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The perils of kayaking in South Florida

Southern Pessimist
@SouthernPessimist
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Earlier this year I developed lower extremity weakness that made playing pickleball problematic. Thinking that the difficulties were due to poor conditioning, I decided to focus on strenuous exercise and also on kayaking, which I had enjoyed daily before I discovered pickleball. The lower extremity weakness has made walking more than a mile at a time almost unbearable but kayaking remains a pleasure. Climbing up my dock ladder has become very challenging, but I am very careful and I think I can do it for a while more.

I am not worried about my kayak overturning because it is a very stable, wide-bodied kayak designed for fishing—I worry more about a coconut falling from a tree leaning over the canals I navigate. I had two scary narrow escapes from that potential disaster before I began to steer well away from overhanging palm trees.

I have also learned to paddle well away from the tall Australian pines that line a portion of the canals where there are no homes. Australian pines are an invasive species of tree that are quite large and have been largely removed from Florida, but there is a section of undeveloped shoreline on my kayaking route where several do persist. Those trees are the only trees in which I have ever seen pelicans roost. Each tree will frequently have 10 to 12 brown pelicans sitting high up in the branches, doing what pelicans like to do.

I think I am one of the few people in this world who recognize and appreciate the awesome volume of output that a pelican creates when defecating from a tree high above a peaceful waterway.

So if you ever have an opportunity to kayak in South Florida, take it. Just steer clear of palm trees and Australian pines.

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Discussion (6)

  • GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms@GLDIII
    Southern Pessimist (View Post):

    So if you ever have an opportunity to kayak in South Florida, take it. Just steer clear of palm trees and Australian pines.

    I have learned to also not park my Miata convertible under those shady trees here in the Space Coast segment of Florida to keep the black seats from getting hot. Instead they regularly get a coating of bird effluence so that I now keep paper towels and a spray bottle of cleaner in the car...

  • Southern Pessimist@SouthernPessimist
    ReplyingtoPainter Jean

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Gosh, after reading your title, I was expecting a horror story about encountering alligators! Have you run across those in your kayaking adventures?

    Many times but they seem uninterested in me and I try to keep it that way. I have seen many foxes in the early morning and have seen a coyote once and a bobcat once. I used to see river otters but they seem to have vanished. I see ospreys catching fish on a regular basis. I saw a baby cormorant diving for fish the other day. I had never seen such a tiny one and I don't know why I had not seen one before. Mature cormorants are everywhere.

  • Painter Jean@PainterJean
    ReplyingtoSouthern Pessimist

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Gosh, after reading your title, I was expecting a horror story about encountering alligators! Have you run across those in your kayaking adventures?

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    Many times but they seem uninterested in me and I try to keep it that way. I have seen many foxes in the early morning and have seen a coyote once and a bobcat once. I used to see river otters but they seem to have vanished. I see ospreys catching fish on a regular basis. I saw a baby cormorant diving for fish the other day. I had never seen such a tiny one and I don’t know why I had not seen one before. Mature cormorants are everywhere.

    OK, forgive me, but I'm kind of a bird nerd. Most birds are close to adult size when they leave parental supervision, and it's likely cormorants are no exception. If you saw a "tiny one" fishing this time of the year, it was likely a species of bittern or heron.

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