A Return to Weeden Island Preserve

The canoe stuck in the sand and I knew I had to get out as surprise; it was my end that had stopped our momentum. I got out and started to push the boat when Jenny warned me of a resting stingray and so I remembered to shuffle my feet.

Soon the front stuck and Jenny waded out to the entrance of the mangrove tunnel. It was obvious the tide was too low to run the mangrove tunnels and so we waded back out into the deeper bay. We passed by night crowned herons and little blue herons, oh and lots of American ibis.

Entering the main bay we decided to head backwards down the Weeden Island markers. The first markers were easy to find but one eluded us and we couldn’t find our way into the mangrove canopy. We headed back out into the bay disappointed but hoping to return when the tide arrived.

The wind was still as we canoed to the end of Goose Island. A lone kingfisher perched on a low branch of a high dead tree and it was soon joined by an Osprey, although it alit on the highest spot. The tide had started moving and we headed back.

Jenny suggested we try the trail again and she was right as the water was now deep enough. Gliding past the previous keel marks we paddled into several hidden coves and finally found the passage into the mangroves. The trial marker post was there but the trail sign itself had disappeared.

The next numbered sign beckoned and we were able to ride the tide into small inlets. Spotting several flocks of northern shovelers I remembered how our friend Marty had lamented the lack of ducks. Perhaps they were all hiding in these places. It was the only place we spotted any.

Renita sighted the first rosette spoonbill and Jenny pointed out another pair. They were really a bright pink, spring colors really, and I wondered if the bird spring was this early in Southern Florida. Great and little blue herons waded as we silently slid past.

Entering the main tunnel maze we thankfully found the signs guiding us through the black mangrove maze. We were actually moving in waterways carved as part of an old mosquito control program. Countless black crabs covered the trees lower branches and the tide increased its speed.

It was so nice to stop paddling and simply ride the tide. Birds were everywhere in the deep foliage as the surreal passage continued. Passing the trail overlook we entered a place where we fought the tide and the rowing became difficult. As the waterway narrowed, it increased the tides velocity, almost halting us in our place.

Luckily the way broadened and so we continue on until we spied a familiar bay. We were back at the start of the trail and there were more stingrays, as well as the first one we had spotted. It had been a long paddle for us, maybe seven plus miles, instead of the trails four mile length.

It felt good to have returned to Weeden Island Preserve and to finally have finished the entire trail. Besides that, we had shared another paddle with our daughter Jenny. It had been a day of birds and water and jumping mullet, a day of riding the tides, and sometimes battling them through the mangrove canopy. It had been a day well spent.  Clear skies.