Summer 2008 Lake Superior Cruise
01 August 2008 | Rocky Island
John
7/30/08
Rocky Island
As per our plan, we really didn't do much of anything today. After breakfast, we rowed ashore and hiked out to the sand spit on the southern end of the island. The boys tried to kick their soccer ball and Deanna and I tried to read but the biting black flies were relentless. On the way back to the boat, we noticed a sister ship to our boat had come into anchor the night before. By the time we got back to the dock, we met a nice couple traveling in small sea kayaks who told us that they liked our boat as it was just like theirs. We compared notes for awhile and asked if we could stop by later for a tour of their boat. Now this might not seem all that interesting, but to us it was as we've seen very few Beneteau 38's anywhere and have been inside only one other. After lunch, we motored over for a visit. Although there were obviously many similarities, it was interesting to see the variations particularly in the cabinetry on a boat that was only a year apart in production. Later in the evening, several other sailboats came nearby to anchor with one of them coming close enough to touch under the right circumstances. I let this go at first, but when he placed another anchor in his dinghy and rowed it towards us and dropped it less than a boatlength away, I had to say something as the wind was expected to shift to the northeast and I would surely get his line wrapped in my keel if not actually hit his boat.
He seemed genuinely surprised that I had a concern and asked me if I was going to put out another anchor. I replied that I had no plans to do so and that I had over 100' of anchor line (7:1 scope in 15' of water). Then he asked me where he should place the second anchor, to which I replied the opposite direction from us so that he could maintain some spacing. He then went to shore in his dinghy without doing anything but later did come back and move his anchor. The irony of the whole situation is that this isn't a small cove; there are literally miles of shoreline which would offer the same protection.
After dinner, we took a dingy ride to the north of the island dock and were surprised to find a number of shore homes that were still in existence and appeared to be privately maintained. All of the remaining private property on the Apostle Islands with the exception of the properties on Madeline Island are under lifetime leases so that these properties will revert to the park service upon the death of the current owner.