ADAM HAYDOCK




Devil's Island Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

The sandstone of the Apostle Islands were deposited during the late Precambrian era, about one billion years ago, and form the basement rock for all the islands. The upper and lower layers are in the Precambrian Bayfield Group and were deposited by streams. The Devils Island Formation, between the sandstones, shows how sand-flats that were covered by shallow ponded water.  Terraces, wave-cut benches, and elevated beaches show evidence of higher levels of Lake Superior. High bluffs and glacial drift erode to provide sand for today's sandspits and cuspate forelands. The Apostles were glaciated repeatedly, with the most recent glaciation was by the Vanders Ice Lobe approximately 12,000 years ago. Following these extreme periods of rising lake levels controlled by land rebound, the Apostles were separated from the peninsula to form the archipelago. Above the bedrock there are regionally rare habitats that exist in the lakeshore. These habitats include old growth forests.

We loaded the kayak and set out by heading northeast toward Raspberry Island than to make the crossing to Oak Island which is where the first campsite was located.  The wind was with us as we paddled over 1 and 2 ft. waves aiming right for the lighthouse on Raspberry Island.  It was an adjustment that we had to go through to prepare ourselves with being on the water for 5 days but working as a team, we were able to make it to the first stop on the beach of Raspberry Island

Raspberry Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 Thankfully the waters started to lay down for us especially when we rounded the bend of the island so it went from 2ft. waves to calm conditions. 

Raspberry Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 It was delightful to see the calm waters and enjoy the sun before setting a course for Oak Island where the first campsite was.


Trail to the overlook point on Oak Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 After making the hike up to the opening, we were able to see just about every island on our route which was a bit of foresight into our future as we overlooked our journey for the following day.

At the overlook look out towards Raspberry Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 We started back to camp before dark and encountered some interesting mushrooms and fern plants growing right next to the trail

Mushrooms growing on Oak Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Small interesting ferns on Oak Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Once we reached camp and had dinner, it was lights out for us as driving through the night and getting a couple hours of car sleep along with a kayak rescue class and kayaking out to oak island from sand point made for a long day.  We decided to gets lots of rest so we could wake up early and get back on the water.

Oak Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

We woke up the following day and decided to head out to Manitou Island and go counter clockwise to reach various islands along the way. 


Manitou Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

We made our crossing over to Manitou Island and noticed a little settlement which was set up next to a dock.  We docked the kayak and walked around the cabins which had a display of items used over 100 years ago.


Settlement house Manitou Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Settlement house Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 After walking around a bit and taking a break from paddling we got back on the water and went around the leeward side of the island to avoid the wind and waves which allowed us to have calm conditions on the water.  We noticed the large Stockton Island to our right but figured that we would not have enough time to check that island out.

Looking back at Oak Island from Manitou Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 We continued around and up Manitou island until we got to sea cave to take the kayak into which was fun.  Afterwards we stopped on a bunch of rocks and had lunch while enjoying the island views and the super cold 45 degree water we jumped into.

Manitou Island Sea Cave Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 It was a beautiful day and we couldn't have asked for better conditions on the lake.  The islands also created a barrier of sorts that wouldn't allow the light winds to pick up waves enough to create rough seas as the waves would break on another island before gathering momentum.

taking a break on Manitou Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

After lunch we made a B line towards Ironwood Island which was another island that had  similar features as the other islands without the sea caves we have encountered.  After that, we set a course for the south west section of Ironwood Island so we could make our next crossing over to South Twin Island.

Ironwood Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

 We set our course and made it over to South Twin Island for some relaxation and another meal to ensure we are staying energized on this kayak trip.  Rocky Island is right next to South Twin which made for super calm water conditions on this warm sunny day

South Twin Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Just to the west of us Rocky Island acted as a barrier to South Twin Island which made conditions even more enjoyable.

South Twin Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

South Twin Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

After South Twin, we set a course for Otter Island passing right along Rocky Island on the way.  We wanted to make sure we stayed away from Otter Islands shore as there is a summer restriction to help protect the birds.

Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Devils Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Bear Island looking at devils island on Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Old boat on Bear Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

At times walking through the woods you could hear the mosquito's along with smelling the fresh pine.

Bear Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

After swimming through the Sea Caverns near the shore bay of Bear Island we got back on the kayak for what will be one of the longest days of Kayaking we have ever done.   We set a course by going north on the east side of Bear Island to cross over to York Island.  The sea caves on the north side of Bear Island were also pretty interesting to check out.

Bear Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

They were not as plentiful as they were on Devil's Island but they had their own unique twist to them.


Bear Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

After reaching our point on Bear Island it was time to make a B line to York Island which is a small island near the mainland.  This Island crossing had the last large exposed crossing of the trip and the conditions were warm and calm on Lake Superior.  The Lake was mysteriously calm on this trip.



York Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

Sand Island is near the mainland so companies take people out on half day trips to see these sea caves which caused some traffic backups here and there but soon enough cleared up for us to go through.  Once they worked themselves through we were able to take our time and meander through these beautiful Sea Caves.

Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

The Sandstone was a bit different on sand island as it was more of a monotone red in the majority the features but with spots of a cream color white embedded with the red which IMO made these sea caves different than the other ones on Apostle Islands.

Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

In some sections of the sea caves, we were able to stay connected and continuously weave through the honeycomb caverns which seem to connect to one another. 

Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

We stopped for a bit to get out and swim around through the sea caves and continue to take close up pictures of these features while the occasional kayaker came by wondering if we were OK.



Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

when we got into the cavern, the stratified rock appeared to have different colors of reds and basalt stones embedded into the sandstone depicting ancient lava activity as described from previous research on the region.


Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

I was amazed to see these rock formations and how they seem to be comparable to Utah slot canyon and Arch formations.  The waters were still a brisk 45 degrees but the wetsuits that we had on helped out a lot.

Sand Island Apostle Islands National Lake shore

After working our way from the sea caves, we headed south to the tip of Sand Island and made our last crossing to the mainland.  The winds were with us and after another hour we made it to the mainland shore line.  Now we had the task of kayaking to the Cornucopia's before the thunderstorm.  Across the lake the clouds started to look dim and the sun began to disappear behind the cloud front which was slowly brewing a thunderstorm. We took a break and headed south down the mainland shore line for a few miles until we started to get to the mainland sea caves.


mainland Sea Caves  Apostle Islands National Lake shore

We passed by a series of tall cliffs containing some sea caves until we got to a bay with the famous balancing rock

Mainland Sea Caves Apostle Islands National Lake shore

We continued down the mainland sea caves section and some of the sea caves started to become more familiar as I have been here in the past and remember going through this section.

Mainland Sea Caves Apostle Islands National Lake shore

The clouds started to creep a bit closer but we were making progress while enjoying our glide down the shore cliffs.  Kayaking through some of the water worked arch formations and admiring the dug out caverns appear to be a work in progress as debris from above came rolling down at times. The hanging gardens, moss, tell me that this place is still active especially when the waves are strong and ice is abound.
We continued to work through and under natural bridges as we started to wrap up the end of the trip and make our last push across the bay
As the sea caves started to end the winds picked up and the thunderstorm was starting to gain some momentum.  I saw lightening strike across the lake and knew we had to make a push for the last point if we wanted to make it off the water in time.


We paddled and pushed hard to get across the last bay and onto the tip where cornucopia's take out was located.  Initially, we were going to be picked up at Little Sand bay on Sunday but we finished our route and even took on more to get to where we are now so we could enjoy some of the other features Michigan had like the lake in the clouds, different waterfalls, and the superior trail. We bend around the last section and our destination is in site. The waves started to develop and we soon found ourselves into the wind with 1s and 2s at 1 to 2 sec troughs. The rain can be seen falling out on the lake from a distance but that distance was shrinking as the storm moved closer to us.  The shoreline became more defined and eventually we made it to the harbor and break the shoreline just as it started to rain.  In a matter of two in a half days we traveled 56 miles, hiked 5 miles, and visited 11 islands with a tandem kayak.  That was a great workout and a nice adventure on the great lakes.  We were amazed to see how pleasant the conditions were for us and how we just barely missed the clouds and the thunderstorms.  The following day they had 2-4 ft waves and thunderstorms in the area so we were lucky to finish when we did.


 APOSTLE ISLANDS MORE PICS: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645156849528/

WISCONSIN WATERFALLS: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157633351859726/


SHIPWRECKS OF THE APOSTLE ISLANDS: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157633273034234/

The last dive of the trip took us to the Middle Island Sinkholes just north of Alpena Michigan.  I was telling the other divers about this one and that how I was absolutely fascinated with this oddity as the bottom floor is carpeted with a bacteria that thrives off of digesting sulfur and not from the typical offerings lake Huron usually has for its plants, fish, and bacteria. The bacteria itself is maroon in color and survives utilizing a chemosynthesis process instead of other more common processes like photosynthesis

The Karst region and the underwater sinkhole itself is an interesting site as it has spring water coming from deep inside the earth which might provide some evidence of life existing deep inside the earths crust.  This and other sinkholes in the area have these purple bacteria mats believed to be some of the early forms of life on our planet and are studied by NOAA and NASA to learn about how life on other planets might exist.  The reasoning behind this is that the existence of these bacteria mats survive off of the no oxygen high-sulfur content solution at the bottom of this sinkhole. These Extremaphiles have been noted in the mariana trench some 30,000 ft underwater, under a mile of ice in antartic lakes, and here in Lake Hurons Karst region.  The Karst region has been dated back to around 400 million years that started from sediment deposits which formed these karst formations that are enbedded in this region presently. This ultimately has included the existence of the bright yellow sulfur water at the bottom of the sinkhole. There is a lot of these purple cyanobacterical mats that limit themselves to growing within the groundwater re surging from underground and thrive by a chemosynthesis process.

This is my second time visiting the Middle island Sinkhole and I wanted to check out the bed plane section along with taking the other divers to the sink where the yellow sulfur water is located.   As we descend down to a depth of 70 ft we reach the chemocline and the maroon bed planes of the bacteria come into view.

What I found even more fascinating is how the bacteria mats formed a vertical protruding feature reaching up which might be due to some sort of gas coming from the depths.

We continue up the ridge and down into some small cavern like entrances that did not go anywhere yet some of these depressions contained crystal clear yellow sulfur water with dead fish at the bottom which might have been caused by these fish swimming into the sulfur or from natural reasons and just fell into the depression area and are decaying slowly due to the no oxygen solution.

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157633283833110/

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2009/20090012.pdf


Last day of diving and most of us were looking to get back to Milwaukee and Chicago at a decent hour so we made the decision to dive the Cornelia Windiate and the sinkholes of middle island. After working through some communication challenges we set a course for the Windiate. The windiate is at 185 ft of water.  She was carrying thousands of bushels of wheat which is sealed inside the cargo holds inside the Windiate.

Shipwreck of the Cornelia Windiate

 She was bound for New York and made its final course in the ice and the challenges that the Great Lakes unrelentingly deliver.  The Windite's story is that it was thought to have perished in lake Michigan until it was discovered in the 1980s past the Straits of Mackinaw in Lake Huron. . She is Frozen in time almost perfectly in tact and yet another Ghostship with the lives of the crew that she took with her under the ice where she was delicately placed where she sit now under and at the bottom of where our charterd dive boat has stopped on this calm and sunny day

We gear up and giant stride into the water for our last day of diving. We descend down the mooring line past the drapped rigging of the masts to the usual 165ft. of depth at the deck in 37 degree water and continue to circumnavigate the windiate.

One of the first things I notice is the life boat on the side of the wreck that was never used and gives this wreck some very interesting perspective and charter to the historic ghost ships of the Great Lakes.  The steering wheel is still on the windiate which was incredible to see and very appreciated as artifacts seem to disappear from ships.

Shipwreck of the Cornelia Windiate

I continue to work to the stern and proceed down the spiral stairs into the cabin compartment below.

Spiral Stairs of the Windiate (this is not my photo) this is NOAA's photo on TBscuba.com

 My helmet lights barely light up the room but I noticed a chair and some broken pieces of wood laying around the ambient light came through the windows and for a moment in my nitrous rave party state of mind I was in from the narcosis, I thought to myself about what the captain and crew were looking at in 1875 when they looked out through these windows the last day that the windiate sailed Lake Huron.

Shipwreck of the Cornelia Windiate

I work my way outside and I look for my dive buddy as he waiting while I went I to the cabin quarters. I look to the stern look up and around and up the mooring line but I do not see him anywhere. As I started to think that he shot up to the surface I felt a tap on my shoulder And he was hovering over me the whole time!!! Haha. I was startled and relieved that nothing happened.



Shipwreck of the Cornelia Windiate

Shipwreck of the Cornelia Windiate

What I do know is that I can appreciate what the members of the crew on these wooden ships had to go up aganist with the rough winter seas on the great lakes 150 years ago with no coast guard or modern technology on their side.   They had their compass, map, and the will to survive in order to get the job done.  If the objective was to deliver grain, wood, steel, or other valuable merchandise, The blood, sweat, and tears that the crew went through to get the job done helped to build this countries foundational economy even before the Civil War started.  These engineers that developed these ships and the mariners that set sail in these conditions, helped to set that standard that we have today and these ghost ships of the great lakes are a perfect example that fairy tale happy endings are only found in some massage parlors unless you work hard at what you believe in.

FLICKR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157645331007112/

 Thunder Bay Scuba : http://tbscuba.com/ 

The next dive we did on this fine Saturday is the Shipwreck of the Typo.  The sun was trying to push through but the water continued to lay down for us allowing for glass conditions out on the lake and a nice swift ride to the wrecksite.  This wreck is resting at around 185 ft of water at the bottom of Lake Huron which was hit by another steamer and took four crew members with her along with her cargo of coal down to a depth of a 185ft.  The forward bow and top masts along with the respective rigging are all in tact with the forward bow of the typo sitting upright looking like a perfect example of what a eerie ghost ship would look like.

Shipwreck of the Typo

The dive will be our second deep dive of the day so I set my tables to 180ft. with a TDT of 41 minutes.  My total bottom time was only 15 minutes....again.  So much time, prep, money, and luck go into this and the smallest incompetency can not only ruin a dive but also put yourself at risk for injury or death....just for around 15-20 minutes to freeze and view a shipwreck, I must really like this...but do I? regardless, here we are at the pinnacle of my diving capability about to dive a second 180 ft. dive on air.  We giant stride off the boat and make our way to the mooring to descend down to the depths where the typos forward bow is resting perfectly in tact.

As we descend down into the hazy depths we get to about 110 ft and the top of the mast can be seen notating the ghostly appearance that stands suspended in water by a circular round tree log of a mast that fades away into the depths below.  As we continue to descend we start to see the foggy outline of a shipwreck becoming more detailed and clear as we get closer and closer to the deck at around 165ft. 

I looked to my left and I can see the ships mid section ripped open like a pinata spewing out its inner intestinal coal remains and piles of shredded wood from the damage that the typo took back in 1899.  I was reaching a new pinnacle depth of 180 ft which is the maximum depth I want to go without further training and trimix.  I made my way to the bow and came back around missing the bell completely and descending into the cargo hold of the Typo.  

 Every time I equalized my ears I could hear a huge drum beating and it would fade away shortly after, I thought I reached a new level of narcosis but it turns out that a diesel salty freighter was passing us in the distance yet the sound of the 100 BPM engine can be heard from below.   So here I am 180 ft. down hearing drum sounds in a ship that mimics a haunted pirate ship and about to enter into the cargo holds, that was an experience.

I make into the cargo holds and I am just not able to hold the camera right while hearing these drum sounds and making sure not to silt out the holds.  The mid ship was open and exposed so I came out from the exposed exit and start to ascend back to the line to follow my decompression procedure.  I was thinking about how amazing this ship was and I thinking that this one was so awesome that I am considering the Typo to be my new top three ship wrecks that I have visited ever since I started shipwreck diving. 

We got up early to get a early start on Lake Huron so we can beat the afternoon rain showers if the rain happens to show up.  We make our way over to Rockport once again and the waters edge looks beautiful!!! Lake Huron has laid down for us and its absolutely calm conditions. WHAAA!! We couldn't have asked for better conditions on the lake than what we have now in front of us.

We set out to visit the first shipwreck which was built in 1848, The Defiance!  This 2 masted schooner measures out to 115 ft. in length and she is presently resting upright and mysteriously intact in 185ft. of water.  She brought grains back and forth until she was hit by the Audubon in October of 1854. Speed was always of the essence back than but the Audubon was carrying railroad iron tracks so when the defiance hit the Audubon's mid section in fog, she had little time to react and brought both of the schooners to their demise.  The event took both of the boats down only a few miles from each other and luckily nobody died on either boat. I went to visit the Audubon last year and this year was my time to finally see the world class historic wrecks with their masts still upright and intact. There is also a theory that the captains made an insurance claim for money as they would be able to get their load and ship paid from a "disaster", the Defiance has little evidence of a crippling impact, and iron ore is a lot more valuable than grain back than so there might have been a good ole "reach around" on the insurance company of the 1850s...I cant prove that though!!...soooo..yeeaaa..anyway, I'm sure if the captains put on diving gear today and saw this wreck, they would be surprised in a lot of different ways.

My dive tables were set up for a bottom time of 180ft for 15 minutes and a decompression procedure based on a 1.2. ATA and an oxygen stop at 15 ft. Total dive time came out to be 39 minutes. We geared up and went through our start drills. Once in the water we completed the S Drill with a bubble check both at 15 ft and at the bottom to ensure we don't have any leaks. We descend down and the water appears to have a film of algae as we descended into the depths of Lake Huron. The temperature dropped as an eerie cross figurine appeared in the distance along with another large circular log standing upright. These are the tip tops of the masts!! Finally, we made it to these wrecks as I have been waiting years to get to them. The deck of the defiance starts to materialize and the visibility opens up in the 37 degree waters as we hover over the deck at 165 ft. I get just under the deck to get a couple pictures and I get to a max depth of 170ft. The nitrogen narcosis is strong at that depth so it makes picture taking difficult. We navigate around the wreck and made our way up to start our decompression schedule. Our dive buddies ran into some regulator complications but were able to work out a plan to ensure they were to complete their decompression obligations.  We got on the boat and I thought to myself about the amazing experience I just had but how short it was. Off to the TYPO!! 

 It was a long ride to get up to Alpena Michigan after work and with losing an hour on the road due to the eastern time thing, it made me wonder if they think they can change  daylight savings time, but they cant change the time zones?....move them a bit more east or lets just go back to the counting moons or something...silly president.  We got to Alpena around 2am and unfortunately woke up our other two dive buddies as we banged on the door to get into the cottage due to no keys.  opps..  

We woke a bit LATE and made our way over to the shop, got breakfast, and made our way over to the harbor to make our first two dives of the day.  The waves were about a foot by three feet and cloudy but optimistic conditions so it was a go.  We get on the water leave the harbor and as we are leaving the harbor the boat starts to run into some challenges. We ended up having to turn around in a plume of carbon smoke back to the harbor to assess the situation and begin the repair. After some disagreements and some challenges within the groups opinion on the assessment and the execution of the repair we decided to leave that behind and scope out some prospective dive sites.  After a while I was able to find a couple of shore dives in Presque Isle which were nice to swim out to and check out.

The first wreck is called the Albany which came to shore in the early 1900s and was quickly torn apart by storms preceding its resting place with no lives lost.  Her engine was salvaged a few years after her foundering. The next shipwreck was the North bay wreck which has some unique history in itself that includes a gentleman who was sawing up the shipwrecks wood for furniture.  He ended up getting arrested and the north bay wreck got its name.   I am sure that would have been a pretty penny for him back in the day.

This wreck was nestled in a super calm section inside of a bay in Presque Isle.  It was a nice place to not only swim out to and relax while enjoying the loons speaking to each other about the unusual human swimming in the frigid cold water.  Both of the wrecks were keelson remains, floor boarding, and parts of side panel and haul skeletal remains held together with fasteners.  

Its fun to swim out to the shipwrecks and check out what is out there as well as to learn about the history of the ships themselves to see how great the workmanship and time that was put in to build some of these boats.

The day itself turned out to be a good one as we were able to do two shore free dives and scope out some interesting places but the next day is going to be the main event as we are planning to visit the Defiance and the Typo.

Sunday morning we got up early to start off on going into two caves right on the property of Spring Mill State Park, Donaldson and Bronson caves .  We show up to the office where they keep the boats for their tours into upper twin cave and check in with the staff.  We continued down into the section where the two caves connect from the collapsed sink and to our left is upper twin and to our right is Bronson cave, or so I thought it was Bronson.  We enter this cave and continue down the passage looking back at the nice waterfall next to the entrance. 

We were confused by this and decided to exit the cave and go to the Donaldson entrance where we knew the cave was open.

We drove up to the parking lot and walked to the entrance of Donaldson cave where we first explored the side passages of the cave before entering the main river passage.  we climbed over a waterfall and got to a second waterfall that appeared to be a bit more challenging.

Eventually we traversed the side wall and climbed around the waterfall to tie a handline for anyone else that needed to get to the top of the falls.  I should have attempted to climb the falls as later we found out they were quite easy to climb out.