PICNIC
We
got an early start on Wednesday. We knew
that loading the kayaks would take some time.
High tide would be around 9am, and we wanted to catch the outgoing tide
to make the paddling easier. Christy was
feeling better, though she didn’t have all of her strength back. I made breakfast and we broke camp. Then we drove back down to the Visitor’s
Center in Everglades City. The boat ramp
was busy with a couple of other groups of kayakers, but we managed. Our biggest challenge was getting 6 gallons
of water into our kayaks. Our boats have
a lot of storage space, but the 5-gallon hard-sided container we’d purchased
didn’t fit into any of our holds. We
ended up taking our water in jugs but lashed the container to the top of my
boat empty. Our plan was to fill it from
the jugs in the evening, before we went to bed.
Unfortunately we’d have to refill the jugs from the container the next
morning before we departed.
It
was late morning when we departed. It
was a warm sunny day – the forecast called for clear weather with highs in the
mid-80’s and lows in the lower 60’s through the whole trip. We paddled out in Chokoloskee
Bay and I gradually oriented myself so that we could find the route to our
first campsite on Picnic Key. The first
part of the route has green and red markers, which made it much easier. Once we reached them it was a simple matter
of following them all the way to Indian Key.
We stopped once, on a sandbar, to stretch our legs.
The
markers led us to Indian Key. The beach
at the far end was covered with pelicans.
There must have been at least a hundred!
We stopped farther down the beach for lunch, keeping our distance from
the birds to keep from disturbing them.
After lunch we faced our biggest challenge. First, we had to leave the markers that we
had followed. I had two good maps though,
along with my GPS app on my phone. I
relied on the maps throughout the trip, but used the GPS to double-check our
location periodically. The bigger
challenge was crossing the channel west of Indian Key. The wind had picked up, and there was a lot of
boat traffic in that area, including tour boats that run constantly from
Everglades City. The channel was quite
choppy, with big waves that were almost white-capping. The direction we needed to go was
perpendicular to the waves, which was inconvenient. We ended up taking a different angle so that
we could paddle into the waves. This
made the crossing longer, but safer. As
it was, Christy took on quite a bit of water from waves breaking over the side
of her boat. I guess we should’ve
brought the spray skirts! I only got a
few splashes, as my boat sits higher in the water. I was pleased with how it handled in the
rough water. It is slower than Christy’s
boat, but very stable.
We
eventually passed the worst of it and turned back in the correct direction. Our next obstacle was a sandbar that had
appeared as the tide went out. I thought
we might be able to get over it, but our timing was poor. We considered dragging our boats across it,
but they were too heavy fully loaded. We
ended up paddling around an extra island to avoid the sandbar.
From
there it was an easy paddle to our beach campsite on Picnic Key. We arrived around 3pm, which gave us plenty
of time to enjoy the sunshine and go for a swim. Picnic Key has an expansive beach, but it was
a busy place. There was a large tour
group at the far end of the island and a family in the other ideal campsite. The campsite was at capacity, which isn’t
surprising considering it is popular and easy to get to. We took a small spot in between the high tide
line and the woods. Originally we
thought we might sleep in hammocks back in the trees, but the mosquitoes were
fierce back there. Christy set the
hammocks up, but we never used them.
It
cooled off that evening, which enabled us to wear long pants and long-sleeved
shirts for bug protection. The
mosquitoes weren’t bad on the beach, but the no-see-ums were annoying. We made a small fire below the high-tide line
to discourage them. That evening we
enjoyed a couple of cold beers (we brought a small cooler, though the ice
didn’t even make it through the first day) and a spectacular sunset. The clouds were fantastic, and the red,
orange, purple, and gold sky constantly changed, but lasted for a solid hour.
JEWEL
We
enjoyed a leisurely morning before leaving Picnic Key. I made blueberry pancakes and coffee for
breakfast, and we watched dolphins splashing around just off-shore. We saw lots of dolphins during our trip, but
this pod was just a short distance from our beach.
We
packed up and headed out late that morning.
We backtracked towards Indian Key, and once again the Indian Key Channel
was rough and challenging to cross.
Oddly, once we passed it, the water was calm. We passed several more pods of dolphins along
here. We enjoyed a pleasant paddle past
a series of wooded islands, including Jack Daniels Key, before reaching the
beach on Jewel Key. It’s a beautiful
spot, so we stopped there for lunch and a swim.
Picnic Key only has the one long beach on one side of a large wooded
island. Jewel Key features a beach
connecting two wooded islands. There are
bays on both sides of the beach, offering views in almost every direction. It would be a great place to camp – we will
keep that in mind the next time we are in the area.
There
is about 4 miles of open ocean between Jewel Key and Rabbit Key, our next
destination. Originally I planned to
take a somewhat longer route connecting a series of islands. This seemed safer than exposing ourselves to
a long open water crossing. However,
conditions were totally calm as we rounded the far end of Jewel Key. The water was as smooth as glass. We conferred, and decided to head straight
across the ocean to Rabbit Key. This
worked out great, as steady, easy paddling delivered us to Rabbit Key in less
than an hour. Rabbit Key features a long
spit of sand that connects it to Lumber Key.
That spit is underwater during the highest tides, so we didn’t want to
risk camping there. The prime campsite
on the west side of the island was taken, so we paddled all the way around the
island to access the bay on the east side.
That end of the island features a long beach that connects with the spit
leading to Lumber Key. There was another
group camped there, but there was plenty of room for us. We took a nice sandy site under a stand of
trees.
After
setting up camp Christy and walked around the island. It was a fun little hike, with some wading in
the surf and bushwhacking inland. We
found pretty sea shells, horseshoe crab shells, and one sea turtle shell. After we finished our loop I went looking for
firewood. That was successful, except
that one log I picked up was covered in fire ants. Somehow I managed to avoid getting bit that
time.
FEEDING FRENZY
Our
neighbors invited us to join them at a campfire on the spit that evening. One guy was on an 18-day, 100+ mile solo trip
from Flamingo to Marco Island. His trip
included all of the Wilderness Waterway, and he only had 2 days to go. Camped nearby was a couple that included a
woman from Utah and her husband, a French mountaineering and backcountry skiing
guide. Finally, there was a local guy
that entertained us all evening with a thorough account of the local history of
the area. Sharks just off-shore provided
additional entertainment. Every few
minutes a shark would approach a school of fish, sending them into a panicked
thrashing mass of flashing silver. Each
time we shined our high-powered headlamps on them to watch the feeding
frenzy.
The
spit was a great place to spend the evening.
There were no bugs, and we made the most of the fire and polished off a
small flask of whiskey. It was a great
way to spend our final evening in the Everglades.
It
was overcast the next morning. We had
blueberry pancakes and coffee again, but headed out earlier to take advantage
of the ingoing tide. We took the direct
route through Rabbit Key Pass. Although
we had the benefit of the tide, it was a rougher paddle due to choppy
conditions. We reached Chokoloskee Island by late morning and paddled 3 more miles
across the bay to the take out at the Visitor’s Center. After packing up and loading the kayaks onto
the car we had lunch at the Oyster House.
Then we started the long drive north.
It was Friday afternoon, and we needed to be back in Charlotte by early
afternoon on Saturday. I had reserved a
hotel in Jacksonville to break up the drive.
On the way we planned to stop and visit friends in Titusville. Google Maps thought that we should drive to
Miami and head north. I thought that
sounded like a terrible idea. Apparently
Google Maps has never driven through Miami.
We
took secondary roads to Orlando and then picked up the exceptionally expensive
turnpike east to Titusville. We met our
friends, Myron and Dorcas, for dinner there.
I started hiking with Myron in the mid-90’s, before he met Dorcas. We all enjoyed many adventures together in
the late 90’s and beyond. In recent
years Myron and Dorcas have spent the colder months in Florida. They are avid canoeists, and Florida is a
haven for paddling. Unfortunately Myron
is having some health problems, but they are upbeat that he will recover soon.
It
was great to see them, but we were only able to stay for a couple of
hours. Two more hours of driving brought
us to a Holiday Inn Express in Jacksonville.
From there, we only had 6 hour drive back to Charlotte on Christmas
Eve. That went smoothly, and we were
back home – all too soon. We plan to
return to the Everglades for another kayaking trip. Next time I think we will do a 4-day loop
from Everglades City connecting the Lopez River, the Chatham River, Mormon Key,
Pavilion Key, and Jewel Key.
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