together.

There are two main options for sea kayaking the Apostle Island sea caves, and we first had to decide which option to try. 

One is to meet a kayaking outfitter at the national lake shore beach on the mainland. They provide a kayak and all the equipment you need. You launch from Meyer's Beach, and it's a bit of a paddling journey to get to some sea caves. The highlight is going up the narrow chasm on the mainland. On another day we took this picture of a group doing that tour.

But we opted for what is rumored to be the very best caves on Lake Superior. Our trip took us to one of the Apostle Islands--Devil's Island.

So instead of meeting at the beach, we met our outfitter at the marina in the town of Bayfield. They handed out our life jackets, and sea kayak skirts like the one our granddaughter was holding.

Our grandson, Eli, is only five--the youngest age allowed on this trip.

We were geared up with sun protection clothing and sun screen, because we're going to be on the water for a while. Jamie also gave us matching sea-worthy French braids this morning.

Then we boarded the boat for an hour's sail to Devil's Island.

Quite a few companies provide boat tours around this set of islands that make up the Apostle Island National Park. You would expect there to be 12 apostle islands, but there are actually 22. Our boat captain pointed out the names of islands that we passed on our voyage.

We were surprised to see children younger than Eli on the boat. Later we found out that the mothers of small children in those families stayed on the boat with the babies instead of kayaking. Sorry, but that does not sound like a fun time.

While the front of our boat was for passengers, the back was stacked high with kayaks. There was also a little spot out back for pictures as we traveled.

When our boat arrived at Devil's Island, they split the kayakers into four groups. We were group #3. After groups 1 and 2 were loaded into their kayaks, it was our turn to put on our kayaking skirts and get ready to embark on an epic float trip.

We had two passengers per sea kayak, so we divided our group into four boats. Our son Blake and his wife Jamie were in one kayak.

Our son Luke and his son Eli were in one boat.

Our daughter-in-law Jordan and our granddaughter Carter were in one boat.

Because we had multiple cameras taking pictures, we even got a picture of Mark and Denisa in the last boat. Well, at least we got a picture of Mark's hat and Denisa.

It was a short paddle from the boat to get to the edge of Devil's Island.

It wasn't long before we entered our first cave.

The water was clear and cold, and it was beautiful inside!

The caves can be quite deep, and we followed each other through the slots.

Sometimes the caves got a little narrow . . .

and sometimes a six-foot guy might hit his head on the ceiling of a cave.

We did a little paddling to get to the next set of caves, but it was still lovely next to that rocky shore.

We booked the kayaking for the first full day of this trip, because it is very weather-dependent. You could be very miserable if it was raining all day. Sometimes they have to cancel a trip because of storms that would make it dangerous to be out on this great lake.

When we pulled up to Devil's Island, the boat captain said that this was the calmest he has seen the water in a month. We were so blessed!

With high waves, it would have been too dangerous to enter many of the caves. But today was beautiful and we got to experience all of them!

You might wonder if this was a good activity for children. That smile on Carter's face might be a good indication that she was having a really good time.

She's eight years old, and she enjoyed paddling and being the guide for her kayak.

Likewise, five-year-old Eli had a great time.

While he wasn't trusted with a paddle, he used his arms to point the way he wanted his kayak to go.

He seemed to always be pointing towards the smallest cave routes.

He wasn't sure if he was going to fit through this cave opening.

But he had a big smile when he made it through and saw the next room in the cave!

But will Dad be able to make it through that tiny opening?

We saw another big triumphant smile!

While leaning forward can work, Mark also tried the leaning back approach to tight openings.

Many of the caves were big, with multiple openings and multiple routes. Our four kayaks liked to spread out instead of staying in a single line.

Have we mentioned how blessed we were to be wandering another of God's wonders?

Sometimes we would enter through a small entrance in a new cave . . .

to find that it opened up into a grand cave. This one was as big as a ball room, with teal green carpeted water and a moss green ceiling.

For this couple, it was a beautiful place to celebrate an upcoming first anniversary.

The weather outside of the caves got increasingly foggy, and we missed out on getting some beautiful blue sky pictures.

We saw one of the tour boats going by. While this is one way to experience the caves from a distance, we would definitely recommend a kayak trip that allows you to enter the caves.

We found that the vibrant colors of the cave walls still photographed well even in the fog.

Speaking of photographing, we learned some things. Mark didn't know whether to trust Denisa with the camera at first, so he was taking pictures from the back of the boat. But that meant that Denisa was front and center in all the pictures.

Even if you take pictures from the side, she's still taking up valuable picture space.

Who wants to see pictures of the back of Denisa's life jacket all the time?

Or who wants to see her silhouette?

So we figured out that it was better to trust Denisa with the camera to take pictures from the front of the boat. She is proud to say she didn't drop the camera in the lake even once!

But taking pictures from the front seat of a long-nosed sea kayak means that every picture has a neon green kayak nose in it. 

If you haven't used the scrubbing option to remove unwanted things or people in your pictures, you're missing out! Denisa is now very practiced at scrubbing out the front of our boat in all these pictures. It's magical!

The good news is that we didn't have to scrub out other boats. By dividing us into groups, we never had boats that weren't in our family group.

Can you imagine this picture with a neon yellow boat nose in it?

Another option for photographing this epic trip is to take pictures of the beautiful rock formations that make up the coast line of Devil's Island--without any kayaks in the picture. 

But Denisa much preferred that dramatic coastline with some of her favorite people kayaking in it.

Besides being so cute, they also give scale to the size of the rock formations.

If we were on this trip by ourselves, we would have taken lots of pictures of the nose of our kayak going through tiny openings.

But isn't it more fun to watch our loved ones working to get into those tiny openings?

This is a magical cave with clear green water and a ceiling etched with the ripples of water that formed it.

But Denisa prefers seeing a familiar kayaker in that picture too.

Again, that's a dramatic picture. But don't you wonder how big it is?

It's more fun to have a family member boating through those keyholes.

The inside of caves are hard to photograph to show the depth of the layers.

But Denisa loves to see her family enjoying the different depths of that cave.

Each group had a guide, paddling single in a red kayak. He was there to keep us safe, and to educate us on the Apostle Islands. At times he would force us out of the caves and line us up to hear a few words.

These words were describing the lighthouse here on Devil's Island. There are boat tours that take tourists to see the lighthouses scattered throughout the Apostle Islands. This is one of the highlights, and we got to see it as close as possible from our kayaks.

As we paddled around the different sides of Devil's Island, the lighting changed, and the winds changed.

But we were never bored. There were always more caves and more great views ahead.

We had another group from our boat behind us, but we could never see them or the group in front of us. It was such a great experience, and we would heartily recommend our tour company--Apostle Islands Kayaking Express.

By this time, we'd been kayaking for two hours.

We were a little worried about how comfortable the kayak seats would be for that long. Remember, we're used to our comfy blow-up seats with supporting backs for long kayak trips. We're glad to say that we were so impressed with the landscape that we never felt uncomfortable.

After two hours in, this five-year-old is still enthusiastically pointing to the next tiny opening he wants to try to squeeze into.

Well, the smallest opening was just around the corner. Our guide brought us close together to tell us about the ultimate tight squeeze. He made it clear it was strictly optional, and it was pretty long and pretty low. They would definitely have to skip this on a choppy water day.

Eli had no trouble ducking into the entrance, but Luke had to bend over double to make it.

We watched as Jamie and Blake had to push down on the ceiling to get under the opening. 

Denisa got all the way in and got a cramp from trying to get low enough to fit. So we backed up our kayak, and took the scenic trip around the outside that the guide had described "just in case."

We still had more caves to explore after everyone else made it through the tight squeeze. On days when there are any waves, going that route would not be possible.

Have we mentioned how blessed we are to get to wander God's wonders in such beautiful places?!?

After two and a half hours, we can't wipe the smiles off our faces!

Everyone had a good time . . .

and Eli wants to go back that way and do it all again!

But our guide told us that it was time to paddle back to the boat and load up for the trip back to the mainland. We had to admit that some of us had a hard time standing up after sitting in that kayaking position for so long.

But we'll always remember the day we spent kayaking the Apostle Island Lake Caves!

We took hundreds of pictures that day. Even though this has already been a picture-intensive post, we have a "few" more pictures we're adding just because we wanted a place to keep them. Enjoy them if you're interested, but we understand if you're already oversaturated with the beauty of the caves.