Bayfield Photography Weekend {Day 1 – Lake Superior Sailing}

In my family I am the oldest of three girls. I embraced and loved the role as ‘oldest sister’. I am a leader. Type A personality. List maker. Go out and really live life kind of person. While I love that my sisters and I share so many traits and characteristics, we also are very unique. As much as our laughs, smiles, voices may overlap–we are still our own individual selves.

It’s very rare for me to meet someone, outside of my family, who is as similar to me. When I say I’m unique…really, I mean it. So imagine my surprise when I met Gena a month ago, and cannot get over our similarities. Don’t worry, we definitely are different, but it’s almost scary how similar our minds work. She is a scientist by education (just like me), with an amazing eye for photography, a Team In Training mentor & alum, loves the outdoors, and will really go out and live life–wherever that may take her. When she proposed a photography weekend up north, I jumped at the opportunity. Throw together two nature-loving, adventure-seeking, photography-loving brains…and you’re left with some pretty inspiring photographs, life plans, and next ventures. I have a feeling the Universe definitely aligned our meeting and collaboration on ideas. Let’s just say…big goals are being planned, and I’m so excited to start on this journey with her.

Onto the good stuff…we decided to spend a Friday through Sunday exploring Bayfield and the Apostle Islands. While we’ve both played around in the area before, we had never done it by sailboat. So we chartered a boat and away we went…

The fall colors were a few weeks away til peak, but the crisp air reminded us of the Fall Equinox.

We headed towards the sea caves, which I kayaked around on Gena’s birthday. The sky looked very similar to that rainy day in late July.

The skipper and rest of our boaters were in awe of something….what could it be?

GENA, of course! What’s not to love about this blue eyed Norwegian? 🙂

Here’s a shot of me enjoying sailing with my 70-200mm lens. {Photo by Gena.}

During our sail we got to explore in the sea caves by dinghy. Quite a bit different than a kayak, I must say.

View of the sailboat from our dinghy. Eagle Island, one of the Apostle Islands.

And I just have to include this photo. One difference between Gena and I…where I get excited over little things, she apparently gets … scared? 😉 She saw something in a crack in the rock, and it started to move. I got excited and wanted to go closer. Pretty sure one of us screamed a little when it moved again. We got closer…and closer…I’m hoping it’s some animal, she’s probably thinking it’s a dead animal. Gena says…it’s a duck. Or maybe I say it’s a duck. We go closer yet in our dinghy. It’s not like a duck will attack us. Once we’re within touching distance, we realize it’s driftwood…that looks an awful lot like a duck, squished between the rocks. Judge for yourself. See the eye and the beak? Definitely made us laugh.

After our jaunt in the dinghy, we headed back to the sailboat in hopes of seeing the sunset (no such luck). Another boat that I loved in the marina…”The Drifter” A shot of an old boat in Cornucopia. Twin Sisters. Pretty fitting for my new found twin, huh? 🙂

Stay tuned for days 2 and 3 of our weekend adventure around Madeline Island and Copper Falls.