 Seventh Heaven By Keith Wellman with Jonathan New and Brian Singer. This, my seventh Flamingo to Chokoloskee trip, was one of the best! KW Day 1 Sunday FLM to ECS (10.8 miles) Nancy shuttled us to Flamingo and waited as we decided what to take and what could be left behind. After serious downsizing at home, I packed my boat and exclaimed, “It is the best packing job I have ever done!” Jon struggled but got his gear into his boat. Brian could not. I took Brian’s ground tarp, mattress, and carton of oatmeal. Hauling extra gear is the penalty for bragging about space in your boat. By the end of the trip, Brian and Jon, fast learners, were first-rate packers. With a cold front passing through, it was not a good time to start a 7-day, 70-mile Everglades trip along the Gulf coast. A ranger read an alert: “Thunderstorms and severe weather will move through the Flamingo area from 1-3 pm. Winds of 20-30 mph are expected.” Power boaters were coming in complaining about the weather and seas. The first line of storms came through at 1 pm—black sky, strong winds, and rains—as we loaded the last of our gear. Amidst some anxiety, I cajoled the boys to begin the trip to East Cape Sable, saying, “If necessary we can paddle just 1 mile and set up camp in the Flamingo campground.” They agree and we paddled past the campground to Bradley Key cut. “It is only 2 more miles to East Clubhouse beach. We can camp there if necessary,” I said. “OK” comes the reply. We paddled around a point into tough, discouraging winds. After moving closer to shore, we made 4.5 miles to East Clubhouse and then another mile to a point where we took a break and had to make the decision to stay or go on. A few years ago at this point, Nancy, Lou Greenwell, and I encountered a 6-ft, 10-rattle Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake. As we snacked, I encouragingly said, “This is the halfway point to ECS. It’s only 5.5 miles more, straight-lining it.” We pushed on. The winds were too strong and seas too chaotic to “straight-line” it. After a few miles along the half-moon bay shoreline, we reached a line of high trees and shelter from the wind. At 5:00 pm, we pulled onto East Cape Sable¾a long day, but not half bad. Day 2 Monday ECS to NW Cape (9.8 miles) The strong west-northwest winds of the previous day switched to the northeast. Our beach is high and dry when we awaken, as the moon-driven tide exposed the sea bottom out to 300’. This was typical throughout the trip, and it gave us leisure time before breaking camp. The tidal current coming around Middle Cape Point manhandled our boats. We had lunch after the point. As late as 1945, there was a house, dock, and airstrip here. In the early 1900s, there was a coconut farm on Cape Sable. Several attempts to raise cattle were ended by hurricanes. At Northwest Cape, the expansive beach is beautiful and remote. The sunset dazzled us. There were no bugs with night temperatures in the 40s.
Graveyard campsite was still closed from the effects of Hurricane Wilma. It is essentially gone. Since there is no official campsite at Graveyard, the Ranger suggested we put “Over night on boats” on the permit application. The helpful Ranger was probably not thinking of our 22” wide kayaks. In the past, Graveyard was beautiful with “exotic” plants and large black mangroves for shade. Royal terns had sat picturesquely on barnacled branches embedded in the shallow water floor. Today, after repeated hurricane battering in recent years, the shore is flush against mosquito-loaded mangroves with no useful tent sites. Fortunately, a very acceptable beach lies just ¼ mile east. At dinner, Jon and Brian laughed when I pulled out a can of Campbell’s Chunky Chili®. Then to add injury to insult, as I bent over my stove stirring the chili, Jon’s heavy flask of fine port came hurtling, like a space missile, past my ear and landed headfirst in the middle of the chili pot. The chili was thick enough to hold the flask perfectly vertical. Jon laughed and laughed as he claimed the flask “fell” from our table. The tables were turned when we checked the labels—to Jon’s disbelief, his freeze-dried Mountain House Lasagna with Meat Sauce® contained a total of 22 grams of fat; whereas the chili contained only 16. Trans Fat was 2 g and 1 g, respectively, and Saturated Fat was 9 g and 7 g. Calorie-wise, it was lasagna 620, chili 440—so much for Jon’s diet. Brian sat through this sideshow, smugly eating a fresh spinach salad mixed with tuna and dressing.
Jon and Brian—field repair of rudder. Photo by Keith Day 4 Wednesday Graveyard to Highland Beach (9.1 miles) This shoreline is riddled with creeks and rivers. Yesterday, we came upon 3 boats and fishermen near Big Sable River—the first people we saw in 3 days. They had luck with sea trout at the mouth of a creek a couple hundred yards away. We had been unsuccessful. Today, we were at the mouth of the Harney River, a large waterway named after General William Harney who fought in the First Seminole Indian War in Florida. Jon struck first, catching AND BOATING his first sea trout. I, using my famous Cajun Thunder with a pearl shrimp, quickly caught 3 more. We had our first fish fry that evening. With Brian and Keith 10 minutes behind as Jon pulled up to our Highland camp, he noticed a cat 200’ further along the beach. Curious, he paddled toward the animal that was watching birds in the palm trees. When the cat saw him, it crouched down. Jon stayed offshore and the animal rose to its haunches. It was then Jon realized it was a large bobcat with spots on its chest, yellow-brown hair, and a “stumpy” tail. The bobcat, which clearly lived in the area since there was an abundance of tracks, walked into the brush.
A bobcat near Florida City. Photo by Tom Spinker The bobcat wasn’t our only concern. At dusk mosquitoes began to swarm and by dark they were thick. Fortunately before dark, Jon had gathered firewood and Brian had dug a pit. We had the largest fire of the trip and kept the parasites at bay. As the fire died, the mosquitoes closed in and forced us into our tents.
Brian and Jon wait for the tide to come in. Photo by Keith Highland Beach is a special place along the Everglades Gulf shore. Over the years we have seen deer, turkey, swallowtail kites, and now a bobcat—all on the beach. The high land has many palm trees and few mangroves.
Day 5 Thursday Highland to New Turkey Key (13.3 miles) We left Highland about 11:30 am due to a late incoming tide. I guaranteed we would catch fish after lunch on Hog Key, saying, “A blind-folded fool could catch fish today.” We didn’t. Do understand we don’t count jacks, ladyfish, and gafftopsail catfish as real fish, since we don’t eat them. They livened up the day occasionally. Near Hog Key, I had one strike on my Cajun Thunder combo. It was a shark, which sheared off a foot of my 25# leader plus lure with a mere bite. Adding to the day’s attractions were 6-8 manatees between Hog and New Turkey. Sighting a manatee is special, but spooking one from under your boat gets your adrenaline going. A frightened manatee moves surprisingly fast, giving the impression of a freight train under water. New Turkey was delightful as usual, but without a breeze, the mosquitoes were intimidating. Our friends camping on Pavilion (Lou Greenwell, Rick Bartoli, Janet Lineback, Nancy Eichert) had the same annoyance. I insisted that mosquitoes don’t have staying power and remained outside until 9 pm carrying on a conversation with Brian and Jon in their tents. Day 6 Friday New Turkey Key to Pavilion Key (7.5 miles) Today’s short paddle is only 6.5 miles as the crow flies. With fishing, we stretched it to 7.5 miles. The open water route is subject to strong winds. Last year, winds about 17-20 mph were in our face all day. This stretch reputedly has the most capsizes of any place in the Everglades. We left New Turkey by 10:30 am with light winds. This was another “sure catch” day and we did—5 sea trout. Jon also landed his first Cerro mackerel. Lou and Rick, who had paddled to Pavilion the day before, had also caught sea trout. Nancy W and Natasha Pyle arrived at Pavilion an hour before we did. We had a nice celebration on Pavilion—appetizers, wine, and cold beers for the through paddlers. Then, Lou and Rick outdid themselves with a fine fish fry. Nancy W made a huge fresh salad for everyone. Natasha put out cookies. Lou took the mackerel some distance down the beach to the mangroves and tied it on a tree to distract the aggressive raccoons as we dined—it worked. The winds strengthened throughout the day because a small front was passing. They caused the mosquitoes enough distress so they didn’t bother us.
Pavilion Key Camp. Photo by Keith Day 7 Saturday Pavilion Key to Chokoloskee (9.3 miles) Paddling the tides in, we reached 6+ mph through Chokoloskee Pass. Our 9 kayaks impressed fishermen anchored along shore. Natasha got too close, and one fisherman got his line tangled in her rudder. Was there a culture clash here or was he trying to reel Natasha in? Reaching Chokoloskee is always reason for a stone crab picnic. Stone crabs, good wine, good conversation, and then Lou treated the through paddlers to sundaes at the local ice cream shop. It was a great trip. The weather cooperated marvelously. We had 6 beautiful sunrises and sunsets—all different and special. We sighted dolphins, turtles, sharks, manatees, a1 bobcat, bald eagles, herons, ospreys, and other birds. As I learned more about fishing this stretch of coast, it brought back my favorite saying: “The best things in life are free.” With some of the best paddling in the world along the Gulf coast of the Everglades, I was in Seventh Heaven this year.
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