Everglades Canoe Trip January 2004

Pavilion Key to Everglades City

The day started sunny, cool, and humid. There were fourty or fifty brown pelicans fishing outside our tent door as we got up. We took a stroll down the beach about a mile while we waited for our equipment to dry. The bird life was spectacular including more than thirty american oystercatchers flocked together at one point. Al commented that we hadn't seen black skimmers on this trip. About five minutes later, as if on queue, a small flock flew by!

We loaded the canoe for the last time and headed for the distant Rabbit Key. On the way there we saw many dolphins including one that jumped completely out of the water. One pod came very close to our canoe. As we past Rabbit Key we saw another manatee. We could also see a bright white line on the horizon. This turned out to be a large group of white pelicans sunning themselves on an oyster bar. We were able to approach within a few hundred feet without disturbing them.

After a brief rest we entered Sandfly Pass with the incoming tide. We made quick work of the remaining distance and pulled up behind the Everglades City ranger station about 2pm. This was a much better way to return compared to paddling the last three miles along the Chokoloskee causeway. The total mileage for this trip was somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 miles. It was our good fortune to see more wildlife on this trip than all the others combined.