Steinhatchee to Suwanee FLORIDA – 3 Day "Solo" Journey in March of 2008

Captivated by the less-developed gulf coast of Florida during my 2006 “scouting” trip, two years later in 2008 I decided to drive the trusty Pintail down again and do a solo camping journey along the “Big Bend”. Got a shuttle to the put-in from a nice fellow Capt. Russ McAllister who runs Suwanee Guides.  The coast was magical and desolate – bringing maps is “a must” to find the designated camping spots and keeping a sense of your paddling speed is helpful too because the coastline is so similar looking, few landmarks. Saw no other paddlers on the first leg (few motor boaters too). Reached the campsite, set up and settled in alone “in the middle of no where” with a minimum of supplies. The idea of solitary camping away from civilization, in a place where the Florida panther is known to frequent, was exciting and somewhat stress-inducing, but I was determined to be self-sufficient in this desolate and remote place, actually began to relish the challenge of solitude - when to my surprise 3 other paddlers showed up near sunset! They hadn’t reserved the site with the Fish & Wildlife Commission (as I had) but their company was welcome.  These other guests included 2 medical doctors and they had tons of extra food and wine!  So if I’d been injured and starving, I would have had no trouble finding help.



White Pelicans - FL Gulf Coast



Everglades - Winter 1999-2000

Week long trip w/ NOLS Alumni in the outer mangrove islands of Everglades Nat'l Park flanking the Gulf of Mexico. Had been sea kayaking for several years prior but had yet to go kayak camping so was looking forward to using all the storage space in kayaks for some camping.  Launched from Everglades City and spent 7 days paddling about with frequent racoon encounters in the p.m. Perfected the subtle art of installing the dead-man tarp stake-down. Came to realize that the Boreal Designs "Beluga" Double-kayak can probably hold enough gear for an expedition of several years duration! Truly a massive boat. Revisited the area in 2006 for some solo paddling. Great spot. Maps essential in the mangrove maze.  Surprisingly few birds - think I see more nesting egrets in NY than we saw on this trip. We did get to see a loggerhead turtle pop his head up and also a manatee make a massive and suprising "sounding" right under one of our kayaks (it was either a manatee or a submarine).

FLA 2006 - Apalachicola to Key West - A LONG Drive

Drove from NY to Key West in February of 2006 - paddled along the way.  Highlights were Apalachicola River, St. Vincent Island, Everglades 10,000 Island and the Keys.  Pintail offered a little less freeboard than I would have liked on the Apalachicola with alligators diving into the water (and under my boat) at every turn of a narrow tributary.

Put-in on Apalachicola

Pintail and Mangroves

Tarpon and Pelican



Canal on Keys carved through Limestone/Coral




Photo of canal (bottom left) carved in the fossil coral joining Largo and Blackwater Sounds. Up close you can see the remnants of brain coral and coral fan shapes in the retaining wall. Ah yes, almost run over by a motor boat in the mangroves minutes prior to this.

Biggest take-home message from this trip to the Keys was the density of development on such a narrow strip of land. Some beautiful places to paddle still, yet much of the Keys suffer from the strip-mall syndrome of stoplights, multiple curb cuts, and lack of open space. Sewage and untreated stormwater runoff rapidly destroying the only coral reef ecosystem in the continental U.S. Had a snorkel at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park - it's still alive but by all accounts doing poorly. Big barracuda I saw didn't seem to mind, but there was certainly evidence of coral bleaching all around.

Interesting Factoids - 1. The Florida Keys receives the bulk of its drinking water via a 130-mile long pipeline from the mainland. 2.The first desalination plant in the United States was built in the 1840s in Key West to serve troops at Fort Zachary Taylor. 3. After extending the railroad through Florida and giving birth to what would become the city of Miami, guilded-age oil baron Henry Flagler built the "over-sea railway" to Key West, which functioned for about 20 years until the Hurricane of 1935.

http://www.keyshistory.org/flagler.html