The Great Calusa Blueway

Fall 2008

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

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Stopped at a temporary tidal island

By Dan Armitage

“Whoosh!”

It sounded like porpoise spouting in slow motion directly behind me, and I was startled as my kayak drifted across the quiet pocket of water tucked back in the mangroves. Looking down into the stained salt water, the bottom seemed to be moving past about a foot beneath my kayak. What made this troubling was that I had drifted to a stop in water that was about six feet deep. That “bottom” turned out to be the mud-brown back of a thousand-pound manatee cruising right under my craft after a noisy nasal exchange of air.

My first close encounter with a “sea cow” took place on my first day paddling a 190-plus-mile water trail called the Great Calusa Blueway. It flanks a particularly scenic stretch of sub-tropical, southwest Florida coastline. It’s a route I find myself recommending to fellow kayakers every chance I get, and for more than mere manatee sightings.

Dan Armitage explores mangrove water-tunnels.

Plans for the paddle trail began in 2003 when officials with Florida’s Lee County Parks and Recreation Department and the county’s Visitor and Convention Bureau both recognized the value of boating to visitors and residents of southwest Florida. They wanted to create something special for watersports enthusiasts who preferred to travel by paddle power, while at the same time showcasing the value of the fragile near-shore areas and the wildlife wonders available only to shallow water explorers.

A waterways coordinator was hired to oversee and promote the program. That job went to local outdoor columnist Betsy Clayton, who was covering the trail development process as part of her boating beat at the local newspaper.

The Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail is being developed in three phases and, “in the end, its 190 marked trails meander through most of our scenic waterways, but there are still unmarked parts left to discover,” Clayton said.

The first two phases were done by 2005, and encompass two distinct regions of the Gulf of Mexico coast. The first portion meanders through Estero Bay, while the newest section directs paddlers through the scenic bays of Sanibel and Captiva islands, and the waters around Pine Island. The third leg of the trail created a paddle-friendly route up the Caloosahatchee River near Fort Myers, completed last October.

The Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival, which will run Oct. 25 to Nov. 2, highlights all three phases.

After consulting with Clayton, I decided to tackle part of the Phase 2 section. The route I chose would take me from a barrier island to a stretch along the mainland, allowing me to take advantage of four different overnight accommodation options. It would also give me the chance to experience what many residents and visitors consider an oasis among the more developed areas of the Sunshine State: Pine Island.

The latter was a fitting jumping-off point for my paddle adventure, and one of the most popular among kayakers who have time to tackle but one section of the water trail.

Cruising to Cayo Costa

Despite scheduling my trail tour during the dry season, in January, I did get wet. Once. Luckily it was on my first night on the trail when I opted for a rustic cabin rather than a tent while camping at Cayo Costa State Park, across Pine Island Sound from Pine Island.

Cayo Costa is a true barrier island, separating the sound from the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and is about as basic as you can get when it comes to amenities. Campers must bring all their food and water for their stay. The state park there offers rustic cabins and primitive tent-camping sites, and is accessible only by boat.

Tropic Star Cruises, based in Pineland on the northwest shore of Pine Island, offers daily ferry service to the island – including kayaks – and offers rental kayaks at the state park. After spending the night of my arrival at the historic Tarpon Lodge in Pineland, Tropic Star’s Capt. Ted Serrell met me at the Tarpon Lodge dock and helped me load my kayak aboard the ferry. Once the other passengers were aboard, Serrell pointed out the sights and the historical highlights – in an educational-yet-entertaining fashion – along the route as my fellow passengers and I made the half-hour cruise to Cayo Costa and the state park dock.

Life on the Trail

Paddlers relax at the Sun and the Moon Inn in Matlacha after a day on the Great Calusa Blueway. The Inn is one of more than a dozen accommodations that cater to kayakers along the 190-mile water trail off Southwest Florida.

From Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa, paddlers can head south past Cabbage Key to pick up a leg of the Blueway Trail leading south toward Captiva and Sanibel islands across San Carlos Bay and on to Fort Myers Beach and the first phase of the trail. After two days of exploring the coast of Cayo Costa, which included several interludes with resident manatees, wild pig sightings and some excellent fishing, I chose the main stem of the Blueway Phase 2, which directs paddlers east toward the hamlet of Bokeelia on the northern tip of Pine Island.

There, Clayton had recommended staying at Jug Creek Cottages, which caters to paddlers and offers small housekeeping cabins near the head of a canal right off the Blueway in the heart of Bookelia. I was able to beach the kayak and leave it unlocked at the ramp located at the end of the canal and walk to my funky, palm framed, pastel-painted, one-bedroom cottage.

The following day’s paddle from Bokeelia to Matlacha was a delightful ten-mile cruise that I took all day to tackle as I stopped to fish at every chance. Ducking into shallow bays and exploring sandy tidal islets, I hooked several sea trout and redfish along the route, one of the latter large enough to drag me around Nantucket sleigh ride-style before breaking off.

 

Working through a mangrove maze.

The waterways coordinator was dead-on in selecting that night’s accommodation, which offered a waterfront swimming pool and hot tub to ease muscles made sore by the past three days’ paddling. The Sun and the Moon Inn in Matlacha is right on a canal along the Blueway, within walking distance of several restaurants, a seafood market and a bait and tackle shop, and a “must stop” for anyone exploring that section of the trail.

Owner Curt Peer is an avid kayaker and doting host, the combination creating one of the most paddler-friendly properties on the Eastern Seaboard and a magnet for local kayakers as well as guests.

In fact, rather than returning my rental kayak to Backwater Outfitters just up the street in Matlacha, I simply hosed it down and left it on the lawn for the next lucky guest, arriving that afternoon with plans to pick up where I had stopped, and continue on down the trail.

That’s the spirit of cooperation that pervades this kayak-friendly corner of the Sunshine State, where it’s all about promoting paddle power and sharing its pleasures with one and all.