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Alexis and I spent a long weekend in Ft Lauderdale, enjoying the beachbars, local seafood and a ska show my band played in with the Toasters. Sunday morning after breakfast and some time at the beach, we drove about 45 minutes down US 1 to Oleta River State Park.
The Blue Moon Outdoor Center handles kayak and bike rentals in the park. We did not get a chance to check out the bike trails, but we rented a tandem SOT kayak for 1 1/2 hr for about $28. It was a blast, after they handed us our PFDs and paddles, we grabbed an Ocean Kayak tandem and headed off into the mangroves.
Within five minutes we had our first encounter with the denziens of the
park. A quarted of raccons were in the mangroves as we paddled by.
Definitely not afraid of people!
About 20 more minutes of paddling brought us into the Intercoastal
Waterway. We had a brisk north wind, that wouldn't have been a problem
if not for my bright idea to venture out around the "island" in the
channel then back towards the park. Alexis was right, it wasn't an
island, so we turned around and fought the oposing wind and tide back
to the park beach area.
We hugged the shoreline from there on in, back through some more
mangrooves, into a tight passage called "Devils Doom." It was Lexie's
first time kayaking and turned out to be a highlight of the trip.
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