Where WhimSea Takes Us

Posted by Karen A. Brown

0630 and we were heading out for the Apostle’s. We had a three day weekend and expect to spend one day sailing there, one sailing home and one in exploration in between. We had perfect weather and wind for a run straight there.

There wasn’t a lot of traffic though it is notable that as we were coming down river we did encounter a bear! It was either fishing or considering a run across the river to McClough Island. When we got too close it turned back to the relative safety of the mainland. It is sort of funny because Troy though we’d come on a stray dog. Because they dredge the channel it’s hard to guess how deep the other areas are and therefore difficult to judge the size of an animal that you see there. But when it turned around and loped back to the brush you could tell that it was moving in a decidedly un-doglike way.

We left through the Duluth entry and since we were to be favored with a fine wind for a straight run up, we shaped a course that would allow us to round Sand well away from the rocks and were on our way.

We made amazingly good time with a speed of around 5-6 knits, sometimes higher and sometimes lower. As we got close enough to make our Bark point w could see a number of sails as they exited the Siskiwit Bay marina on their way to the islands. And once again, the race was on. Troy was pretty determined to try and catch them and he did all he could, trimming sails, looking at them with binoculars to determine if they had different wind and just all around fretting over the fact that they other boats were pulling away.

What we didn’t know, but would find out soon enough, was the wind was stronger in the islands. With the direction she was blowing, the wind was being compressed round and between the islands. So, when we rounded the point by Sand’s lighthouse, we were up to 9 knots. This ended up being a blessing since Justice Bay was full and we would need to go on to the next anchorage.

Rounding York, we found it occupied and Raspberry Island as well. But, finally, our old friend Oak Island proved to have room enough for us as no one had yet taken refuge there.

By the time we anchored and got all snugged down and were eating dinner it was around 1830 hours. Exactly 12 hours from the time we left. We ended the day with a leisurely evening topside watching the deer and the sunset and enjoying a couple of beers.

We slept in on Sunday morning since I had taken Monday off of work. Our plan (the night before) had been to spend the day on Oak exploring and hiking, as well as a little relaxation. Unfortunately, the wind was turning slightly making the chop in our little harbor much more pronounced and it was decided that we would need to move to another anchorage. We pulled up anchor and were off.

Coming out of the lee of the island proved the wind to be greater then originally surmised. Large rollers and white caps topped the experience. Given that Raspberry has a good anchorage with excellent holding and protection, that became our next destination.

As we were coming in to anchor the oddest thing happened. It may not sound odd, but given the job of the captain it is. As we were coming in to the anchorage an island cruise boat came along the point and headed for the exact same destination. Clearly, they had dropped their charges at the lighthouse dock and found waiting there to be untenable and decided to wait on the other side of the island.

What is peculiar about the whole thing, is the boat swept in front of our bow, came in and dropped anchor in the exact location we were clearly motoring towards. Even though we had the right of way and would obviously be staying longer then they. That is what was so odd. Someone who’s entire job was being a captain so clearly and with such disregard ignoring the rules of the road. Unbelievable.

Lucky for us the sailboat to the port side of our destination was heaving their anchor so we adjusted course and settled in there instead.

Meaning to take a tour of the lighthouse, we piled into WhimC and Troy rowed us to shore. Luckily we got there in one piece I nearly capsized us on entering the dinghy. A trek up the beach to the pathway and an extremely diverse ¾ mile hike later and we were at the lighthouse. The trail to the lighthouse goes past the sandspit on the windward side of the island and up and down some hills where step like areas were cut into the surrounding vegetation. The forest is somewhat dense with the smell of the trees, the rot, the vegetation and not much else save for the occasional chipmunk or bird. Raspberry Island is rather small and can’t support a population of deer or bear like Oak can.

We arrived at the lighthouse’s clearing as the tour boat was loading up its passengers, leaving us, the ranger and a kayaker. We learned later from the ranger that the lady on the kayak is a doctor that needed to get back to Little Sand Bay. She had ducked into the bay on Raspberry when she found it too difficult to cross to the mainland in the wind and waves. The kayaker left shortly after we arrived. We had the lighthouse, and its keeper all to ourselves for a private tour. The lighthouse keeper obviously really liked his job and loved the lighthouse itself. He told us stories about how keepers socialized and visited each other for blueberry picking and suck. We got to walk through all of the rooms, including the tower. We saw this amazing staircase that was floating – or appeared to be since there weren’t any support beams holding it in place. We were even able to climb out on the widow’s perch, or ledge, that surrounds the light. I don’t know if that’s what the space is actually called, but it reminded me of a widow’s walk that you see on old homes on the Eastern Seaboard.

We also learned a lot about the trouble the area had been having with bears. As it is not surprising, many of them have been coming closer and closer to people. And people are getting dumber and dumber. Apparently, they think that bears can’t swim and that they appear by magic on the islands and figure they don’t have to tie up their food. Silly humans.

It seems a bear (this was last year) got into someone’s stash of vodka and chocolate and went a bit mad. The park ended up putting that bear down and calling in some Bear Expert (Whom the rangers referred to as the “Bear Whisperer&#8221. This guy was able to convince the park that simply relocating the bears wasn’t the answer. Since bears are territorial another bear would surely discover the newly available territory and move in. It makes sense if you ask me.

So the park has had to discover an alternate plan. They’re going to try and retrain the bears, through the use of dominance methods. Teach the bears that they don’t want to be where the people are. They’ll also increase people education. Unfortunately, I think the bears are probably smarter then people. Some people never learn.

After that rather informative visit with the park ranger, we trekked the ¾ mile back to the beach and returned to the boat for some supplies; camp chairs, snacks, drinks, the necessities. We then set about wasting away the afternoon with bird and boat watching. We ended the evening on deck of the WhimSea with a beer or two and a gorgeous sunset (at least until it disappeared behind the island).

On Monday we woke bright and early, determined to return to Duluth under sail. Alas, Mother Nature once again conspired against us, throwing wind, rain squalls and bad direction at us. We ended up motoring home from north of Two Harbors under the protection of the lee of Minnesota.

We are now thinking more and more of moving to the Knife River Marina (if there’s room). The wind seems to be perpetually from Duluth on the days we are returning and the added hour up the river is expensive in fuel and engine hours. Knife River would also make an excellent kick off point to Corny, the Apostle’s, Silver Bay… as well as turn Duluth into a place to visit for a quick sail with multiple marina destinations as well as anchorage possibilities.