The neon day-glo airboat Mothership of the Everglades with kayaks! Grass paddling and poling in the Everglades Water Conservation Areas.
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In the permanently flooded Water Conservation Areas of the Glades, the airboat is the best way to get around and reach fishing and hunting grounds and private camps. Still there is something very pure and beautiful being out on the water where it’s just you, the boat and your pole or paddle.
Moving through the landscape at a human pace can be hard work,
but can also be immensely satisfying for body, mind and soul!
Times are changing again for the Everglades, this time for the better. Let’s face it, people care most about the things they know and love. Additional human powered access whether on foot, boat or even bicycle can raise awareness and help drive Everglades Restoration efforts for generations forward!
The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
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I hereby disclaim any sponsorship, endorsement, nor association with any product or service described herein. The photographs, depictions, products, and ideas presented on this site are for informational purposes only. Your results may vary, and I do not imply nor guarantee the effectiveness, suitability, design or operation to adhere to any standard. I assume no legal responsibility for the implementation of anything herein presented! Use any and all information at your own risk! By using any and all information from this website, you accept the final liability for any use or possible associated misuse!
It is said that the !Kung people of the Kalahari desert consider the Milky Way as the “Backbone of Night” that holds up the sky!
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Summer’s almost gone .. Milky Way whole sky with Jupiter and Saturn on August 15, 2020 10:30pm. ART of Darkness – Camping with the Stars! Part III
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Experience some of the darkest skies in the Everglades!
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Bright Jupiter and Saturn riding side by side across the sky next to the Milky Way. Single 5 min exposure ISO 800 testing the Astrotracer (sensor shift) feature of my Pentax camera with a 14mm lens. August 15, 2020 @ 11pm. ART of Darkness – Camping with the Stars! Part III
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“We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.”
The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
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I hereby disclaim any sponsorship, endorsement, nor association with any product or service described herein. The photographs, depictions, products, and ideas presented on this site are for informational purposes only. Your results may vary, and I do not imply nor guarantee the effectiveness, suitability, design or operation to adhere to any standard. I assume no legal responsibility for the implementation of anything herein presented! Use any and all information at your own risk! By using any and all information from this website, you accept the final liability for any use or possible associated misuse!
The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No skeleton, nor person, nor kayak was harmed in the making of this work. The author is sorely responsible for the contents of this work!
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I hereby disclaim any sponsorship, endorsement, nor association with any product or service described herein. The photographs, depictions, products, and ideas presented on this site are for informational purposes only. Your results may vary, and I do not imply nor guarantee the effectiveness, suitability, design or operation to adhere to any standard. I assume no legal responsibility for the implementation of anything herein presented! Use any and all information at your own risk! By using any and all information from this website, you accept the final liability for any use or possible associated misuse!
The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
…
I hereby disclaim any sponsorship, endorsement, nor association with any product or service described herein. The photographs, depictions, products, and ideas presented on this site are for informational purposes only. Your results may vary, and I do not imply nor guarantee the effectiveness, suitability, design or operation to adhere to any standard. I assume no legal responsibility for the implementation of anything herein presented! Use any and all information at your own risk! By using any and all information from this website, you accept the final liability for any use or possible associated misuse!
“There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them; their vast glittering openness, wider than the enormous visible round of the horizon, the racing free saltness and sweetness of the their massive winds, under the dazzling blue heights of space. They are unique also in the simplicity, the diversity, the related harmony of the forms of life they enclose. The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass.”
The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
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I hereby disclaim any sponsorship, endorsement, nor association with any product or service described herein. The photographs, depictions, products, and ideas presented on this site are for informational purposes only. Your results may vary, and I do not imply nor guarantee the effectiveness, suitability, design or operation to adhere to any standard. I assume no legal responsibility for the implementation of anything herein presented! Use any and all information at your own risk! By using any and all information from this website, you accept the final liability for any use or possible associated misuse!
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
She ain’t exactly pretty She ain’t exactly small Eleven’eleven, thirty’four, sixty’one lbs But you could say she’s got it all ..
Rosie, she’s a whole lotta Kayak!
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(click each pic for a story!)
Snorkeling in Biscayne Bay, Rosie is like a personal sized dinghy! CLICK for story!
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We all love to see the sleek, fast and sexy boats. There are times however when a shorter “plus size” sit on top style kayak fits the bill! This is a humorous-musical ode to mine, which I shall call “Rosie”. She’s an Ocean Kayak Peekaboo, and yes, she’s been used and abused, and generally not pampered. With a shallow-vee and nearly flat hull, she’s the ultimate in stability on flat water! She has a large viewing port, and a jump seat in the front meant for a small child. She could carry two light adults in a pinch, but isn’t rated for it. I personally like to ride Rosie Standing UP style for visibility and photography. The downside to all this stability and generous girth is speed. She will cruise with a 230cm kayak paddle at a little over two knots, less when paddling SUP style. She does respond well to leaning and will turn on a dime with practice. Her long tracking keel does it’s job but will tend to catch on roots and grasses when backing up. Rosie can carry a lot of gear for camping, she likes to go snorkeling, she likes taking her time on flat water and she’s an excellent platform for standing.
I don’t always ride Rosie, but when I do we’re in love! 😉
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Entering a lush mangrove canopy atop Rosie. CLICK for story!
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
“There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known. Nothing anywhere else is like them; their vast glittering openness, wider than the enormous visible round of the horizon, the racing free saltness and sweetness of the their massive winds, under the dazzling blue heights of space. They are unique also in the simplicity, the diversity, the related harmony of the forms of life they enclose. The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass.”
A panoramic preview to a visit to Seagrape Hammock, aka Willoughby Key in the Everglades.
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(click pics)
Hard going grass paddling on an old airboat trail enroute to Seagrape Hammock. CLICK for 360 spin-around!
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This is the same view that Hugh L. Willoughby would have seen in 1898 when he climbed a tree on this island to ascertain his position in the Everglades.
He determined that he was roughly in the middle of the Shark River Slough – half way between Big Cypress to the west and the coastal Pine ridge in the east.
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If you zoom in, you can just make out the Shark Valley tower on the horizon!
Aerial view from above the tree canopy of Seagrape Hammock, aka Willoughby Key. CLICK for spin around 360 panorama from above the canopy!
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
A visit to a special tree island hammock in the Everglades – with interactive panoramas!
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(click pics)
Paddling around a small tree island hammock on an airboat trail in the Everglades. CLICK for aerial 360 spin around view over the sawgrass expanses!
Enjoy these interactive panoramas from a recent visit to a small tree island hammock paradise in the Everglades.
This special place is called “Antooch-chokole” in the native Hitchiti-Mikasuki language – translated as “Where the little Pot sits”. It has been sacred ground for generations of Miccosukee Native Americans.
View of the island from the kayak on the trail. CLICK for super-wide panorama of the tree island hammock in Water Conservation Area 3A.
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Chickee huts in the interior of the island hammock. On the horizon is the eastern boundary of Big Cypress National Preserve! CLICK for aerial view of private hammock tree island interior in the Everglades.
In the above aerial panorama you can spot our host Houston Cypress – at home with his iPad! He is a member of the Miccosukee Otter Clan, who’s family owns this sacred land. Houston is also one of the founders of Love the Everglades Movement, an organization which promotes awareness of Everglades ecosystem restoration efforts and issues.
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Incredible star gazing in the Everglades on a sacred Native American Miccosukee tree island hammock in Water Conservation Area 3A. CLICK for starry night super-panorama!
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Special thanks to Houston and Renée Manyari for sharing this special place with me – and allowing me to present a slice of their world to you! 🙂
An outbreak of new Kayakfari ART and a word from Captain
James T. Sprayskirt:
“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Kayakfari. The continuing mission to document strange new locations, to seek out new campsites and paddling adventures, to boldly go where no photographer has gone before.”
If you love being out on Florida Bay and the Keys as much as I do, you will want to get your copy of this beautiful hard bound book!
Edited by Dan Burkhardt of the Everglades Foundation to celebrate their 20th Anniversary with a foreword by Jimmy Buffett. Following the path of the water, it is well written and a excellent resource for years to come with amazing images by the area’s most renowned photographers. Did I mention that some of my photography is in it too?!
kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i ) 