Everglades kayaking suggestions?

[suddha]

My wife and I are going to Key Largo next week and plan to dive a lot but thought we might take a day off to do something else, maybe the day before we fly home. We enjoy kayaking and thought paddling the Everglades or Keys might be fun. Can anyone recommend an outfitter/guide who does these kinds of trips?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Going The Distance]

I dont remember If I mentioned this on another post. Last year one of the times I was In Key Largo we had been out for two days in the boat and decided to find somewhere stable for din-din and crash for the night. We anchored about 10ft from the barge right out of Largo sound(its been there quite sometime, and not the first time for this) around 1or2pm. There was some kind of outfitter there with about 10 or better kayakers snorkling on it and around it. In anycase some guy was kind of guiding this because he was very informative to the snorklers The yaks all had a lable wich i cant remember the name. So maybe some around there may be able to chime in whith abit more info.

 

[solensdotter]

Florida Bay Outfitters (www.kayakfloridakeys.com) is probably your best bet in the Keys. I think that most of the best kayaking in the Everglades is over on the southwest coast, along the Florida Bay and in the 10,000 Islands / Turner River area, which isn't all that accessible for a day trip. Not kayaking, but you can bike the 15 mile loop from the Shark Valley visitors' center in the Everglades (www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/index.htm).

 

[OceanObsessed]

Suddha,
I think the best kayaking/canoeing you can do in S Florida is the Turner River (solensdotter mentioned it above). You can do this in one day but you would need to start early and it will take all day. You should be prepared for this trip, and be familiar with basic navigation & using a GPS, because there are a couple of opportunities along the river & mangroves to get lost. When I did it I brought along satellite photos (google earth) of the river and marked waypoints along the river to confirm my location at times.

If this sounds like something you are interested in let me know and I will give you more info.
Here is a snapshot from Google Earth. The river starts in the upper right hand corner and runs down toward the bottom left. You can see that alot of the river is covered with mangrove tunnels. This might be a little more involved than you were anticipating but if you are comfortable with a trip like this it is really a great canoe trip.

Tip: Be sure you sit in the back of the canoe so the person in the front clears out all the spider webs & spiders as you go through the mangrove tunnels

 

[Jayde323]

This is a great paddle: http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/upload/Sandfly.pdf. You can get more into here: Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service). I am not sure if the national park offers kayak rentals, but I am sure there are outfitters in the area. Hubby abd I kayaked it a while back and loved it. Saw a couple sharks, dolphins, gators (they do wander into saltwater not and then), a huge stingray that came to the surface to check me out (and startle the $%#@ out if me). We loved it. BTW, Sandfly Island is aptly named, bring bugspray. You can also go into Everglade City, there are a few places to paddle there too. Oh, here is another link for the 10,000 islands... http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/tenthousandislands.htm

 

[sharkbait0501]

I found this shop in key largo a couple of weeks ago: Florida Keys Kayak Rental, Guided Kayak Tours, Kayak Eco Tours, Sunset Kayak Tours. They offer rentals, as well as guided tours. The staff was very friendly & knowledgable. Have fun.