03/07/00 Paddling Blackwater River/Royal Palm:
Well, here I am on the Florida west coast. Again I was headed for Lake Okeechobee, and again something made me change directions. I think I might have been lonesome for a taste of salt water. I ended up here at the Collier-Seminole State Park in Naples.
This is on the northern edge of 10,000 Islands. I thought, surely, I'd find some good paddling here. So far I've encountered two problems. 1) There are no public access ramps in the area and most of it is actually wilderness. I haven't done any research on the region but I suspect it's popularity lies in multi-day trips rather than day trips. http://www2.50megs.com/everglades/ may have some good information but I wasn't able to get online before arriving. 2) Everything I've seen so far is mangroves. I think the entire coastal area is mangroves. I like mangroves. I think their feeding branches are neat. But I don't want mangroves every inch of the way.
Blackwater Creek runs 13.5 miles through the state park. I left the required float plan at the ranger station and launched from the park ramp. The creek starts off about 75 feet wide and the mangroves extend from both shores. You quickly get the sense you're out in the wilderness. The canoe trail is supposed to pass through Muddy Bay, a small pond like body of water.
The tide was almost at full ebb and mud banks lined the entrance to the bay. Hundreds of little fiddler (I think) crabs had burrows on these mud banks. All you could see was the little white claws waving in the air. I assume they were trying to attract insects or something and would really zap them when they got near with that claw.
The map of the area I had, passed out by the rangers, wasn't very good and I abandoned my float plan and followed the day markers towards the Gulf of Mexico. A tour boat went out and came back. As it passed me for the second time 20 videos and cameras were all clicking away like crazy at one poor old black vulture perched on a tree limb. That would have been the highlight of their $20 tour.
In one area I could see little tiny, baby mussels clustered on mangrove branches that would be under water once the tide came in again. Really strange. I thought mussels were cold water shell fish and I haven't seen adults this far south. Then oysters could be seen clutching the mangrove roots with barnacles hanging on to the branches. As I moved farther down the creek more oysters could be seen on the banks and then whole islands of them.
All day I only saw a few blue herons and a few Ibises and one or two other birds but other than some little red crabs with claws the size of their bodies, that was it for wild life.
The wind started pushing me pretty hard from behind so I stopped for an early lunch before starting back. And then I heard the sweet sound of a jet propelled air boat winding out at full throttle. It was a tour boat with about 6 people in it. There seems to be something inherently wrong in wearing protective ear covering when out viewing nature.
Of course with all the open water in this bay, this guy had to circle around me with the damn thing. Probably pointing out one of those old fashioned watercraft that require manpower and don't make hardly no noise at all (except for a few grunts and moans now and agan).
The tide was coming in and the wind blowing out caused some 1 foot chop for the first mile or so, making for a wet ride. As the water dried on my arms, it left salt deposits.