Kayak Trip

 We are moored in Boot Key Harbor.  Marathon is on Vaca Key to one side with a largish, uninhabited island called Boot Key on the other.  Once upon a time there was some type of installation over there with a bridge connecting the two keys.  We have been coming down for over 15 years and never saw the bridge as anything other than defunct.  Boot Key is mostly mangroves with numerous water pathways, a large creek and a few ponds on the interior.  We have taken the dinghy up the creeks and explored the ponds but never did any of the smaller trails.  Some very nice people off of a nearby boat loaned us their kayaks and a super knowledgeable lady who kayaks as her major form of transportation, allowed us to go on our first kayak adventure.  Donna, the knowledgeable lady, is on a motor vessel named Blue Moon so this was obviously meant to be.  She led us down a trail that wound through a good chunk of the island and ended up in a pond that emptied into the creek and that emptied into the bigger creek and that led us back to our Blue Moon.  It was such a great time. We saw fish, birds, a small gator, lizards and some things we weren't sure of.  We plan to do it again in the future.

The sides of the trail at this section were wide.

This is some of what we saw all along the route.

David had the camera so no pictures of him.

I am negotiating a turn in the trail in this shot.

The trail narrowed considerably in some spots.

I had to take my hat off to get under the branch.

Long limbs loved to snag us.