Key Lime Sailing Club - mangrove kayak trail adventure

The winds are forecast to be light and variable today. This will be a good day to go on a kayak paddle through the mangroves. We requested our Catalina 22 to be dockside at 9:30 am. We loaded her up and tied two kayaks to her stern and motored the 3.2 miles to the mangroves. The area with the mangrove kayak trails are north of Grouper Creek. This is a narrow passage of the ICW on the gulf side. It is somewhat shallow as well as narrow but well marked with channel markers. Priscilla and I passed through here in 2016 on our motor yacht during our Great Loop trip. We were cruising from Marathon to Key Largo and then on to Ft Lauderdale.

It was a 3.2 mile cruise to the mangrove kayak trail.

We followed the hand made chart from the sailing club and looked closely for the kayak trail entrance. No luck. Then I remembered Neal the dock master had suggested using Google Earth because Navionics did not provide definition on the interior of the mangroves. As soon as I looked on Google Earth we found the entrance. We were staring right at it.

Jackson is keeping a sharp watch for thin water.

Alison driving the boat with the kayaks trailing behind.

That is me living the dream.

We anchored the boat and climbed into the kayaks. Alison and Jackson paddled a double kayak and I had a single kayak. It was a short paddle from the boat to the mangroves. The kayak trail was well defined once we were in the mangroves. Lots of overhanging mangroves made it similar to paddling in a tunnel. Several mangrove trees had fallen over making it challenging but not impossible to pass through. We paddled to a confluence with another kayak trail and turned left. When we reach another main channel we turned around and followed the second trail to the end and then returned to our boat.

Paddling through the mangroves.

Alison and Jackson in a double kayak.

That is me trying to keep up with Alison and Jackson.

We had lunch on the boat and started our outboard to motor back to the sailing club. We tied our kayaks to the back. We could see our favorite landmark the giant cell tower on the other side of the mangroves.

This is our Catalina 22 Kalypso as seen from water on my kayak.

We could see our favorite landmark the giant cell tower on the other side of the mangroves.

If we can see this tower we can find our way home.

As we made our way back through Grouper Creek we were ambushed by several large center console powerboats with multiple engines cruising at warp speed. We kept to the right side of the channel as far as we could but it is quite narrow. One of the monsters passed within a few feet of us going at least 30 mph and throwing off a massive wake. It never occurred to him to slow down. Or if he did he didn’t care. Obviously he was on a schedule and we were an annoyance. He passed so close I couldn’t turn into the waves and we were rolled spreader to spreader. If we had any liquor bottles on board he would have surely broken them. I looked up at the son of the boat driver as they blasted past and he saw the result. He waved weakly.

We returned to the sailing club and Jackson was ready to swim and paddle his own kayak. Then he asked his mom to take him on a paddle board.

If you look closely you can see what Jackson had for dessert.

Alison and Jackson continue the adventure on a paddle board.

I asked Neal the dock master what are the next best things to do in the area since we had been to Nest Key and the mangrove kayak trails. He said the owner of the sailing club also owns a marina at mile marker 100. Occasionally people sail the Catalina 22’s fifteen miles to the marina and get a ride back to the sailing club at night and then return in the morning to sail back to the sailing club. The sailing club charges $60 per person for the round trip. They also have a Morgan 33 on the ocean side for charter and there are snorkeling and scuba diving trips out to the reefs.

Jackson made a new friend at the harbor. He asked me if I knew the difference between fish and aquatic mammals. I said what is the difference. He said fish swim by moving their tails left to right. Aquatic mammals like dolphins, whales and manatees move their tales up and down. There you have it. I can lean from a six year old.