Cape Sable Campsite Photo by Johnny Molloy Click on pic for more Everglades photos!

We arose with the dawn and quickly loaded our canoe after a morning repast. We wanted to avoid the afternoon winds, which can run from 10 to 15 knots. Small craft advisories are not uncommon. Now, Florida Bay was as smooth as glass. Cape Sable lay off to our right. On shore began a stretch of more than 20 miles of uninterrupted natural beach, by far the largest preserved stretch of ocean front property in the mainland Southeast. The Cape Sable beach slopes up from the ocean then back down to a mosaic of tropical trees such as gumbo-limbo and Jamaican dogwood, along with Spanish bayonet. The Cape was not always so desolate. In times past it was home to Federal forts, Cuban fishing settlements, and a coconut plantation. Before that the Calusa Indians roamed southwest Florida from the Keys up to the Caloosahatchee River.

Lisa and I rounded the Cape and began our northward journey in earnest. To our pleasant surprise the winds had shifted from the north to the east, keeping the ocean flat, allowing for rapid paddling. However, we frequently stopped for beachcombing on the alluring shoreline. Middle Cape is an interesting place. Here currents often merge and fish gather to chase minnows. I stood on the very point of the Cape and cast, tossing my gold spoon into the moving water. Not surprisingly I pulled out a Jack Crevalle on the first cast. The best places to fish in the Everglades are generally where water is moving, when tides are changing. It works like this: in moving water small minnows cannot swim as rapidly as bigger fish, giving the bigger fish an advantage. Use the tides to your advantage. Other fish to be caught in the Everglades are mangrove snapper, ladyfish, reds, sea trout and even bass.

We pressed on beyond Middle Cape, even though we had already paddled for miles. The sun was heading down by the time we pulled into Northwest Cape. The two of us made camp near some palm trees, and watched the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. We had pressed going around the Cape to avoid getting caught in big winds. Canoes have been swamped out here and simply cannot handle such big waves. Sea kayakers can fare much better. Do not go around the Cape unless you have a favorable wind forecast.

"Alligators pose no real threat to Everglades paddlers, though some have become food habituated and hang around backcountry campsites..."

Next morning Lisa and I once again pressed hard early to beat the winds. Ahead lay Ponce de Leon Bay, more wide open water. The Shark River flowed into the bay in numerous channels, creating its own mini maze of islands. We headed north, stroking hard, even though our arms were tired from the day before. We didn't want to get caught out in the open water. Unfortunately for us, the tides were outgoing as we neared Graveyard Creek. We could see the land of this ground campsite, but in front of us was a shell, mud and sand flat which had been covered by water just hours before. So we spent that afternoon just a couple hundred yards from our destination, watching the tides slowly, ever so slowly, return to flood the flat.

This campsite is sometimes occupied by motorboaters because they can safely dock their boats back in the creek and out of the way of big winds and changing tides which had left us high and dry. Motorboaters are a part of the Everglades experience--they can go most places canoes can and are generally courteous. Extend them the same courtesy you desire.

Stars filled the sky overhead, as we were far from the lights of Miami. The calm ocean gently lapped against the shoreline, sending us into a dead sleep of the tired paddler. Our next day was short. However, we departed early in the morning, because there was more Gulf paddling to do before returning inland on the Harney River. Lisa and I made the last couple of ocean miles before the island fronted mouth of the Harney River appeared. The slack tide made the entrance through these narrow islands easy. The sun shone off the river ahead of us as we passed some high ground on our right. This riverbank, which supports such salt intolerant species as palm, was once known as Ellis Fields, and was farmed for Key West-bound vegetables a century ago.

The tides now turned in our favor. Lisa lay prone with her feet over the bow of the Old Town canoe, while I lazily kept a paddle in the water to keep us on course. Alligators sunned themselves on the mud flats along the river. Alligators pose no real threat to Everglades paddlers, though some have become food habituated and hang around backcountry campsites waiting for a meal of scraps. NEVER feed an alligator.

Ahead, beside an island in the middle of the river, was the Harney River chickee. These chickees are the third of the three different backcountry campsites in the park. Chickees are wooden structures built by the park service for campers to overnight on where there is no dry ground available. The other types of campsites are beaches such as those at Cape Sable and ground sites, which are mounds of oyster shells built up over centuries by Calusa Indians, who discarded theses shells after that eating the morsels inside.