Day 122

Daily stats
Start: 9:30 AM- Island in ICW near Vero Beach
Finish: 6:00 PM - Island in ICW near Malabar FL
Time: 5:30 spent paddling 3:00 dropping Neil off
Daily dist: 21 miles
Total dist: 2345 miles
Companions: My good friend Neil for the first 15 miles
Weather: 80 deg.- ESE wind 10+ mph - mostly clear skies- beautiful FL day
Notes: Dropped Neil off for bus back to Vero at 1:30 back on water at 4:30

Neil was looking forward to sleeping in a bit so I spared him the alpine start this morning and instead got yesterday’s blog posted while he got an extra hour of rest. With the last bus running south at 3:30 we couldn’t dally all day however so at 8:00 AM we made breakfast, broke camp, took a couple pictures and were on the water by 9:30.

With a pleasant tail wind we made good time heading north up the Intracoastal Waterway toward the bus pickup point at the Winn Dixie grocery store near the Barefoot Bay retirement/vacation community about 15 miles up the coast. Along the way we enjoyed an absolutely blissful Florida day with perfect weather and beautiful scenery.

While considering how easy the local (and free) bus service makes setting up a shuttle, combined with the amazing camping and picnic spots available on the numerous islands along the ICW in this area, neither Neil nor I could figure out why more isn’t said about the great kayaking opportunities that are available in this area.

It seems as though in Florida when it comes to sea kayak camping the Big Bend Trail and the Everglades Wilderness Waterway get all the attention. They are drop dead beautiful places to paddle but can be challenging. While it’s not as remote or wild as the other two places, the ICW between Ft. Pierce and Malabar is nothing but pleasant and abounds with wildlife. For someone new to kayak camping I can’t imagine a better place to get started in the sport. You are never far from civilization via highway US1 that parallels the ICW and there are literally dozens of beautiful dredge “spoil” islands to camp on all along the way. These easily accessible tree covered islands are about as nice a spot you’ll find to kayak camp in the entire state.

My camp for the night on one of the numerus islands on the ICW

True you won’t experience the solitude of a true wilderness camp and will likely be within site (as I am now) of the cars and stop lights on the highway. However it’s all far enough away that you don’t hear it, and while you listen to manatees breathing in the dark water at night (like we did last night) you are reminded of how great being out on the water really is. If there is a paddler in South Florida that is bemoaning the fact that bug free Everglades camping is behind us for the summer I recommend driving north rather than south two hours and see what kind of adventure you can find on the water up here.

Sunset from camp, you'd never guess you're right in town

The plan for the day was to get Neil to the bus stop at the grocery store so he could ride it back to where he left his truck at the bus transit center in Vero Beach last night. This morning however, I realized that my paddling jacket and pants were left in his truck. So that little oversight meant that Neil would have to drive all the way back up to the take out to get me the last bits of forgotten gear. The extra driving erased some of the efficiencies using the bus service as a shuttle provided, but it did give me one last chance to have lunch with Neil and say a proper farewell.

The company of a great friend like Neil was the best thing that I could have had while transitioning back into this trip. After having said goodbye to a great friend for the last time for a while, and am now ready to head north at full speed to discover what adventures lie ahead.