Here is my google review. This is the same company Would not recommend. Beware! They are NOT an approved kayaking company by the National Park Service. They rented my son tandem kayaks to go to the Apostle Islands. They gave him a broken radio, no bilge pump and no cockpit cover. They ended up refunding him after he told them that the National Park Service and L5 Kayak expert they ran into told them that this company was putting them at risk for injury or even death. They refused to allow me to talk to the owner. They are comfortable renting broken equipment, allowing you to kayak in a tandem without a cockpit cover so that it fills with water and then not supplying the required bilge pump to get the water out. Go on the National Park Service web page and find a kayak group that meets standards- stay away from this company as it could put your life at risk. The company responded to my google review with this lie "We provided your son and his friend with a detailed two-hour safety course before their rental, clearly demonstrating how to safely use a tandem kayak as intende, with two people paddling together. Despite this, they made the unsafe decision to paddle solo from the back seat and load gear (including beer) into the front cockpit -- a configuration we specifically warn against and prohibit in our waiver. Even though they knowingly violated the rules and misused the equipment, we still issued a full refund as a courtesy. We did this not because we were at fault, but because we recognize that Lake Superior is unforgiving, and we want all our guests to stay safe, even when they make poor choices. We sincerely hope future renters follow our safety training and use the equipment as instructed. We are always here to help, but we cannot prevent incidents when guests ignore the guidance they are given" This is a lie. My son and his friend rented 2 single kayaks. The company gave them 2 tandems. The ranger and another L5 kayak expert saw them before they launched and recommended they not go because they were rented improper equipment. They never even loaded them. What beer?! They are lying to make the reader think they are safe. Please call the Bayfield National park service yourself and talk to the rangers there. They are very familiar with this unsafe and deceptive company. Don't rely on social media. Talk to the experts yourself. You can email or call the park service and they will advise you. read more

Apostle Islands Kayak - Here is their response - Boat Tours Near Me - Bayfield, Wisconsin

Terrible communication. Txt only dispatch. They have a similar name to another company and sent me around three spots and no showed every single one of them. read more

The only reason this gets one star is because drop off was convenient. AKA nobody was there so we left them on the side of the road. When we showed up to get our kayaks they were very rude and told me to park a mile away and walk in. Once there, their "safety course" was telling us to paddle around in the lake while he left the site. Then we had to drag our kayaks up a massive hill because one of the staff members was busy being chased by the cops and the other was in the casino nearby. After rooting around all their stuff we finally found the tie downs we were promised and told the cops where they had went. This business is in shambles and if you hope to have a kayak for your trip then you should probably go elsewhere. read more

If you're in a hurry to read reviews, just know that you should in no way book with this company. There are many options to rent kayaks in the Apostle Islands, so don't waste your time here. It was an awful experience, and I didn't even get to ride the kayak. I'm speaking from the perspective of customer service only. I originally tried making a reservation online, but I was unable to complete the transaction because their website is tied to an Australian account and my bank considered it fraudulent. Given these challenges, I decided to call the number that was listed on the website (and encouraged to use) to make the reservation. The person that answered, who claimed to be the owner and manager of the company, was short with me from the beginning when all I was trying to do was give her my business and complete a reservation. She said condescendingly, "If you have a smart phone or access to the internet, you can book online" and then hung up on me without warning. I was completely confused and frustrated since I already tried to book through the website, and all I was trying to do was make a reservation. After a series of texts and phone conversations where I expressed my concern and frustration over the experience, there was no accountability taken for the rudeness or poor customer service. The conversation ended through text by the woman saying, and I quote, "We just sent you a full refund. I hope you enjoy your paddle whoever you go with. I'm glad it's not us." After I told them that I would be writing a review on the experience, they tried to intimidate me by asking that I send them the link to the review so that they could use it for training purposes as an example of who they don't want to do business with. If any of the reviews on Yelp are indication, it looks like they don't want to do business with many people. read more

This is a terrible organization. We booked a night time ice cave tour out of Washburn. There was no ice and not really any caves. The guides did not greet the group when we or other people arrived. They stayed in the car smoking until I called the number I had for them. Once we started walking, the front guide did not stay with the group on the lake. He blasted way ahead; the guides were smoking a pipe during the tour. They lit up spots along the rocks with colored lights you can buy at Walmart. It was a walk along the lakeshore on the ice in the dark for $65, which did not feel very safe. A big fat rip off. DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM. read more

We booked the Ice Caves tour that tour the Chequamegon Bay Ice Caves of Lake Superior. The booking process was fine, rented ice cleats so for all 4 of us (2 kids were half off) we paid about $150. For a 3-4 hour tour, that seemed like it would be well worth it. We got a group text the day before confirming the address, but not the time. Seemed a bit random, but we knew the time we picked so oh well. We got there and got our ice cleats. The tour guide never introduced himself, never checked people off a list - nothing. Said "15 of you will go with me and the other 15 will go with that other guy" and off we went at WARP speed like he had a hot date to get to. We had no idea - are we in his group or the other guy's group. Is this even our tour? Are we in the right place? No one asked our name - like what is going on here. So we tried to match said warp speed which we never could. We realize we are not the most in shape of people but holy hell my high level gymnast kid and martial arts kid couldn't match the pace so we were the caboose of the group the whole time. We never heard the supposed tour guide say a damn word the entire tour. This was not a tour. This was - follow a guy (if you can keep up!) and be generally pointed to a few ice caves and ice formations. This was literally THE WORST tour I have ever been on. My husband said we may as well have just spent money on a map so that we could be safe on the ice and gone at our own pace. We get back to the car, I check the time - 90 minutes!!!!! It was supposed to be 3-4 hours. Seriously for ice tours (can't speak to their other tours) stay far away from this outfitter. There was literally zero point to it, would have been better just following other people or having a map. I cannot even fathom we paid $150 for this complete waste. This company should seriously be ashamed of themselves. I hope the owner reads this - I doubt the way these warp speed psychos ran the "tour" is at all how it is supposed to go down. read more

This was one of the least organized tours I've been on and that's using the word tour very loosely. We signed up for a sea caves tour and did not see any sea caves. The tour "guides" we had - one of them was somewhat knowledgeable about the area but did not wait for the whole group to start talking or give clear communication about meeting points. Half way through the tour, he lit up a cigarette and provided no further direction. The other "guide", when you asked him a question he simply stated this is my first day and did not make an attempt to answer it. Apparently no training is given to new employees. It was very apparent that they overbooked the tour and instead of turning people away, provided a less than stellar tour. The positives were we got to kayak on Lake Superior but would not recommend either of their companies apostle island kayak or Bayfield Kayak. read more

Ok giving two stars only because our guide was super good. *************Extremely unorganized.************ We booked a trip to sand island knowing that there was a possibility of it changing if no one else picked it or weather impacted it. We got a text the night before saying it was not going to happen and we would change locations and do Meyers beach starting at the same time. We drove 4 hours arrived 30 minutes early as instructed and got a text just after that stating that it was too windy and/or there was nobody else going with us at this point and we were getting a trip 5 hours later. Frustrated we called them standing on the beach with no wind or waves and asked them what's up, they stated the weather was questionable and we called the bluff and told them it completely calm out. Then it changed to well there was nobody signed up in our spot and they were unaware of that otherwise they would have texted us the night before. Mind you they moved us into this spot the night prior. They worked with us and put us in a mid day spot but told us the wrong time so we were 10 minutes late. Come to find out they didn't have any guides scheduled for the morning at all... zero it was the first day of school and they had to make lies for their mistakes. Honesty would have been a higher road. Luckily our guide saved the day for us otherwise we would have been miserable. There are too many kayak outfitters to have to deal with this. read more

1. We booked and paid for the Romans Point Estuary & Sea Cave Tour. 2. On July 2nd I called and left a message stating that one member from our party would no longer be able to join us due to a death in his family. I requested a full refund for his portion at that time and left it up to you to return a call to me if you had any further issues or questions regarding this. 3. On July 5th I proceeded to receive text messages in regards to "Myers beach" tours being rerouted to "Romans point" tours. As this message did not apply to our scheduled Romans Point Estuary tour, it was A) confusing & B) seemingly not applicable to us. I did call and was in the process of trying to clarify whether or not this affected our tour and the call was lost (as I explained to you that our reception was sketchy and not reliable). So, we proceeded to the location we were given in hopes to clear things up in person when we arrived to our location at 10:30 am (a half hour prior to our tour time per your request). I attached a screen shot of the text message I received from your company. 4. Upon arriving, we found 2 employees from your company speaking with law enforcement. Robert approached us and asked if we had a tour booked with them. I said yes, told him my name, the size of our group and the tour we had booked, and also explained the confusing text message I received and also that I was unable to complete my phone conversation with the office due to the call being dropped. He said he was unaware of the text message I received and that his co-worker (who was speaking with the police officer) might know more and asked us to "sit tight" while they worked everything out. I asked him to verify that we were in the right location, and would be receiving the tour we had booked, to which he assured us we were at the correct location and that once they "straightened things out" we would be "good to go." Due to the issues with the police we did not even start our 11am tour until approximately noon. 5. At the start of the tour, we were not given any instruction from Robert as to how we should divide our group among the kayaks until we asked, and still he did not even suggest that our paddlers that were under 100 lbs be in the middle of the triple kayak (which we read up on after the fact). He basically said "ok, let's get in and go". I was VERY clear when booking this tour that we were A) planning our vacation around being able to kayak the sea caves (hence booking on our first day of vacation to allow room for a reschedule due to weather if necessary), B) we had a large group with various ages, sizes and experience levels with kayaking and that C) None of us have ever kayaked on Superior or the Sea Caves, which is why we opted to go through a tour company who provides a guide. 6. AT NO POINT WERE WE TOLD THAT OUR ROMANS POINT ESTUARY & SEA CAVE TOUR WAS RE-ROUTED OR ALTERED IN ANY WAY PRIOR TO DEPARTURE (which was 1 1/2 hours behind the time in which you asked us to arrive). Therefore we were not ever given the option to reschedule or be refunded. 7. At the start of our tour we were still under the impression that we were doing the EXACT tour we had booked (starting at the Estuary), and it became very clear once we began paddling across the bay (from Town of Bell Harbor/Marina), that this did not seem like how our tour should have began. I again verified with Robert that were doing the Estuary & Romans Point tour, and said that I did not realize paddling the bay was a part of this tour, and again explained that we were on the 4 hour ONE WAY ESTUARY & ROMANS point tour. He said that usually that tour puts in at the estuary and does not do the bay and was unable to answer why then, we were doing the bay. Once we finally reached the other side of the bay to the shoreline, and went under 1 cave and a "beach" area, he then proceeded to tell us that he received a call that we had to go back due to "wind" at Meyers beach. As we were not at Meyers Beach, nor ever booked to do the Meyers Beach tour, I am still confused as to what any of this had to do with OUR tour?? We were not experiencing any wind at any point during our tour, which also made this very confusing. Upon our return we were informed that another group would be heading out soon with our kayaks, which also does not jive with the weather info we were told about previously. 8. We are now waiting for our refunds and have received nothing back from the owners. I do not suggest booking with this outfit (FLK Kayak) also under bayfieldkayak.com read more

Decent kayak tour but very unorganized. Website looks legit but do not book with them. Our tour guides where nice but have no training and company is not insured. Very sketchy operation. Plenty of other legit kayak tours in the area-use caution! read more

OK, despite all of the negative reviews we will post something more positive. While the customer service experience and the claim that texting is the best form of communication(I am in information technology and I don't believe that because you can't text or call if you have terrible coverage), our guides were absolutely fantastic and we had a beautiful day on the water. Eli, Danielle and Mike were all fantastic guides and very knowledgeable of the history of Meyers Beach and the sea caves. The four hour adventure we were a part of is very challenging for beginner kayakers. If you are beginners, we would suggest the two hour tour. All in all, we had a fantastic experience. read more

BEWARE! I wish I would have read previous reviews earlier because it would have saved me a lot of time and trouble. This is a scam. My friends and I had planned a trip where we would rent kayaks and camp on basswood island for a couple of days. We had set up a reservation with this company to have kayak training and rental. When we showed up to the address, after driving 6 hours to get to Bayfield, we were brought to a random empty house. When we tried calling the man running this business, he texted us that he was "too busy to talk" (mind you this was at the time of our supposed reservation). The company never contacted us after we called, texted and emailed. Thank god for trek and trial taking us last minute, giving us the training and equipment we needed to make our trip amazing. read more

Wish I could give zero stars. Terrible, unprofessional & UNSAFE. Seriously DO NOT BOOK with these people. They also operate as Bayfield Kayak so don't book under that name either. They are Not the reputable one, which is Apostle Island Kayaks (note the S), they are intentionally misleading by using the very similar name as one with good ratings. This was labeled as "beginner" and a night "cave tour" on Lake Superior. Luckily we were all seasoned kayakers because it was clear pretty quickly we were on our own. There was no instruction and they were not watching or guiding at all. If anyone had fallen in it could've turned serious very quickly because these clowns gave no idea what they're doing....thankfully no one did. It was supposed to be 2 hours and 3 hours later we were still in the middle of the lake. Part of the group asked to be brought back to shore at 10pm, when it was supposed to be done. The caves are on the other side, not from Washburn where we launched. We paddled probably 4 miles for no caves. Definitely not for beginners, not a cave tour, and super shady and unsafe. So sorry I spent even a penny on this, hopefully I can save someone else from making the same mistake. read more

Yikes. Do not kayak with this company. They do not have your safety in mind they only want your money. We pulled up to a empty parking lot- where men were unloading kayaks from a English muffin truck. Once we were ready to kayak we didn't sign any waiver nor did they give us ANY safety tips/instructions. After we entered the lake, the main guide said it was too dangerous to go any further and that the waves were too high and we'd get a 100% refund. After he thought about it for a while though he convinced us that it was safe to start our trek on the very windy, very wavy Lake Superior. Little did we know that a 3 hour tour would soon turn into 5 hours of kayaking in 4 foot waves coming at you in every directions and praying to god that you weren't going to tip because you no longer trust the guides to save you because they shouldn't have taken us out in those conditions in the first place!! Everyone on the tour including the guides were completely wore out, freezing and terrified by the end, and we were so happy to be on land. We also found out that this company is illegally doing kayak tours.. didn't surprise us, just glad everyone is safe. read more