Day 40- July 23, 2010

Today: 24.76 mi
Trip: 597.92 mi

Happy Birthday Brad!!!

A south wind was blowing as we launched out of Bayfield which gave us a nice push all the way to Redcliff Point. We saw two kayak tour groups along the way and decided to make our first of three crossings for the day. At just under two miles is should not have been bad. Let's just say we were wrong.
Starting out, the crossing was going great. There were very small waves slapping the boat and a slight breeze. Oh how quickly that changed! We were in the middle of our crossing when the wind really started to blow. The waves built to two footers in just a few minutes. They kept building and stacking closer and closer together. I am almost certain we ran over a few four footers before the crossing was done. We could hardly set a ferry angle to reach the shore but we did eventually make it. We landed on the sand spit and chatted with a local guide from Living Adventures. We were all amazed at how the weather had picked up.
After a break to settle our nerves we headed east and then north around the non windy side of Oak Island. We took another break before the crossing to Otter Island to evalute the weather. We took a following sea with 2 ft waves. From the dock we rounded the island and went straight into the crossing to Rocky Island. We encountered wind but no waves that time.
We had dinner on the south end of Rocky Island before heading around to the north end for some back country camping. Paddling along today I was able to see most if the islands. Our camp for the night, however, faced Devil's Island- our intended destination for tomorrow.