24 hours in Hell’s Bay – a kayaking trip amongst the mangroves of the Everglades managed to be both heaven and hell. 

The iguanas were falling out of the trees: the temperature in Florida was so cold that they were going into hibernation with disastrous results. 

They were losing their grip and so was I – the normally sunny state was in a cold snap and even worse the wind blew non stop. 

People were warned not to eat the iguanas in case they had been exposed to garden pesticides. I wondered who the hell eats an iguana but then there are a lot of Cubans in Miami. 

Falling iguanas were the least of our problems. What had been visualised as a gentle 24 hour overnight adventure into the mangroves near Flamingo in the Florida Everglades National Park was getting gnarly. 

Ideally I like my kayaking on inland waters with gentle paddling, nice scenery and bonus points if there is wildlife. Launching through the waves and bathers at Byron Bay had been the most dramatic to date – and had raised a cheer from the bathers – but the dolphins made up for it. 

To Hell.. 

Mangroves hug the oceans of the world, or in this case an inland river, but there are enough of them that one expected peaceful kayaking. Hell, our destination was even called Hell’s Bay due to thousands of islands of sprawling mangroves in the area. The old timers would say Hell to get into and hell to get out of! It should have been quite sheltered.

But as one crosses the stretches of daylight between the nights, so one had wide open areas between the mangroves. In fact there were vast lakes of water and our route seemed to ensure we were crossing them at the worse possible angle. Waves broke over Number 15, who hadn’t had so much fun for ages, and we ended up drenched. The kayak rolled with the waves as we battled to keep it’s nose in the desired direction as the wind tried to spin it around. 

Number 15 came from the Flamingo Adventures stable at Flamingo marina. We had booked our backcountry permit online for Hells Bay campsite – or chickee, as we are talking of raised platforms in the water on which one camps. They usually have two sides, so a group to each side (with a maximum of six people per group). The connecting walkway is adorned with a portaloo. 

It had started off quite smoothly. We had driven in from Homestead, enjoying a quick wander on the Anhinga Trail at Royal Palms en route where we had seen alligators and turtles.

Having signed the waivers at Flamingo we drove out to the Hell’s Bay trailhead and picked up No.15, a low slung red kayak. Our rucksack with the sleeping bags just fitted between Simon’s legs whilst I had the water bottles – unfortunately the brackish water is unsuitable for drinking.

The tent was strapped on the front where it lived rather dangerously as the first hour involved a series of anfractuous mangrove tunnels and paths where precise paddling was needed – inevitably we ran astray on some of the tight corners and buried ourselves within the prop root system. At times it was easier to just pull oneself along on the low branches.

Gradually the channels became a little wider – and windier. Simon’s smart straw hat, which looked as if it might be more at home at Henley Regatta threatened to take flight, until finally he had to stow it away. 

We came to Lard Can, a rather basic chickee with a jetty platform holding the loo and tent sites in the bush behind. It looked as if it could be mosquito ville but was well placed for a loo break and some trail mix.

We dangled our feet from the jetty and wondered if it were advisable in alligator territory, although there are supposedly few in the area. Later we were to see a circling fin and thought dolphins! until we got closer and realised it was a bull shark, one of the few shark species which are happy in fresh water – maybe it was best not to fall in!

Hell’s Bay chickee is 5.5 miles from the trailhead, with Pearl Bay after 3.5 miles. The wind really picked up as we traversed towards Pearl. We tried to hug the edge but the route took us across the open water. If Pearl had not been fully occupied it might have been tempting to stop there.

In the middle of a huge expanse of water, it was impossible to see the next marker so we just headed blindly across, with the waves getting quite large at one point. Having complained about the lack of space in the kayak, we were now quite grateful for its low line – canoes are much higher and more unstable and I think we would have struggled a lot more. 

Finally we found the channel through, narrowly avoiding beaching ourselves on the end spit, and the wind and current pushed us through slightly more gently. When we emerged in open water again, we were relieved to see Hell’s Bay chickee to our right.

With some frantic final paddling we arrived at a ladder and managed to unload the canoe and haul it up. It had taken us 3.5 hours.

We also had two neighbours who were on a three night trip. Simon noticed they were paddling an inflatable canoe and hoped they had better steering that we did or it would be rapidly punctured in the mangroves.

The tent was tied down to the covered platform and everything carefully stowed inside so it didn’t blow away. We had a welcome coffee and collapsed out of the wind, emerging for a nondescript sunset, although the wind had dropped somewhat by then. There was a full moon, the stars were out and it was all rather peaceful and the quietest night I had yet spent in America. The only sound was the water lapping gently against the platform – it is really quite impressive how Florida provides these chickees as they cannot be cheap to build or maintain. We paid US $25 for the night which was really a bargain. 

.. And back.

We awoke to a spreading roseate glow, there was no wind and the water all around us was smooth. The kayak slid smoothly with minimal resistance.

The sun created vivid reflections in perfect stillness as we retraced our previous day’s route.

It was heaven.

NOTES

There is easy access to the southern section of Everglades National Park from Miami. 

There are various accommodation options at Flamingo, from camping to hotel rooms. Kayaks can be reserved online or in person at Flamingo Marina in the Everglades National Park. There is a helpful visitors centre to advise on routes, booking chickees and back country permits which can be bought at the centre or online. A night on a chickee costs US25 for 2 people. 

It would be easy to turn this into a leisurely 2 day trip by staying at Lard Can. The routes go on further with lots more chickees but are not so well marked and more care is needed with mapping. 

Florida Outdoor Adventures  offer guided kayaking tours of 3, 5 and 8 days in the Everglades – the latter covering the Wilderness Waterway from Flamingo to Everglades City.