Master of the Everglades. Copyright Shaun Donovan !


After spending many years paddling and hiking the back country of the 10,000 Islands I would like to share some of my "secret spots" with those of you who love the Everglades !



The cool fall winds mean the overwhelming  heat and insects of the Everglades are held at bay, for the time being.

This island has been visited by man for thousands of year.
As recently as the late 60's several families lived on this massive shell mound; there were enough children to support a year round school. Most were employed by the short lived cypress logging industry and some of the best commercial fishing in the world.  

You could almost always smell the burning  buttonwood, it was placed around the homes to help keep the bugs at bay but as soon as you left camp, the mosquitos would  tear you up. I  just don't know how they did it. The mosquitos usually yield to the fall trade winds the second or third week in October and return the first week of June or sooner if we have a  early hot snap.

We were unloading our kayaks at the Port of the Islands marina  put in just as the sun was rising, another beautiful day in the glades. A great blue heron was poking around our pile of gear, looking for a free shrimp breakfast. Sorry son, we are going to need every one of those, the red fish are running! After checking in with the marina staff we begin our journey south, down the Fauka Union Canal. This is my least favorite part of the paddle. Wind and water fetches up hard, in this five mile "ditch", sometime providing an exceptional workout for those who step up to bat !

Important as it my be to focus on the challenge at hand  we know to keep an eye to the sky, sea and trees, this area is "boiling" with wildlife. When the canal was cut, the fill was all placed on the west shore creating a five mile strip of high ground, the preferred environment of pigmy rattlesnakes, wild boar and bear.
This region presents a most impressive mosaic of creatures, it is not uncommon to see manatee, sea turtles, roseate spoonbills, eagles, alligators; recently we have seen  crocodile's in the canal that were about the same size as the kayaks we  were in.

The group makes it to the end of the canal, from here you and see hundreds of small islands. We paddle through a small piece of Faka Union Bay then take the first left through a very shallow and narrow cut, full of red fish, tails out the the water looking for blue crabs, we continue working our way  east to Fakatachee Bay. After thirty minutes of paddling I can now look to the south and see the tall trees on Fakatchee Key, being that this is the tallest shell mound in the area its not easy to miss.  It has been a hard paddle with strong head winds a moon tide, most of the group has had enough , the last mile of the day, the whiners mile.

We decide to set up camp in a large clearing next to a very productive sixteen foot deep grouper hole, afterwards it is time to serve lunch to our friends from the cold north.

All though we have three days here, it is difficult to decide, what to do first ? It would be sweet to hook into a trophy red fish but I think this would be a good time to do a little hiking on the island. After polishing off the oriental cucumber salad topped with a pile of fresh picked blue crab meat, we all agree; it's time to either nap, or get on with the day.

We pack our cameras, water and a good compass. We head out towards the old homestead stopping to pick some beautiful wild yellow flowers.
Today there is a family graveyard on the island, most of the names read "Daniel's". Hand made concrete headstones mark the graves of two children, both died at the age of two .We stop and place the flowers ; reflecting on the lives these pioneers .  A short distance from here you can see the old cisterns and foundations from the old logging community.

One of the most interesting aspects of this ancient shell mount is the diversity of plant life. There are many different types of cacti, succulents, trees; seems people have dropping seeds here for a long time.  We take several pictures of a massive twisting and turning pencil tree. On our way back to the camp we decide to walk down one on the old canoe canals the indians had built. We fine dozens of beautiful shells trapped between the twisted mangrove roots.  

As the sun sets on our first day here we enjoy some fresh mangrove snapper, grilled flat bread and fresh key lime pie .The full moon is soaring high in the western sky and the cool winter breeze is chilling the air. Yellow and blue flames were reflecting in the eyes of smiling faces.

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