Camping at Ten Thousand Islands (Kayaking Trip)

Camping at Ten Thousand Islands

(Kayaking Trip)

Hello friends.

Excited to be back with another long blog post.

After coming back from visiting Chicago and spending a few days home

I was already preparing for another short trip for the upcoming weekend.

Our yearly hiking anniversary was coming up so the hiking crew Hector, Alexis,

Miguel and I already had something planned for the next few days,

we were heading to Ten Thousand Islands to camp for the weekend!

How freaking awesome this idea was!

This idea was all about Alexis who kept bringing it up the past couple of week,

him and Hector had previously visited one of these islands before (I was not able to attend)

which they seemed to have a lot of fun kayaking through the west coast of Florida.

Next thing you know we were packing our dry bags and hiking

backpacks for an exciting kayaking trip to Ten Thousand Islands!

We departed on the early hour of Saturday to Everglades City to one of the close ports,

Miguel was riding with us and Alexis was coming from up north to meet up here.

Alexis had brought his small fishing boat which could only fit about 2-3 people and a cooler at most,

brilliantly enough we came up with the idea of attaching the 3 kayaks to the fishing boat,

since the boat was our way best way to speed up the kayaks so we could there faster to the island

we started putting all of our supplies, coolers, and backpacks onto the kayaks to maintain

the weight and slowly we started sailing our way to Ten Thousand Islands.

Here on forward we stopped at several beaches and shores to catch a break,

the water was icy cold and the weather was super windy for this weekend,
I remember thinking that we picked the wrong weekend to go on a kayaking trip,

I was having a hard time concentrating to keep my body warm but the waters over here is too cold.

So I have always that this theory that when everything is going great something bad will come around,

well that's exactly what happened next!

During one of our passages through of the one open canals we encounter a high flow of water

coming at us which made our kayaks really unstable and starting to bounce left to right.

At some point our big cooler just fell off the last kayak and that's when things got a bit interesting.

We had to stop at the closest island which was filled with many trees and no shore to start

dropping each item and to go back and secure the cooler that was floating in the canal.

While you may think this was easy task to do it actually took us 2-hours,

while Alexis was rescuing the cooler filled with food and beer (important things)

we were tying up the kayaks and the rest of the items to keep them safe.

As soon as he got a hold on the big cooler the best idea was to start dropping

each person and item at a different location in the island we were staying at.

Hector and his dog were up first since we were carrying her for a long time,

then it was Miguel and I was the last one arriving on the fishing boat.

During another canal passage Alexis comes to find out that the fishing boat starts having

trouble and he is struggling with keeping the boat on for several times,

we got caught up in this reef current and pushed the fishing boat to the other side of the island,

we had to jump into the freezing cold water and push the boat around until we maintained

balance and turn on the boat to keep pushing for the right directions.

I'm telling you this was the worst part of the entire trip.

I thought we were not arriving ever to the island.

It felt like this was going for the rest of the day.

Later on we made it to the other side of the island and I had hike the entire

island until I met with Hector on the other side.

Finally we were all together at the island and it was time to 

organize our supplies and drink a long awaited cold beer!

But wait we were not done with the bad incidents.

As soon as we organized our stuff and set camp at Picnic Key

the coast guards of Ten Thousand Island came straight up to us stopping for our permits,

apparently on this area of the island you entering the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refugee

and it requires a back-country permit that must be processed several days in order to camp at the beach.

Of course we didn't have any clue of this and we did not do any research whatsoever,

also no dogs were allowed on these premises as well and nowhere the island either.

At this point we had to beg the officer to let us stay here for the night as we couldn't come up

with a permit and we were not planning of kayaking more miles to the next island.

The officer was kind enough and understood the situation,

however, we did provided us with a warning ticket to all of us for simply breaking the rules

which we understood as he was doing his job but he was considerate enough to let us camp here.

In the end everything worked out for the best and it was time for us to relax,

enjoy a night of good meal, beers, and great stories to tell!

Next morning we woke up to the beautiful beach view of Ten Thousand Islands.

Camping at the beach has got to be one of the best experiences ever,

I was glad this was my first time camping on a hammock by the beach,

and while I've slept on a hammock before it felt like a completely new experience.

For me it was waking up to the breeze morning and the panoramic view of the island,

this was one of those adventures I was able to scratch off from my bucket list!

Later on we packed everything and headed back to the canals of Ten Thousand Islands.

From the marina to Picnic Key was 8-miles going in so we assumed it was the same going back,

I would say the trip was a full total of 16-miles of kayaking.

The way back is always easier and more calmer,

I was able to enjoy the ride back and take some photos of the waters and islands close to us.

We made it in less than 4-hours ride and as the fishing boat was giving us a big boost.

Reaching the marina was a great feeling and it felt like we have completed a big challenge.

Some many of you may be asking if it wasn't easier to rent a boat and reach the island?

While I agree with this option and by far the easiest one to do

we just didn't feel the rush of the adventure you know,

getting stranded, and struggling your way into the difficult waters

of Ten Thousand Islands make the trip worth your while.

In the end this is why we do it for the good and bad

times to later tell stories of our own adventures!

Alright friends this is where I leave you,

I hope you had found this blog post interesting and exhilarating,

I know this trip will stay as one of the most adventurous trip I've done lately.

Catch you guys soon on the next blog.

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