Apostle Anchor app icon

Apostle Anchor

Know where to drop the hook before the wind makes the call for you.

Explore the chart View on GitHub How it works
The planning map: wind-field arrows over the Apostle Islands with rated anchorage pins
40places to stay
22anchorages
14island & town docks
11marinas
54points of interest
22islands to explore
8day wind outlook

Reads the wind the way Superior sailors do

Apostle Anchor is an iOS app for cruising Apostle Islands National Lakeshore — 21 islands on Lake Superior where the evening's big question is always the same: given the forecast, where do we stay tonight?

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Real shelter profiles

Every place carries a 16-direction shelter fingerprint and wave-fetch map built from its actual geography — bluffs, sandspits, breakwalls, and the islands that block a sea from building.

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Overnight-weighted scoring

Hourly wind and gust forecasts are scored against each profile, weighting the hours you actually swing at anchor and grading every night from Excellent to Avoid.

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The lee-shore rule

Strong wind onto an exposed shore caps the score no matter how nice the beach is. Superior forgives many things; a lee shore isn't one of them.

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Multi-night stays

Pick 1–7 nights and every place is ranked across the whole window, worst night weighted heaviest — plus live buoy reality checks and a wave layer.

Explore every anchorage, dock & legend

The app's complete catalog on one chart — 98 documented places and lore sites, straight from the same database the app ships with. Tap any pin for the full story. (Live wind, waves, and night-by-night ratings live in the app.)

Circles are places to stay (anchorages, docks, marinas); diamonds are lore — lighthouses, shipwrecks, sea caves, historic sites, and natural wonders. Purple means an advisory or closure. Imagery © Esri.

Plan, browse, explore — in the app

A live wind-field map with a play-through time scrubber, ranked picks for any stay length, protection roses on every anchorage, live NDBC buoy comparisons, marine alerts from NOAA — plus all the island stories for the days you're not going anywhere.

Plan tab: wind overlay and rated pins
Wind-field planning map
Places tab: searchable catalog with per-night ratings
Every place, rated per night
Explore tab: island stories and park lore
Island lore & lighthouses

The catalog

44 documented places — no invented pins on random coastline. Compiled from NPS boating guidance, marina listings, NOAA Coast Pilot, and published Lake Superior cruising references, then adversarially verified for existence, coordinates, and shelter geometry. Purple advisory entries are closures and day-stop-only areas the app will never recommend for the night.

Basswood Island

  • Basswood Island West Side — Anchorage & NPS Dock Anchorage + DockQuick easterly-lee overnight nearest Bayfield

Cat Island

  • Cat Island South Sandspit AnchorageQuiet middle-islands spit, either-side lee

Devils Island

  • Devils Island South Landing Anchorage + DockCalm-day sea-cave expedition base (dock closed 2026)

Eagle Island

  • Eagle Island — Wildlife Closure (No Anchorage) Anchorage AdvisoryAvoid — seasonal 500-ft wildlife buffer and shoals

Gull Island

  • Gull Island — Wildlife Closure (No Anchorage) Anchorage AdvisoryAvoid — year-round bird sanctuary and 2-ft ledge

Ironwood Island

  • Ironwood Island South Sandspit AnchorageSolitude on a picture-perfect spit

Madeline Island

  • Big Bay (Madeline Island) AnchorageSettled-westerly beach day off the state park
  • La Pointe Special Anchorage (Madeline Island) AnchorageTown anchorage a dinghy ride from La Pointe

Madeline Island — La Pointe

  • Madeline Island Yacht Club MarinaIsland-side full-service base by La Pointe village

Manitou Island

  • Manitou Island Fish Camp Dock DockFair-weather history stop with real depth alongside

Michigan Island

  • Michigan Island Lighthouse Dock & Anchorage Anchorage + DockPerfect-weather double-lighthouse stop

Oak Island

  • Oak Island South Sandspit AnchoragePick-your-side spit in shifting winds
  • Oak Island West Dock DockNE-blow dock stop with the best hiking in the park

Otter Island

  • Otter Island Southeast Dock & Sandspit Anchorage + DockNW-blow refuge with a sandspit campsite

Outer Island

  • Outer Island Lighthouse Dock (North End) DockSettled-weather lighthouse pilgrimage
  • Outer Island South Sandspit AnchorageRemote dune anchorage in settled weather

Raspberry Island

  • Raspberry Island Lighthouse Docks (West & East) DockLighthouse day stop out of NE-E winds
  • Raspberry Island Southwest Sandspit AnchoragePick-your-side spit lee near the lighthouse

Rocky & South Twin Islands

  • Rocky / South Twin Channel Anchorage AnchorageOuter-islands hurricane hole in W/NW blows

Rocky Island

  • Rocky Island East Dock DockWesterly-blow dock refuge in the outer islands

Sand Island

  • East Bay (Sand Island) — Anchorage & NPS Dock Anchorage + DockFirst-night stop in westerlies
  • Justice Bay AnchorageWesterly-wind hook beside the Swallow Point caves
  • Lighthouse Bay (Sand Island) AnchorageSettled-southerly lighthouse day stop

South Twin Island

  • South Twin Island West Dock DockEasterly-blow dock refuge opposite Rocky

Stockton Island

  • Julian Bay (Stockton Island) AnchorageSoutherly-or-westerly beach day on singing sands
  • Presque Isle Bay (Stockton Island) Anchorage + DockAll-around refuge; the park's only true harbor
  • Quarry Bay (Stockton Island) Anchorage + DockNortherly-blow anchorage with a quarry hike

York Island

  • York Island North Beach AnchorageSettled-southerly beach night

Mainland — Ashland, Chequamegon Bay

  • Ashland Marina MarinaProvisioning stop at the head of the bay

Mainland — Bayfield

  • Bayfield City Dock DockWalk-to-dinner transient wall in downtown Bayfield
  • Bayfield Marina MarinaFull-service home-port base for the islands

Mainland — Cornucopia

  • Siskiwit Bay Marina (Cornucopia) MarinaWestern gateway and sea-cave staging harbor

Mainland — Little Sand Bay

  • Little Sand Bay NPS Dock & Harbor Dock AdvisoryMainland base for the western islands (slips closed 2026)

Mainland — Meyers Beach to Sand Point

  • Mawikwe Bay Sea Caves (Mainland) — Day Stop Only Anchorage AdvisoryFlat-calm sea-cave day visit only

Mainland — Pikes Bay, south of Bayfield

  • Pikes Bay Marina MarinaProtected floating-dock base with premium services
  • Port Superior Marina MarinaResort amenities with your transient slip

Mainland — Red Cliff

  • Buffalo Bay Marina (Legendary Waters) MarinaBudget slip with casino and beach attached
  • Frog Bay (Mainland — Red Cliff) AnchorageMainland lee in S-SW-W blows

Mainland — Saxon (Iron County)

  • Saxon Harbor Marina & Campground MarinaHarbor of refuge on the eastbound run

Mainland — Washburn, Chequamegon Bay

  • Washburn Marina MarinaRepairs, haul-out, and provisioning on the bay

Mainland — east of Point Detour

  • Eagle Bay (Mainland) AnchorageLocal-knowledge southerly lee near the York passage

Mainland — north of Bayfield

  • Roys Point Marina MarinaSmall quiet basin closest to the inner islands

Mainland — north of Red Cliff

  • Schooner Bay Marina MarinaLow-key private slips nearest the western run

Mainland — southeast of Point Detour

  • Raspberry Bay (Mainland) AnchorageGo-to mainland refuge in S-through-W blows

Data & honesty

  • Forecasts: Open-Meteo hourly 10 m wind, gusts, and direction, in knots, 8 days out.
  • Waves: Open-Meteo Marine wave height, direction, and period — a wave-field map layer plus per-place charts, labeled honestly as open-water values.
  • Live stations: NDBC/GLOS observations (Devils Island, Port Wing, Saxon Harbor) shown against what the forecast claimed, delta and all.
  • Marine alerts: Live Small Craft Advisories and Gale Warnings from NOAA/NWS for the five nearshore zones around the islands.
  • Places: Every entry cites its sources in-app and on this page. 4 advisory entries flag wildlife closures and day-use-only areas.
  • Lore: 22 historic sites, 11 shipwrecks, 10 natural wonders, 8 lighthouses, 3 sea-cave areas — every story fact-checked and sourced, browsable on the map above and in the app.
  • Times: Always shown in the islands' local time, wherever your phone thinks it is.
  • Offline: The last forecast is cached, because the outer islands don't do bars.
Not for navigation. Ratings are planning guidance, not gospel. Carry charts, check the NOAA marine forecast, and make your own seamanship calls — Lake Superior is cold, big, and changes faster than any forecast.