Southwest Florida's brilliant kayak trail
shows off nature, explains Indian history
Exploring Florida's Pine Island
Planning a trip to Southwest Florida
By David G. Molyneaux
For miles around the noisy, often crowded beaches of Fort Myers and the traffic jams of vacationers headed for the island enclaves of Sanibel and Captiva lies a natural world of mangroves. They are ready for exploring.
From a distance, mangroves seem impenetrable. But all along the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida are inlets into the acres of these tough tidal plants with exposed roots digging into the water.
Once inside the mangrove world, you'll find a maze of hidden waterways.
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| Kayaks ready for exploring on the Great Calusa Blueway |
Rent a kayak or canoe. Outfitters will meet you at your hotel or at the beach. With a little instruction, or none, you can head for the mangrove backwaters and the shallows of the shores of the Intercoastal Waterway.
You can stay for hours, or days, on more than 100 miles of water trails, some laid out by the Calusa Indians hundreds of years ago. Today, newly mapped and marked, the trails are called the Great Calusa Blueway.
Nature is the main draw: Watch the birds. Delight in the slap, slap of gentle waves of the Waterway against your boat. Marvel at the mangroves, which are tough tidal plants that trap the sands holding some coastal islands together. If you are so inclined, choose one of the mangrove passages that are so tight you will need to bend the roots -- left, right and above -- to squeeze your boat through the plants as little crabs scamper along the bark.
Free maps detail location markers, tidal flats for bird watchers, opportunities to get close to Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, historic sites and nature centers.
A Website, GreatCalusaBlueway, offers ideas, outfitters, a tidal chart and current trail conditions.
The trail, still under development in some areas, including a leg up the Caloosahatchee River, is an opportunity to relax in a natural environment on the water, using as much physical exertion as you want, and to learn about the history of this state, long before the Spaniards discovered what the Calusa Indians already owned.
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| Mantanzas Pass Preserve |
There's plenty to do outside your boat as well. Follow the signs to trail markers and interpretive centers that explain the natural and human predatory history of South Florida, where the Spaniards eventually swallowed up the Casusa Indians.
For your own swallowing, buy a cheeseburger on the Waterway island of Cabbage Key. It sits atop a 38-foot Calusa Indian shell mound. Jimmy Buffet has docked his boat here for a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" (call 239-283-2278). Or, you can dine with more elegance on Pine Island at the Tarpon Lodge (call 239-283-2517). You may choose to sleep away a quiet night at either place.
Getting onto the Calusa Blueway
The Blueway runs along the coast. The water trail meanders through Estero Bay from Bonita Springs north to Fort Myers, through Matlacha Pass between Cape Coral and Pine Island and around Pine Island Sound to the barrier islands of Sanibel, Captiva, North Captiva and Cayo Costa.
You can go as far as you want, spending an hour or a week. Even if you don't want to learn anything about nature or history, kayaking on the shores and in the mangroves of Southwest Florida makes for a great outdoors vacation day for families, groups, or, like me, a single traveler with an experienced guide.
On a March morning, as the beach traffic was building on busy Summerlin Road, I drove to quiet Bunche Beach, between Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Bunche is one of many convenient launching places for paddling on a portion of the Blueway.
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| Mangoves at Bunche Beach in Fort Myers |
With my kayak, delivered to the beach by a nearby rental company, I joined naturalist Trudi Edelman, who brought her own. We slid our kayaks into Matanzas Pass, in the shallows at the edge of Estero Bay.
As the tide rolled in, the sea provided a slight but steady chop. The light kayaks handled well against the tide, and we paddled around off-shore for a few minutes, then slipped into a trail of