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One of the things we’ve recently started doing (recent being in the last two years or so), is kayaking. We figured out how to take them with us in the camper. Because our camper has beds that fold out, we are able to slide the kayaks in from one end and they fit in the open space. We also put the two smaller kayaks in the very back of the camper standing up (bungeed in place).
Our big green kayak is a three person kayak, but we normally only put two in it. Three’s definitely a crowd! I have my own one person kayak so I normally carry all the stuff (water, snacks, etc). We bought both of them used.
We have two of these 6 foot kayaks (which we bought new) that are perfect for our boys. If they get too tired, we loop a rope through the handle at the front and pull them along for a bit. As they’ve gotten more experience, we haven’t had to pull them as much. These little kayaks didn’t have hooks for seats and the boys biggest complaint was the lack of a seat. I found some clips and rivets online and they were super easy to install. The seats were also bought online.
I watched these seats until they went on sale – I paid $27 for them.
These are the loops I bought. Please note that you will need a rivet tool to install these.
The mangrove tunnels at John Pennekamp were fun to explore although some of them were a bit narrow!
One thing I’m always intrigued by is abandoned/closed things (buildings, trails, towns, whatever) and at John Pennekamp there’s a trail that’s been closed for several years. It’s called the Mangrove trail and you can only walk a couple steps down the boardwalk before you’re met with a gate and a sign that says it’s closed. The written literature says that it’s closed while they repair it, but we asked a park ranger once and it seems that it’s permanently closed. Of course that just adds to my curiosity. I’m not willing to ignore signs and do anything illegal, but I was very curious as to why it was closed.
On our kayaking travels around the park, we checked out an area that we thought would take us near the mangrove trail. We found the trail, or what was left of it!
It was pretty clear why the trail was closed!
It was damaged by a hurricane and a large portion of the boardwalk washed away. I can’t imagine the effort it would take to rebuild it!
Being told it’s closed for repairs is one thing. Actually seeing what’s left of it is so much different! For now my curiosity is satisfied. On to the next kayaking adventure – Indian Key Historic State Park.
According to our geocaching app, Indian Key is about 1/2 mile from the launch point. That seemed like a doable distance – it was a clear day, the water was smooth.
We paddled under the bridge and into the boat channel. For me that’s always the worst part, especially in open water (when we’re paddling around smaller bodies of water, the boat channels aren’t as deep or wide). We quickly paddled across it and then slowed down to enjoy the sea life.
My youngest was super excited to spot this sea urchin.
Our easy paddle quickly became hard when we realized that it was low tide! We struggled through some really low areas where our bigger kayaks were dragging and then just when we thought we had made it, we noticed a sign that said the area was protected and you couldn’t land there. The kayak landing was around to the right of the island. The sign was leaning back and we couldn’t see it until we were ready to pull up the kayaks. The ground was so soft – like sink to your knees soft! We finally managed to drag, I mean paddle our way around to the kayak landing.
After catching our breath, we set out to explore. Indian Key was home to Jacob Housman who was a wrecker in the early 1800’s.
The island was laid out with streets and landmarks identified similar to what it would’ve been while it was inhabited.
Imagine, a hotel on an island 1/2 mile off shore!
This was our favorite part of the island.
Kayaking back was much easier – the tide had come in a couple inches and that made all the difference! After we arrived back at our launch point, the guys decided to cool off before heading back to camp. The boys thought it was fun to float with their life jackets (plus it’s good for them to know that they really do work).
After all that hard work, ice cream was definitely a much needed reward!
Do you kayak? What was your best adventure?
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