Sailing Superior First Trip To The Apostle Islands

My first trip to the Apostle Islands was an overnight at Stockton Island. Stockton Island is one of the more popular islands for many apparent reasons, its large sand beaches attract many swimmers, there's many diverse hiking trails and finally its concentration of wildlife (most notably black bears) brings boaters and campers from all over.


We arrived at Pikes Bay Marina late Friday night and slept on the sailboat. We were going with a couple of my dad's friends from work. Their boat was a Tartan 34' nicely outfitted for cruising these islands. After waking up early Saturday morning we went out for breakfast and provisions. After loading the boat up we headed out towards the island. I got to take the helm first, we motored for a little while and covered some basic things about the area and the boat.


After heading northeast for some time we talked about the different islands and what their history was. Most of the Apostle Islands had been clear cut. As we passed Hermit Island we were told that it was closed to camping due to a situation involving campers and black bears..




We finally got some wind and were able to raise the main sail. We had about 8 knots of wind and so we flew a spinnaker for a bit but eventually lost all wind and had to motor the remainder to our anchorage. I had never experienced sailing a boat this large for any length of time like that and it did a lot to help my confidence. I once took the helm of a 53' schooner in the Bahamas but wasn't able to really get a lot of time in.


We anchored in Presque Isle Bay and broke out a good sweat getting everything set. We were getting ready to head towards the small harbor in the bay and I felt the water - surprisingly warm considering it was Lake Superior! Next thing I knew everyone had talked me into jumping from the cabin top into the water. It gave me a great opportunity to check out my new waterproof Olympus 850 SW camera. Here's a shot of the boats keel, the water was remarkably clear.


We took the dinghy in to explore the island. We found many different colors of mushrooms: purple, blue, pink, red, yellow. There was an amazing variety of plants along the trails. I've heard from a few different sources that there are more black bears on this island than on any of the other islands in the Apostle cluster. In fact Stockton Island has the highest concentration of black bears anywhere in North America.





After a quick hike around Presque Isle Point we headed back to the boat. A few more boats had shown up while we were gone. By the end of the night there were well over 25 boats anchored out in the bay with us. We started up the grill and sat back with a few beers to enjoy scenery. After finishing up the steaks and a few more beers we watched a picturesque sunset:




We awoke the next morning to pea soup.. not for breakfast, just the fog - we couldn't see very far. Everyone had to work the following day so we pulled up the anchor and headed for Bayfield. Well, we really just followed people for a while. Next thing I know they're asking for my hat. I had no idea why at first. They wanted Bayfield's coordinates off my hat. Who would have thought that would ever come in handy.


After getting back to Bayfield we saw a helicopter. You can read about the story here: Traverse City Coast Guard Helicopter Airlifts Man