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| Narrow passage between mangrove keys |
When we rented kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State
Park, the kayak guy said, “If you get in areas too narrow to paddle, just take
your paddles apart, and paddle with one side.” He gave us a laminated map and
we headed out.
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| Some passages required using only half of the paddle |
Mangrove islands protect the shoreline of Pennekamp Park and
Largo Sound from the wave action of the ocean.
In shallow areas, mangrove plants continuously send roots down from
their branches toward the sea floor to expand the plant. Debris catches in these structures and
gradually islands or keys develop.
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| Russ and the Egret/White Heron |
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| Which is the Egret, which is the Great White Heron? |
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| Black legs = Great Egret |
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| Yellow legs = Great White Heron (as it flew away) |
The Pennekamp Canoe Trail takes you along the shoreline of
part of Largo Sound and then through canals between these mangrove keys. Along the edge of Largo Sound, we spent time
observing and photographing a Great Egret and a Great White Heron that were
wading near each other.
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| Cathedral Creek |
Most of the passageways between the mangrove islands are
very wide and easy to paddle along. The
kayak guy had mentioned that since we were experienced kayakers, we might go through
Cathedral Creek. The creek is so named
because the mangroves branches form a peaked roof above you as you paddle
through. The passageway was almost too
narrow for half a paddle, so we pulled ourselves along by hand using the
branches overhead. The water was very
clear, and as we looked down, we saw tropical fish swimming among the mangrove
roots at the edge of the key. In fact,
they were the same fish we had seen the day before when we were snorkeling on
the reef; parrotfish, grunts and others.
It was beautiful.
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| The beginning of Spider Creek - it didn't stay this wide for long! |
Spider Creek was another recommendation and came with the
instructions to bear left going in, and bear right coming out. So at every intersection in the channel on
our way in, we chose the left channel.
It got narrower and narrower until we had to back out to a place that
was wide enough to turn around.
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| Kayak rental spot |
Such a fun and unique kayak experience!
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