Daniel O'Kane, a bartender, began his island-to-island swim among the 22 islands on Sunday at Little Sand Bay, swimming to Sand Island and on to York Island, said Connie Carlin of Duluth. Carlin is married to Duluth's Paul Voge, who is accompanying O'Kane by kayak for safety. On Monday, O'Kane knocked off crossings to Raspberry, Bear and Devils islands, said Carlin, who receives occasional texts from Voge documenting their progress.

On Wednesday, O'Kane and Voge rested on Devils Island, Carlin said, and today O'Kane plans to swim to Rocky Island, South Twin Island and back to Rocky, Carlin said.

Others have swum from island to island before, according to O'Kane. His distinction is that his trip is the first self-supported, people-powered circum-tour of the Apostle Islands, he told the Pioneer Press.

O'Kane said water temperatures in the Apostles range from 45 to 54 degrees.

"I can't swim in anything colder than 48 or I'll get hypothermia too fast," he said.

He's swimming in a wetsuit to insulate himself from the cold water. Voge will carry the pair's supplies in his kayak and is towing a stand-up paddleboard. The paddleboard is essentially a life raft for O'Kane should he need it.

Once he reaches an island, O'Kane will hike, bicycle (on Madeline Island) or stand-up paddleboard along the shore until he reaches a point close to another island. Then he'll swim to that island.

As such, O'Kane is expecting to swim 48.75 miles, while Voge will paddle about 100. In all, O'Kane expects to paddleboard 20 to 30 miles, hike 10 to 20 miles and bike for 30 miles on the route. He expected the trip would take him 24 to 28 days.

The trip required a special blessing from the National Park Service. Most of the islands are within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, which is administered by the agency. The park's regulations don't allow people to stay for more than two weeks, so O'Kane and Voge received special permits for the endeavor.

"It's a really cool thing that he's doing," said Chris Smith, chief of visitor and resource protection for the national lakeshore.

O'Kane said he decided to do the trip after completing a swimming race from Bayfield to Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostles.

O'Kane has a satellite-connected device to update his family on his whereabouts and an Instagram account, but there will be no practical way for the public to follow his adventure.

Sam Cook of the News Tribune staff contributed to this report.

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St. Paul man swimming to all of the Apostle Islands - Duluth News Tribune