01/14/07: Paddling Sandfly Island:
Wish I had something positive to report. Mangroves and that's it... no scenery, no wildlife. Met a young couple from Ohio camping on Sandfly Island. They were so excited to be camping in the Everglades. I just smiled and made encouraging noises.
Two miles across Chokoloskee Bay. I wasn't paying attention to where I was paddling and got off course. Try finding the right channel in unfamiliar mangroves. I had a little map and found what I was looking for with little trouble. What was I looking for? Why a Porti-Potti of course. A ranger had pointed it out to me and said that's Sandfly Island. It sits out on a dock where you can see it.
Tide was 2 hours from high tide when I entered the channel. Current was only 1-2mph. Landed on the island to do a 1 mile walk. 2000 years ago Indians made this island by eating oysters and discarding the shells. That must have been a lot of oysters. The trail was overgrown and I only saw one thing of interest.
A couple of days ago I saw a sign indicating a strangler fig. Here I saw a big vine wrapped around a cabbage palm. I mean it was wrapped around it and seemed like a second tree. The lower part of the palm had pretty much disappeared under the vine. I dunno if the palm is going to die but I would think so.
The canoe trail follows the island to the left of Sandfly Island. I was told to keep to the left all the way around this mangrove island. I did and after a couple of missed turns popped back into the bay. 10-15mph winds and 2-4 foot seas was the forcast. I got the 10-15mph winds in the bay but only 1-2 foot chop.
01/15/07: Paddling Turner River: (9 miles one way):
I was on my way back to Everglades City to do the Halfway Creek loop when I saw the parking area at the Turner River launch on US 41 was empty. It has been quite full the times I've been by there. Now, I don't know why.
It started off well enough. Lots of lily pad flowers in bloom. I'd only seen a few before today. I even got a nice shot of a small alligator backed by several flowers. The 'river' is 20 feet wide on the upper portion with tall reeds, a couple small cypress trees and a few others with Spanish moss on them.
Then the river disappears into one of the mangrove tunnels I've been hearing about. Paddling books describe them as wonderful mangrove tunnels, etc. I describe them as 'they suck'!. 4-5 feet wide, twisting and turning. Not a lot of fun after the first 2 minutes and the newness wears off and not a place for a 17 foot kayak. I had to break my paddle apart and used it like a canoe paddle, lots of draws and cross draws.
The river broke out into a small pond and immediately plunged back into another tunnel. After another 1/4 mile of this things opened up with saw grass to view on both sides. If I wanted that I could find quite a lot of it in New Jersey. I came to another tunnel and called it quits. I knew there were more tunnels beyond, one 1/2 mile long and I really wasn't having a good time. I was about 1/3 of the way down when I turned back.
I was 2 hours into a flood tide when I started but it had no effect on the trip. The current was actually going out at about .5mph. I did see 8-10 small alligators and at least 1 or 2 of the usual birds, coots, ibises, great herons, great egrets, some green herons and some small blue ones.
01/16/07: Paddling Halfway Creek Loop (9 mile loop):
Put in behind the visitor center at dead low tide. 6 canoes were taking off on a 5 day trip up into 10,000 Islands. The canoes were paired off and held to each other like outriggers without a middle by 1X2's or something similar.
Paddled along the shore of Chokoloskee Bay to a bridge and turned inland under it. The bay is 2 miles across and about 5 miles long at that point. Got hung up in the little estuary there. At low tide you need to follow the channel to the left and follow the markers into the creek.
Houses or rather mobile homes upgraded with porches, etc. line the creek for the first mile or so. They fade away after that. From that point mangrove roots and mud dominate the scenery. The mangroves form a tunnel much of the way but much bigger than the Turner River tunnels.
After a while though, the creek narrows and because of low tide, a lot of branches start reaching up to grab the canoe, the rudder and you. I almost got stabbed in the chest a couple of times. I had to power through a number of thickets and over one small log. Made it about 1/3 of the way over the log and then had to scoot my way the rest of the distance.
It took me 2 hours to go the 2.5 miles to Turner Lake. When you pop out on the lake, don't think it's the whole lake. My guide book said to follow the right shoreline 1/2 mile to the river. I, of course, didn't and headed down the middle thinking I'm keeping track of the mangrove islands. Wrong! Got to the end and only found one little possibility Tried to go down it and got a lot of spiders in my face. It proved too narrow and twisty and I didn't think it was the river.
Back on the lake I saw a power boat disappear between some islands. They come up the Turner River but can't physically go down Halfway Creek.. I paddled over and found the Left Hand Turner River. Over there the lake actually turns into the river and its pretty wide. My new strategy was to follow the current. The tide was coming in and I could see bubbles and stuff coming in with it. It didn't exceed one knot though. Left hand was supposed to join Turner River in 3/4 miles. I guess it did but I didn't notice.
After a mile I got dumped out at the mouth of the Turner River. I saw an RV park on the far side. I paddled past it into Chokolskee Bay. It didn't look familiar and I wish I had my GPS. I lost it the other day after 10 years.
I followed the shoreline and eventually I could see the bridge I'd paddled under earlier. I guess it was about 3 miles back to the put in.