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Paddler's Guide to the Sunshine State By Sandy Huff Whether you're a first-time paddler or a whitewater veteran, whether you're looking for an easy going two-hour tour with your family or a week-long solo adventure, this book lists the most delightful destinations to explore in a state famous for its scenic waterways. Read a complete excerpt from chapter one, including the Tips for Paddling Florida and Getting Started sections. Then check out our two full sample destination excerpts -- the Suwannee River in Northeast Florida and Merritt Island in Central Florida. You may also peruse the Table of Contents to see just how comprehensive the guide is! |
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Chapter One - PDF | Suwannee River - HTML PDF | Merritt Island - HTML PDF Table of Contents - HTML PDF | Purchase Now |
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Destination 55: Merritt Island Miles or average time: no limit, paddle at your own pace If there was ever a study in contrasts, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is it. The island and surrounding waters teem with some of the rarest birds and animals in North America. The utterly flat islands and grassy marshes stretch to the horizon for miles, looking just as they must have looked when the first Ais Indians set foot on the land. But looming in the distance is the black and white cube of the second largest building, containing the highest level of technology, in the U.S. It is the VAB-Vehicular Assembly Building-which is the giant garage where the space shuttles are erected. Inside the 140,000-acre (220-square-mile) refuge is the John F. Kennedy Space Center and Spaceport USA. There you can touch actual early rockets, view movies of launches, watch demonstrations of shuttle tiles, peer through the visor of a space suit, taste freeze-dried ice cream, and talk to a robot. But the 310 species of birds, 25 kinds of mammals, 117 brands of fish, and 65 types of amphibians and turtles that live in the refuge notice mankind only when there's a launch. Then, as the incredibly deep sound waves flatten grasses in concentric waves, flocks of hidden birds fly up, fish and turtles scoot to the bottom, and the fish definitely don't bite. That's okay, since humans are cleared out of Canaveral National Seashore for four days before each launch anyway. Call (321) 867-3217 for launch information. If you want a front seat for a launch, Merritt Island NWR is closed only one day before a launch, and you can still use the north end of the refuge on launch day. In fact, watching a launch from your canoe or kayak is the best seat in the house. "Sea kayaks are best," says Sonny Norris of the Central Florida Paddlemasters Club. "The Indian River is wide and can get windy, so canoes are not recommended in the open river. Stay close to the shoreline or in protected inlets if you have a canoe. The diffculty is easy to moderate. Wind and tides can make the going a little harder, so keep an eye on the weather. A map and compass are recommended." Definitely wear water shoes-the rough sand beaches are interspersed with oyster beds and muddy lagoons. From Titusville, cross the SR406 bridge to the island. About half a mile east is a small unmanned tourist kiosk with maps and information. The Merritt Island NWR Visitor Center is about four miles further east, and stocks more free maps and brochures. Now backtrack to Parrish Park on the northeast side of the SR406 bridge. You can launch, picnic, and find rest rooms here. The shoulders on both sides of the road east of Parrish Park are also good launch sites. If you do launch at the paved ramps, paddle under the bridge with caution-the riptides can be very strong here-and certainly stay out of the main span used by the yachts traveling the Intracoastal Waterway. Head south. Paddle to the small island, and then to the marshes on the east. Some of the channels that lead to the inside of the island, like Banana Creek, are off limits as security areas-you'll see the signs. That still leaves miles of shoreline to explore. This area is a great place to take a bird book and binoculars, since it's on the migratory route for some hundred thousand birds. Watch for white pelicans. During breeding season, both males and females sport fleshy orange knobs on the top of their beaks, and black edges on the back of their wings. Naturalists have seen them fish cooperatively, swimming in a semicircle and beating the water with their wings. The gray-brown pelicans perched around them are the more common brown pelicans. White pelicans with a bit of gray on the wings are immature whites. There are six thousand alligators around Merritt Island NWR. Laurilee Thompson, of Osprey Outfitters, says, "You could encounter one anywhere. I've seen them right next to the causeway." Also watch for manatees and turtles. Immature sea turtles use the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon as a nursery area. The walnut-sized turtle heads that pop up are shy diamondback terrapins. Maybe that's the origin of the name for Turtle Mound. It's exactly 20.5 miles north of your launch spot, but accessible only from New Smyrna Beach (see destination 45). Forty to fifty feet high and six hundred feet long, it holds 33,000 cubic yards of oyster shells gathered by the Timucuan Indians between a.d. 800 and 1400. Some sixty smaller mounds dot this coast, so any high spots of land you see were probably Indian sites. More than a millenium ago Indians paddled their dugout canoes in these waters. Today you can explore these ancient waterways, side by side with the world's most advanced technology. For more information, contact the Cocoa Beach Visitors Bureau, PO Box 320763, Cocoa Beach FL 32932-0763, phone (321) 459-2200, www.cocoabeach.com/nature.html. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), 3900 Commonwealth Boulevard, MS 245, Tallahassee FL 32399-3000, puts out a Boater's Guide to Brevard County with close-up maps of the shorelines. © 2002 University Press of Florida. All Rights Reserved. | |
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