Kayaking in the Apostle Island Sea Caves
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In April of this year, we joined the Gear Junkie on a short trip to the Apostle Islands for their new Off the Map video series. We spent the day exploring the mainland sandstone sea caves and filming the trip. I hadn’t seen the video until today. It’s pretty sweet.
Here’s the video:
It makes the sea caves seem pretty fast paced, and I love the footage of me doing a roll. All in all it was a great way to get off the north shore and spend time with friends.
Check out my original Apostle Island trip report.
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3 Comments
William Latham
Actually saw the video yesterday. Very well done.
Chris Porter
Great video guys. As a guide in Bayfield who has lead many commercial tours in the mainland Sea Caves, I wish you had discussed some of the safety considerations of going in the Sea Caves. The biggest factor is having calm weather. Even waves of a foot or so can rebound and cause difficulties for experienced paddlers. There have been 2 fatalities and many incidents in my many years of guiding that have been caused by inexperienced paddlers attempting the sea caves in rough conditions. Also, you must learn to self rescue. Keeping yourself out of the water and in your boat is the key to survival on Lake Superior. Last but not least, having good sea kayaks with bulkheads that will keep your boat floating even if the cockpit is flooded is paramount. I see too many people in little rec boats attempting the sea caves everyday. Learn your gear, learn your techniques and learn your rescues. The Apostle Island Sea Caves can be as deadly as they are beautiful.
Bryan Hansel
Hi, Chris,
I discuss safety in depth in many articles on this website and in magazines. In fact, if you click one more article forward, you’ll see interesting discussion about what the burden is for more experienced kayakers. Just like any body of water, it can be deadly in the right conditions.
Thanks for the reminder,
Bryan
Edit: In retrospect, I think the next article really is relevant to your comment. When experienced kayakers head to a location to film a video about how cool a place is, do they have a responsibility to inform the viewer about safety issues? How many safety issues? How about for a video about hiking in the mountains? Should every video out there explain the 10 essentials, about breaking a leg? Or does every video about kayak surfing or surfing on Lake Superior need to talk specifically about the dangers of doing so? If so, then Unsalted is flawed. Or should the viewers be responsible for figuring that out on their own? Your comment raises interesting questions. Here’s a link to the article: What’s Our Burden as More Experienced Kayakers?