Waves At The Caves
You will need waves of 1 foot or less to enter any sea cave location. The sea caves in Chequamegon Bay and Red Cliff are much more protected than all the other locations and waves are less than 1 foot most of the time.
Meyers Beach, Sand Island and Devil’s Island have the best sea caves in the Apostle Islands but they are also very dangerous places to paddle, with waves over 1 foot quite often.
Apostle Islands Sea Caves Map
Sea Caves can be found at the following locations. Each location is given a star rating for the sea caves, ease of access, and crowd levels.
The overall Star rating is a combination of those three things.
Devil’s Island
The hardest to access and is really only accessible by boat if you want to get out there and back in a day, but it has the best caves. Devil’s Island is the most exposed to wind and waves of all the sea cave locations.
Romans Point
Located in Herbster, Wi these sea caves are a hidden gem. Just as good as Meyers Beach but without the crowds or the AINL rules against dogs and paddleboards. These are the best mainland caves and our guides always make this one more fun. Without the AINL rangers we are allowed to let you explore the sandstone and make as many stops and take as many photos as you’d like. We are better able to cater this to your enjoyment.
Sand Island
Much closer than Devil’s and can be accessed by kayak in one day. Sand Island has more caves than Roman’s point but not as many as Meyers. Sand Island is a bit shorter but much more intricate stretch of caves. There is the added bonus that they are on an island and the 2 mile open water crossing keeps the crowds down. You rarely see motor boats at these caves. The crossing to these caves are dangerous, you are exposed from every direction, even a South wind can create waves and white caps by the time you are half way through the open water crossing to Swallow Point.
Meyers Beach
Meyers Beach gets too crowded in August and you have to wait in line to get in to a cave, but these are excellent caves on the mainland peninsula. If you are looking for good caves without crowds we suggest Romans Point. Crowds are present and AINL rules do not allow family pets or paddle board tours.
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Stockton Island
Stockton Island has a couple good caves and a famous miniature sandstone island known as balancing rock. There caves are located on the North East end of the island. Crossing to Stockton is best done from Red Cliff or Madeline Island. The crossing from Red Cliff is a bit more safe because you have Basswood and Hermit along the way which are both all public national lakeshore.
Madeline Island
There are about 1/4 as many caves at Madeline as those before it on this list but they are fun caves to paddle and if you look closely you can find one tunnel cave and one underwater cave. The caves won’t be as amazing as Devil’s, Meyers and Sand but it is very protected from a West wind, so a good option for sea cave paddling on a West wind day, which is primarily what we get through the summer months. This location will have more crowds than Romans but a bit fewer than Meyers.
Red Cliff
Red Cliff is the most sheltered part of the Apostle Islands outside of Chequamegon Bay. It has easy access to many islands, including Oak and Stockton. There are a couple good caves, a shipwreck and an excellent sea arch along the shoreline by Red Cliff as well.
