Sometimes it seems like summer will never end.
Nearing the final days of August the heat and humidity can still be extreme in the upper Midwest, but the wildflowers are done blooming, birds are getting ready to head south and the sun sets sooner every night.
A signal goes off inside me reminding me that Lake Superior will be at its warmest and it’s time to get up there and do some snorkeling / photo’ing. A few days in the Keweenaw Peninsula will be good for the soul.
I find myself at Esrey park, a tiny roadside park, at 8:30am. the air temperature is already in the high 70's as I prepare myself and my gear to snorkel this ancient bed of lava.
I plunge into the 62-degree water (warm for Lake Superior) ready to be entertained by this morning’s encounters.
Large formations of rocks great me.
Some with long veins of quartz
I am in 2 different worlds
Waves colliding with the rocks producing air bubble mosaics with the sunlight
Sunlight also creates the reflections on the underside of the lakes surface
The only living creature I encounter is an inch and a half long Sculpin
I see sun refracting through the wave’s casts dancing patterns on the rocks.
After an hour and a half in the cold of Lake Superior has penetrated deep into the core of my body and I crawl back out onto dry land.
The air temperature is now in the high 80's soon to be into the low 90's I load up my gear, get in the car, the radio tuned into Rock 94 Thunder Bay and coming out the speakers is U2 singing "It’s a beautiful day" I agree, roll down all the windows and join in singing with them as I roll of down the road.