Day 41- July 24, 2010

Today: 17.73 mi
Trip: 615.65 mi

No sun this morning, just gloomy clouds, light NE winds and swells between us and Devil's Island. We packed up in a light rain shower and headed out onto the water.
Taking the 1-2 ft waves broadside was not exactly a nice way to make the crossing, but we made it nonetheless. We tucked into the harbor on the south side before taking the lee side of the island to look at caves. They were impressive. Even though we were in The Beast, we were able to travel through some of the arches. We tried to round the north end of the island but got only as far as the lighthouse before the waves started being too stupid.
After chatting with some weekend renegade paddlers from Duluth we made the crossing over to Bear Island. We had a nice following sea that gently pushed us along. We stopped briefly at a cobble beach for lunch. As I was visiting the woods a ferry boat came around the corner! I tried to rush out to the kayak before the big waves came but slipped on some rocks and catapulted myself into the water instead. Grace and style never were my forte.
Since the crossing to Bear went well we continued on to York Island. The waves were thinking about picking up but laid back down instead allowing us to make the final crossing to Little Sand Bay.
We were greeted fondly at the Town of Russell Campground. A kayak hub for the area. I had severe boat envy watching all the boats go by. We parked our minivan of a boat in the beach and spent much of the evening chatting with fellow kayakers. There were groups from Iowa, Minnesota, and the camp host was one in a million. We headed to bed late with intentions to sleep in. We hit our 600 mile mark today! No pressure for tomorrow.