Kayaking Weeden Island Preserve

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A friend from work and I both had to use up our “Good Friday” floating holiday before it expired, so we decided that kayaking would be a good use of the day. We had initially talked about kayaking around Honeymoon Island (since its right down the street from my house); however, we decided to go to Weeden Island Preserve instead.

I had kayaked Weeden Island once before using a “less than ideal kayak” that took Janet and myself 4 hours to complete - and we were paddling hard! The kayak we used the first time was my friend Jim’s “beach comer” tandem kayak that looked like a pontoon boat. This thing was 3 feet wide and one could easily stand up in it while in the water with no fear of tipping. It was literally like paddling a row boat with kayak paddles. Not only did the thing have trouble fitting through the mangrove tunnels, but my arms were sore the entire next day as well after finishing the 4 mile loop.

Well back to the current trip. Manuel met me at my house at around 10AM and we started loading the gear and kayaks into my truck. We headed down to Weeden Island to find that the parking lot was relatively empty (one of the reasons I like kayaking during the week). We unloaded the kayaks from my truck and Manuel adjusted the foot pegs on the kayak (he borrowed Janet’s 17' sea kayak). We headed left out of the dock which took us north towards the first trail marker.

The sun was high in the sky as we paddled along the trail and I was glad that I had applied SPF 50 sunscreen and had on my goofy kayaking hat. The mangrove tunnels provided much appreciated relief from the sun and we were both glad that they were completely free of mosquitoes. There were fewer little black crabs than I had seen in the mangrove tunnels on my previous trip with Janet.

As we exited each of the mangrove tunnels we would be greeted by large jumping fish (I think that they were trout). There were also numerous egrets and a great blue heron or two. The next time I come here I really need to bring my fishing rod with me so I can go home with a fresh fish dinner.

We passed a family on the kayak trail as we exited the last mangrove tunnel. It was a straight shot back to the dock which is good since the markers get further and further apart as you get near the end of the trail. The last marker is really the first marker and you kind of have to have an idea which way to head to find it easily. Just look for the observation tower that stands well above the trees and is near the dock. We loaded up the truck and headed to Molly Goodheads for a relaxed late Friday lunch.

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