Apostle Islands Sea Caves

photography — Historic Postcard, Apostle Islands Sea Caves, WI, U.S.A. Public Domain.

Useful Information

Location:	2 Front Street Bayfield, WI 54814. (46.8111326, -90.8132301)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Sea Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Apostle Islands Cruises, 2 Front Street, Bayfield WI 54814, Tel: +1-800-323-7619. Apostle Islands Kayaking Express, 206 Wilson Ave, Bayfield WI 54814, Tel: +1-715-913-0013.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

The Apostle Islands Sea Caves are known as two different kinds of attraction. One are sea caves in red sandstone which are visited during summer with rented kajaks or during boat trips. The other one are Ice Caves which are visited by walking over the frozen Lake Superior. Of course, both are the same site, the only difference is how they are approached, which is obviously weather dependent.

But let’s start at the beginning, Lake Superior is one of the Big Lakes at the northern border of the U.S.A. The lake is actually quite big, and so there are waves which are caused by the wind. The name Sea Caves suggests that those caves require the sea, but that’s not the case. The scientific term is defined as a cave which was created by the wave action of the sea or a huge lake. Those waves erode the rocks at the shores, especially the rather soft reddish sandstone at the Apostle Islands, adjacent to the Bayfield peninsula in far northern Wisconsin. There is a total of 21 islands and also 20 km of mainland coastline which have sea caves, caves eroded by the waves of the lake. The best sea caves in the Apostle Islands can be found on Devils Island.

During Summer, you should start at the harbour of Bayfield, where the Apostle Islands Cruises offer boat trips and Apostle Islands Kayaking Express rents out kajaks. Both show the cave, which are the main sight in the area. However, the cave are along the coast and freely accessible, there is neither a single location nor any kind of entrance fee or gates. So you can visit them freely with any kind of boat.

In cold winters, which apparently still occur despite global warming, the freshwater lake freezes over. For a rather short time its possible to walk on the ice and visit the caves by foot. At this time not only the lake is frozen, dripping water from the ceiling freezes inside the caves and creates a wide range of icicles and ice formations. At this time the caves are even more spectacular. Unfortunately this is weather dependent, and it’s only a short time, so if you are not a local it’s tricky to get there in time.