December 13.

Since leaving the Florida Keys, my internet posts have been sporadic and short, and I need to apologize for that. The water that we have paddled over along the Gulf of Mexico has been incredible, and the memories we have made are countless. I wish I had been able to talk to you in more detail about our adventure along this coastline that is such a different Florida from the Florida of the Atlantic. The past posts I have written have been more like ‘reports’ than conversations. And I apologize. I have written to you, but I haven’t had a chance to speak to you. I hope now’s a good time to talk… (more…)

December 3.

Hello from Tarpon Springs.  It’s been a stretch, again, in between updates.  Much, much, much thanks though to Rachel Doran for offering her computer, as well as the other comforts of a home, to us- letting us freshen up, clean our boats, and get ready for the next section. 

We’ve paddled some very interesting waterways since Naples. (more…)

Tuesday, November 18.

I’ve been a little out of touch with the world, lost in the Everglades and Southwest Florida, and I have been short on time and internet access.  I’m sorry to keep you all waiting for any news.  Hopefully you’ve all been able to follow our progress via SPOT.  (more…)

Friday, November 14 to Monday, November 17.

These past few days have taken us through Rookery Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands, a gradual change from the wilderness of Everglades National Park towards the more developed coastline of Southwest Florida. 

On Friday we took a zero day with my long-time friend, Deryck.  It was a great reunion as we hadn’t seen each other in over three years.  He has family in Chockoloskee and we were welcomed to stay and spend time there.  It was awesome to be able to clean the weeks worth of salt from the everglades off!  Thanks deryck for coming out, meeting us, and providing a place to relax and ‘recoop’!

The next few days were spent trying to stay out of the wind and cold that was heading our way.  We wound our way along the outskirts of the Ten Thousand Islands, dodging shallow oyster bars and startling sharks. 

Tide pulled us into the Big Marco River as we tried to avoid the rising seas of the exposed gulf.  We again took the inland route towards Naples after seeing the foaming whitewater at the inlet to the Marco River. 

When we reached Naples we attempted to head into the ocean, but after evaluating the risks and the ever lowering sun in the western sky, we headed inland a few miles to wait it out.

The man is richer whose pleasures are the simplest. — Henry David Thoreau

Wednesday, November 5 to Thursday, November 13

I might be jumping the gun with this title, but Florida has revealed itself to me in a place I never expected.  Perhaps I’m revealing some deeply held secret about Florida here, but most people probably wouldn’t believe me anyways, and the few willing to explore such a remote, foreboding area will find their own treasure.

Pristine, shell lined beaches with swaying palm trees.  Nine and a half miles of uninterrupted white sand coast line, lacking even in foot prints.  Silence.  Solitude.  Big deer roaming the shore in the early dawn hours.  Crocodiles patrolling the shallows in the sunset hours.  Big, fat eastern diamondbacks residing in the shady hardwood hammocks of their kingly domain.  Sharks drifting in and out with the waves as they search for their nightly meals.  Dolphins slapping the surface of the water and leaping into the air as they play like adolescents with their prey.

We still have a lot of Florida to discover and explore.  Every week brings a new change and special treasures.  There may be new places that challenge for the title, but if the Everglades isn’t the beating heart of the state, pumping with history and vitality, lightly touched by man, than it has certainly captured mine.

I wish I could tell you the events that took place in this marvelous place, the things we saw, but here is a glimpse.  If I continued writing about this week of paddling, then I might never finish.  Just imagine a place in your mind where you find silence.  A place where the world around you grows and grows.  Where everything seems larger than life, and wild.  A place where the wild Florida you imagine, actually lives and breathes. 

“Bids me dream and bids me linger-
Joy and beauty are its goal;
On the path that leads to nowhere
I have sometimes found my soul.” — Corinne Roosevelt Robinson