This trip came about because my Irish friend Dave had never been to Florida and wanted to see some of the sights. So, we decided to do some of the most popular sights. But, from a decidedly different point-of-view. From bikes and kayaks.
First, we saw South Florida, including Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Hollywood Beach, Miami Beach, and the keys.
Then we went out to the the Everglades.
(as always, remember you can click on any of the images to expand them)
Key West - Biking
First part of the trip:
Biking from Pompano Beach to Key West - a total of just over 200 miles.
We did it fairly slow, taking a total of 2 1/2 days.
As you can see in the photos, Dave (my Irish trip partner) is riding my road bike. I’m on my off-road bike. Made for a slightly slower ride than if we were both on road bikes.
Didn’t take any photos of Miami. Only started in the keys.
Interesting thing about perspective. When riding your bike on the bridges, it seems perfectly fine, plenty of room. We often road two abreast (except for the narrow areas).
But, when driving back, you get the perspective that there really isn’t much room for the bikes, and it looks very risky / scary.
Day 2 - at the entrance to th…
Day 2 - gotta stop at the gia…
Typical view from the road.
Same with the bike in the…
Day 3 - View from the 7 mile…
Another beautiful view.
Very picturesque.Finally made it to the end of Key West.
Stayed in Key West for about 36 hours. Got picked up by my wife at the end of the day and drove back home.
Mile marker 0!Had to see the sunset show…
Everglades National Park - Kayaking
Second part of the trip:
Kayaking around Everglades National Park.
Had to cut the trip short, so we only stayed 1 night.
Kayaked out to Pavilion Key - about 13 miles.
Beautiful weather with no wind, so we decided to head out to open water and go directly to the key and come back on the inside passage.
One thing to notice about the campsite. We had to pull our kayaks way up on shore. The tides are more dramatic than they appear. And, if you don’t pull them up, you will loose them to the water.
These photos are at low tide. And, you can see how high the water line is…
Day 2 started out really windy, so we decided to return inside the islands and stay away from open waters. We also decided not to return via the inside passage, because we would be fighting the winds too much. But, the winds died down within an hour. Didn’t expect that, but we stayed with the plan, just in case.
All-in-all a fun trip. Would have liked it to last longer. Didn’t get the best photos, but they are okay.
One interesting factiod:
While we were out kayaking a man had to be rescued very close to where we were. If we stayed with our original return route, we might have seen him.
Here is the article:
https://time.com/5777529/missing-kayaker-florida-found-alive/