If you are interested in Apostle Island kayaking, this is the place to go! Troy, and his family-run business provided everything we needed to feel safe and confident. The views! The laughs! My family will be making this our annual trip. It was a beautiful experience. Thank you Rustic Mukwa Den. read more

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We booked a sea caves kayak tour with Rustic Makwa over Labor Day weekend, and my experience could have definitely been better. The good - Our guide was excellent - he showed great care in talking about safety while on land, he was patient with the people on the tour who were new to kayaking, and he made sure to lead us to all the sea caves and point out great pictures spots without making the tour feel rushed. The experience on the water was good, and the beauty of the sea caves is just breathtaking. The bad - The communication prior to the start of the tour. We arrived at Meyers Beach around 15 minutes before our 3 PM tour (per the instructions in the confirmation email), and we did not see anyone there associated with Rustic Makwa. Time passes until 2:55, and we still do not see anyone. I check my email: nothing. I eventually call the phone number on the email, and I am assured the guide is "on his way, will be there shortly after 3". We waited until about 3:10, and nobody had arrived. I call the number again and am told that the guide will be there by 3:20. We wait until 3:30, and I text the number: I am told the guide is close by. Finally, around 3:40, just as we are about to leave, our guide finally arrived. Apparently, the guide was waiting for the winds to die down a bit before starting the tour - hence the delay. While I appreciated the tour's commitment to safety, the lack of communication was disheartening. There were only three groups on our tour. The time it would have taken to update us on the tour's current conditions/status (via email/text/phone call) would not have taken long. I understand the weather is unpredictable, and it isn't easy to make the call sometimes on whether or not tours can safely be conducted. However, providing information and updates (without having me chase the information down) would have allowed us to better use our limited time in Bayfield by not having us wait in the parking lot area for almost an hour. read more

Apostle Islands Rustic Makwa Den - Breathtaking sea caves - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

This place was the only Kayaking service still running in October. I did have an issue with this being my first time kayaking and I was really far back in water in the group. Leader should have looked back and waited as I was learning how to propel and maneuver a kayak for the first time. We had a great time. The Meyers Beach tour is over by Sept, and the Red Cliff Sea Cave Tour is the only one left. While this was great, I would like to go to the other tour cause I think they have more sea caves. We did get to see how serene everything is, and got very fortunate with the calm waters and warm weather 2 weeks into October. The massive arch at the end is great and the lead takes photos for everyone. The kayaking into the caves is exciting and a little creepy. It's challenging to take photos and kayak. read more

We had an amazing experience with Rustic Makwa Den. We had a significant accommodation: we were traveling with our cat. We spoke to Travis and he assured us he could help us. When we got there we discussed it with Madosin and figured out a way to keep our cat safe and happy while my fiancé and I were both out on the tour. The tour of the caves was also awesome! It was like we had our own personal guide. He let us make decisions to "create our own adventure". It was great having a local and friendly guide. Not a big company, these are true genuine people who care about your safety and happiness. We could not have had a better time on our trip. Thank you thank you for helping us get this adventure checked off our list while keeping our kitten safe and sound while we were gone!!! This tour was the highlight of our vacation! read more

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This business has great potential to grow into something great. Unfortunately it seems that we crossed paths with it far too early. The information available to review before booking doesn't really give you much help and the website could use a massive overhaul to be more interactive/useful. Now for the actual tour, we took a night time tour and allegedly had two guides, Gabe and Lily: Gabe - phenomenal, he was very insightful and tried to interact with people constantly throughout the tour. Lily - I couldn't even tell you what she looked like. She was at least 9 miles away from us at all times and at no point talked to anyone in our group. The best part, she never even introduced herself at the beginning. Gabe introduced himself and her multiple times. Overall, the tour was totally fine and we had a great time. If you are torn between a daytime or night tour, we definintely recommend the day tour. It's a great concept for night kayaking but it was a little lack luster. There was plenty of improvements that the business could gain from. First, having the guides have different light colors than the rest of the group (or make Lily turn any lights on at all?). Second, keep the group sizes as small as possible to keep it as an intimate experience. Finally, the lights inside the water are a great idea, however having the lights attached to the underside of the boat instead would be a much greater experience overall. Safety is obviously a huge priority for a business like this but it was severely lacking. Beyond a standard life jacket there's no hope for being saved in the event of an accident cause it felt like we were just off on our own. Again, organization would greatly improve this business. Without beating a dead horse about safety, the last thing that didn't seem to make sense is that there were no waivers to sign. All of these things coupled together make it suggest that a lawsuit is in the future. Also, did I mention Lily had AirPods in the entire tour? How could she possibly hear someone yelling for help if she's 9 miles away with headphones? Thank god no one capsized on our tour. As a final suggestion, maybe just get someone to replace Lily. I know this sounds like an "anti-Lily" supremacy.... And that's cause it is. She was the worst. TLDR: A fun tour to take as long as you are aware of the potential safety risks. If Lily still works there and is your guide, ask for a refund. read more

Highly recommend! The owner Troy was great to work with explaining the different kayak trips. Was east to work with. We did 2 different kayak outings. Meyers Beach was beautiful and Maddie and Artehm did a fantastic job as guides. The next day did Red Cliffs and Danny did an amazing job explaining the history of the area. Thank you Troy and to your team for the memories! read more

I'll do this review in Spanish because I know that Troy speaks Spanish. Troy es el guía, soy una persona muy nerviosa y hacer esta actividad de kayak me daba mucho miedo. Pero el guía Troy es el mejor para hacer esta actividad, espero regresar por que nunca he conocido a nadie como el que te explique la historia de este lado de WI. Gracias Troy! You are simple the best!!! read more

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Great equipment, beautiful location, and extremely friendly and accommodating staff! We loved our paddle with them and highly recommend!

Best camping trip I've ever taken! We rented a tandem sea kayak to spend a week on Sand. Customer service is top notch. Communication was super prompt. Competitively priced. I felt extra confident after the safety course and practicing safety maneuvers (we also got to see the shipwrecks). We were able to transport over to Little Sand Bay with our truck, which saves the costly shuttle fees. Super happy to support a veteran and native owned Wisconsin small business. read more

Family of 4, from 15 to 45. Took a kayak tour of the Meyer Sea Caves with Leonard and had a great time. He really made sure to point out all the interesting sights, insert some humor, local stories and cater to all our interests. We would highly recommend this to anyone. read more

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This was the highlight of our trip to Bayfield. Danny and Maddie we engaging and informative. We could tell they really enjoyed taking people out. I'm trying to figure out when we can come back and do it again! read more

Apostle Islands Rustic Makwa Den - Rafting/Kayaking Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

We had a great time on the kayak cave tour. Leonard was an excellent guide. The water was beautiful and it was a great part of our trip to the Apostle Islands. read more

Leonard led us on an adventure of a lifetime! We went on the 2 hour sea cave tour and were completely blown away by the beauty of Superior's sea caves. Our guide was knowledgeable, fun, and showed us many of the caves treasures. Absolutely recommend this native-owned business to any other kayaker. Amazing trip and great people. read more

These guys are awesome!! We got a little lost since you don't get great service but they waited for us even though they were about to start paddling out just as we were pulling into the parking lot. The water was calm when we were out and we felt very safe kayaking with these guys! The views were amazing and doing the wormhole through the caves was a lot of fun!! What an epic experience!! Thanks again :) read more