Caladesi Island

Well, I was able to sneak out of the cold weather up north and head to Florida for 2 weeks. I was planning on bringing the ol' fiberglass canoe with me, but I was told that I had a loaner kayak waiting for me. I could not argue with that! The loaner is a 12 foot Pungo made by Wilderness Systems. I took it out for the first time and spent a little over 4 hours in it. It is a comfy boat.

I dropped in off the Dunedin Causeway and headed south to Caladesi Island. I noticed VERY quickly that the tide was out.....WAY out. I cut across a channel and ran aground immediately. I did get the attention of some birds while I made the walk across the sandbar, though.

Once I got to deeper water, by deeper I mean water that was deep enough for the boat and myself to actually FLOAT, I was able to scoot along pretty well. I was hundreds of feet from shore and I was still in water that was just over a foot deep. I was really shocked at how shallow it was so far from shore. I found the channel into Caladesi and took a slow paddle in to the docks on the island.



On the trip down past Caladesi, the water was too low to explore the other little channels in the area. I continued south and hoped that the tide would come back in as I came back North on the return trip. I headed out into deeper water in the hopes that I would see some marine life and to hang around the few islands in the area.

The water was very calm in this section. I was in water that was pretty deep for me, but not deep enough for motor boat traffic, so I was pretty alone in this section. Plus, the temp was about 55 degrees and the water was about 50...so the locals were playing the "it's too cold" card..lol. I didn't see any marine life, but I did see a lot of birds. They entertained me while I was out there. I stopped paddling and just let the current take me for a few minutes and I had seagulls dropping into the water for fish about 10 feet off my bow. It scared the crap out of me when the first bird hit the water right off my stern but after that, it was pretty awesome.

I made it down to the back side of Clearwater Beach. The trip was about a 7 mile round trip loop. It really was a pleasurable trip other than the wind. When I was headed back north, there was a pretty good head wind. Luckily, the tide came up a little and I was able to duck into Caladesi for a little break. I was also able to hang around in the channels in there. It was really cool to see the Mangrove trees up close. Again, there were all types of birds to watch in this area too.

After I left the main channel from Caladesi, I had about a mile and a half paddle to the causeway. It was not enjoyable with that headwind. I was getting cold from getting splashed then, with the wind, it REALLY got chilly. I think the worst part of the trip was from the tip of Caladesi to the causeway. There is a channel that goes out to the Gulf and the wind was just whipping through that area. The waves were hitting the side of the kayak and I got pretty wet with each hit.

All in all, it was a great time and it was nice to get out. For future paddles in this area, I would look at a tides chart and make sure you hit it when the tide is in. You will see so much more and it will be a lot more enjoyable. Also, watch the weather down here....it changes fast.

My next scheduled trip is to Weeki Wachee Springs to, hopefully, see some Manatees and Gators!