This week’s essay “Fear Swims Beside You” was a look at the fears and joys of swimming into an Apostle Islands sea cave. If you missed it, it is still available in the archives.
But, it was only a “look.” A number of interested readers wrote to ask not what it “looked” like but what it sounded like. “What does it sound like inside of the caves?” My first reaction was “like the plucking of harp strings.” At least when it is calm. When it is wavy, the sound can be menacing, a kind of “growl” deep in the back of the throat as I described it in the essay. At those moments I am mostly too busy trying to stay safe to get much video.
But then, there are moments like this one — a calm, quiet morning in a sea cave on the north side of Manitou Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is calm, well-lit. The sun is up. The fear is gone. It is as still as a whisper and the only sounds are … well, click on the video, turn up the volume, and listen for yourself.
— Jeff
(What is your favorite sound in the Apostle Islands? Let me know if the comments)
The Plucking of Harp Strings