Overnight, the hissing and sighing of the waves on the sandy beach was replaced by the rush of wind blowing through the trees. In the morning, there was a high wind and weather passing by to the north and south. Although a more experienced group could have handled the wind, our decision was made for us – we weren't going anywhere until the wind eased up.
We went for walks and took pictures, We played cards … killer and spoons. Hovas let me try her boat, a Greenland kayak. We watched one of the sail boaters launch a small skiff with an outboard motor. We couldn't figure out why he kept zooming up and down the shore, but then we saw his dog running up and down the beach with him. Guess that's one way to exercise your dog. We were visited by a lone Canada goose who seemed to want to befriend us. We listened to the weather forecast on the radio (several times) and watched a storm pass over Bayfield to the south. I enjoyed just being there, on that island, with our group, on that day.
In the late afternoon the wind eased off. We quickly made and ate dinner, packed up, and started off to Sand about 6:30 PM. We stopped at Bear Island for a short break, then paddled on. We were traveling west into the setting sun, with the full moon rising behind us and Jupiter high in the eastern sky behind our left shoulders. First a yacht, then the schooner Zeto sailed across our path in front of the sun as it sank towards the horizon. To the south we could see heat lightning over the mainland. Shortly after the sun set, we passed Raspberry Island, and looked back at the lighthouse on its western shore flashing in the night.
Approaching York, we all put on our headlamps. It was wonderful to be in a group of 5 kayaks moving together in the dark, with the paddles steadily rising and falling, pushing on ever closer to York. Eventually the Sand Island light house came into view behind the far side of York. I thought I heard the call of a loon from across the water, though it could have been a gull.
There was some speculation that someone was pulling the island away from us as we approached it, but eventually we reached York. We were running out of gas and decided not to press on to Sand. We headed into the half moon bay, and a couple of kayakers who were camped on the beach apparently saw our headlamps bobbing in the waves and wondered what the heck we were. They were kind enough to shine a light at us, which helped guide us in.
It felt good to step out of our boats after the long paddle. Our campsite reservation was on Sand, so on York we ended up camping right on the beach. We built a small charcoal fire and made smores. Looking out from the bay, we could see the Devils Island light house flashing every 10 seconds about 8 miles to the northeast. I hadn't expected to see any lighthouses at night, based on our original itinerary, so seeing three in one night was quite a treat.
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