Early Booking Discount

Click for Slide Show

We've just updated BurnhamGuides.com with the details on our 2012 "Paddle with the Authors" Florida Keys trips, ranging from 2 to 10 days mid-January through March, 2012.

And for the first time ever, we are offering a sweet deal to encourage early bookings: A 15% discount on trips booked by Sept. 30, 2011.

Mid-January through March, we are again offering 2-3 night trips in the Lower Keys Backcountry (click on the photo for a glimpse into this sublime experience), Seven Mile Bridge overnights, and the bucket-list trip of a lifetime, our annual 100-mile, 10-day Key Largo to Key West, scheduled for March 13-22, 2012.

   

The 2012 Centennial of Henry Flagler's famous railroad from Miami to Key West will make it a very special year for paddling beneath these scenic bridges. The KL2KW "Century" trip will include some special historic stops and events. We're keeping the group small and we expect the KL2KW to fill up like last year's.  

If you book early, you will not only get a discount, but will have a good chance of getting the dates that work best for you. So if you are at all tempted, shoot us an EMAIL, give us a call at 305-240-0650, or check out BurnhamGuides.com

Paddling in Paradise: 3-day trip

Warm and gentle winds from the south and east have caressed the Florida Keys these last few weeks and served as a good omen for the first BurnhamGuide trip of 2011 through the wide open waters of the Lower Keys Backcountry. 

When traveling by kayak, a tail wind is always appreciated; this one helped push our kayaks northwest for our nine-mile Day One journey.

At Snipe Point, low tide exposed sand flats as far as the eye could see. It seemed entirely possible to walk to nearby Marvin Key across a watery desert. Far from barren, the flats at low tide reveal hidden wonders: marine worms, whelks, Florida fighting conchs. 

Then the tide rolls back in and the sun melts like a ball of yellow candy into a dark horizon. A billion stars emerged as we sat around the fire, soaking in the moonless sky. 

Come morning, a reddish egret chased minnows in a shallow pool in front of our tent. For three days we immersed ourselves, paddling along the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, making time to indulge our passions, be it yoga, journaling, photography, or just sitting on a beach where you felt like the only humans alive on the planet. 

Always close to our minds were encounters of the wild kind. At the Inner Passage, a three-foot sand shark approached, it’s camouflaged tan body blending perfectly with the bottom. It same me and with a "swoosh" it was gone. We bid it adieu and dug in our paddles for another gorgeous day of paddling in paradise.

If you'd like to join us, BurnhamGuides still has room left on several trips in February and early March, 2011. Email or call 305-240-0650 for availability.

 

Kayak Fishing in the Florida Keys

Here's a link to a blog post by the Pork Belly All Stars, a group of fishermen Bill took out into the Lower Keys backcountry in early March. Great guys. Hope to see you again!

Lower Keys Kayak Trips

Click for slide show of Lower Keys kayaking

Join us, kayak guides and authors of the Florida Keys Paddling Atlas, as we leave the highway sounds of Route 1 behind and delve into a world where fish school through shallow flats and stingrays, sponges and starfish lie silent at the bottom of turquoise

blue channels.

The islands of the Lower Keys spread out into the Gulf of Mexico, appearing on a map as if someone smeared them across shallow waters. Islands are oriented northwest-to-southeast, divided by long, wide channels. Soft corals and sponges predominate in nearshore hardbottom environments. The channels, by contrast, are carpeted with turtle and manatee grass. As the tide goes out, sparkling white sandbars appear, a perfect spot to get out of our kayaks for a lunch or rest break.

More than 200,000 acres of water and small islands make up the Backcountry. Birding is phenomenal in this vital nesting habitat for the namesake of the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. Royal terns group on a sandbar near the Contents, intermingled with laughing gulls and the odd oystercatcher. Near the Mud Keys, osprey soaring high overhead issue their signature sharp-pitched whistle as they scan the water for prey. White and brown pelicans, Little Blue herons, Tri-colored herons, Great egrets, Snowy egrets, and a host of wading birds work swampy mangrove flats from Cutoe Key to Cayo Agua.

A string of islands start at the Content Keys and run southwest to include the Sawyers, Barracudas, Marvin, Snipe Point, Mud Keys and Lower Harbor Keys. A small reef abruptly marks the boundary between the Keys’ shallow waters and the deeper Gulf of Mexico.

A trip out to the "edge of the nearshore waters," is not soon forgotten.

We offer backcountry trips at three levels. Our family-friendly excursion feature an average of seven miles daily, leaving plenty of time to explore winding creeks and shallow coves. For adventure seekers, we extend the distances (an average of 10 miles daily) and cover more ground in order to reach some truly remote areas. Our third option is a once-in-a-lifetime traverse of the entire Lower Keys Backcountry on a five-night expedition. Contact us to discuss which option fits your group's goals and abilities.

Offered every week, Jan. 26 through March 2010. Call 305-240-3298 or email for availability. Trips details at BurnhamGuides.com