Paddle Key Largo to Key West March 2013

March 17-27, 2013: Join the exclusive list of those who have paddled the entire 100-mile island chain on the signature trip inspired by our award-winning book, the Florida Keys Paddling Atlas (participants receive a complimentary copy on booking).

Beginning in Key Largo with a St. Patrick's dinner, we'll paddle 10 days across Caribbean blue waters to land at the southernmost point in mainland USA.

New in 2013, we're taking paddlers Gulfside to traverse the vast Lower Keys Backcountry for a more primitive and remote experience.

Fully-outfitted trip includes kayak, camping gear and all meals. Optional massages during the rest day at the halfway point!

Limited to 8 paddlers, this trip has filled up the last 2 years, so don't delay! 

5-Day Half Marathon Option: March 23-27

Click for more details. Email or call 305-240-0650 to book your seat paddling in paradise.

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.

 

Florida Keys VolunTourism

Mary after an island clean-up

Kayaking across warm tropical waters by day and setting up camp on island beaches at night is a privilege we don’t take lightly. That’s why we try to incorporate at least one beach clean-up on our multi-day kayak trips in the Florida Keys.

If you choose to participate in a clean-up, we’ll log your volunteer hours with the Florida Keys Overseas Paddling Trail. This makes you trail volunteers and VolunTourists!

Trash is not only unsightly, it can be hazardous to marine life. While paddling through the mangroves, you may see Bill or I pull over to the side, flip open a jackknife and cut away some fishing line hanging from the branches. Birds can become entangled in the line, and animals may choke on hooks. The line can be deposited in monofilament recycling containers located at many of the public boat ramps in the Keys.

If you want to volunteer further, consider joining the Florida Paddling Trails Association, which covers all the water trails throughout the state. 

Visit www.BurnhamGuides.com to see our 2011 trip details.

Paddle Key Largo to Key West March 22-31, 2011

The dates are set for our annual 100-mile paddle from Key Largo to Key West, Florida, the Southernmost Point in the U.S. The 10-day trip will be March 22-31, 2011, kayak camping all the way.

We’ll launch from Key Largo, paddle between 7 and 17 miles per day, and land 10 days later in Key West, in time for the Sunset Celebration in Mallory Square. The cost of $1,500 includes everything: kayak, gear, camping gear, all meals, and instruction along the way.

From mid-January through mid-March, we'll offer customized trips ranging from one-night along the Seven Mile Bridge to 2-5 days in the Lower Keys Backcountry. The cost is $150 per person per day for however many days you want to be out.

Upon booking any trip, you’ll receive a copy of our award-winning Florida Keys Paddling Atlas so you can see just where we’ll be going! All the details are at BurnhamGuides.com with photos and video from last year’s trips here

Feel free to e-mail or call 305-240-0650 with any questions!

Florida Keys Kayaking Trips in 2011

We're now taking reservations for our 2011 Florida Keys paddling trips for mid-January through March!

Customized itineraries range from one-day paddles to Key West, Seven Mile Bridge overnights, 3-days in the backcountry to the full 100-mile 10-day adventure from Key Largo to Key West.

Join us, outdoor writers and kayak guides Bill and Mary Burnham, for multi-day kayak camping trips in the Florida Keys this winter. You'll find yourself literally paddling from the pages of the our award-winning Florida Keys Paddling Atlas.

Trips include all camping and kayaking gear, meals cooked for you, and instruction. Each couple or family will take home a signed copy of our Atlas, winner of a National Outdoor Book Award. 

We've just uploaded Customer Reviews from last year's trips.Visit BurnhamGuides.com to start paddling in paradise!  Call 305-240-3298 or e-mail with your dates.

Day 9 Key Largo to Key West finale

Our last day paddling from Key Largo to Key West dawned clear and beautiful as we departed from Geiger Key Marina & Campground. As we passed Boca Chica Beach, we were treated to an airshow by NAS Key West. Here’s a video of an F-18 practice landing right over Bill’s kayak!

From there, much of this side of the islands are undeveoped and you can see lots of birds and sealife. My kayak passed right over a 4-foot loggerhead sea turtle sitting on the bottom!

We took out at Lazy Dog Adventures, where Sue is kind enough to let us haul out our boats. Our good friend Christine met us with the van and helped us load up, then we all sat down with a cold pitcher of Key West Sunset Ale from Hurricane Joe’s.

We’re thinking this route would make a great day trip for next season’s trips, starting with breakfast at Geiger Key Smokehouse and ending with the sunset celebration at Mallory Square. If you’re interested, email us!

Day 8 Key Largo to Key West

This was a day of extremes, starting with a cold rainy paddle and ending with a toasty St. Patrick’s Day at the Geiger Key Smokehouse Grill (and campground, great place!).

From Sugarloaf KOA, we paddled through beautiful Sammy’s Creek, and popped out on the oceanside to sunny skies and clear, glassy waters. It was one of those days where you couldn’t tell where the sea ended and the sky began. Simply surreal. We live for days like this (well, the afternoon portion, anyway!). Here's a comorant drying out his wings:

Even in Florida, especially this winter, you have to be prepared for cold, wet weather and watch for signs of hypothermia. We geared up pretty well with a synthetic base layer and rain gear. For lunch Bill pulled out the camp stove to heat up hot cocoa and tea to warm us from within! What a guy!

The sun was shining when we pulled up to Geiger Key after our 11-mile paddle with plenty of time to set up camp and dry out our wet gear in the sun. That evening was St. Patrick’s Day, so we celebrated at the Smokehouse Grill tiki bar. We were joined by our friend Cameron from Big Pine Key, and met some folks from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, namely the golf pro at Bay Creek! What a small world!

Day 7 Key Largo to Key West

Today we paddled 13 miles from Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge to Sugarloaf KOA along the oceanside of the Florida Keys.

Here are two videos of Jill doing the "wrap rap." (We do tend to do a lot of wrap sandwiches for lunch since they don't squoosh like regular bread!) and a silent video of ibis feeding in the flats at low tide. Kind of a "CBS Sunday Morning" feel to it.

Days 5-6 Key Largo to Key West

No, we haven't fallen off the edge of the world, and yes, we've finished the 100-mile paddle to Key West! Just got too busy (and tired!) to post each night. Sooooo, here's the 'rest of the story!'

On Day 5 we were joined by an adventurous family of four for the Seven Mile Bridge crossing and a night of primitive camping and a pasta dinner on Molasses Key.

From Knight's Key in Marathon, we paralleled Henry Flagler's 100-year-old bridge span and made our way to the tiny island the boys nicknamed "Survivor Island." They gathered firewood, adopted a couple of hermit crabs, and picked up what little trash we found washed up on shore.

Next morning we completed the crossing, accompanied by pelicans diving for schools of shimmering, jumping fish. The boys were really wishing they'd had their fishing poles!

Here's a video I took of sunrise while everyone was asleep in their tents!

Day 4 Key Largo to Key West

When you're guiding trips in the Florida Keys, you have to be prepared for a lot of things, but most importantly wind and weather. You have to be flexible. You have to be willing to adjust your route to the conditions, and you need a bail-out plan.

OK, enough of the "Burn Notice" narration! Our Day 3 ended with a downpour and impending thunderstorms. We were going to camp on Long Key, but decided to take our friend Edie up on her lovely gesture of a hot shower and a warm, dry bed for the night! Edie ran support for us to prep for two paddlers joining us (and brought hot coffee!). Thanks, Edie!

Day 4 dawned sunny and beautiful, but with heavy winds. Frankly, the wind kicked our butts! But we had two awesome paddlers with us, Jill and Kathy from Big Pine Key, with great attitudes and a willingness to be flexible.

We launched from Long Key State Park in the lee side of what turned out to be W-NW 20 knot winds gusting to 24. Not so much a problem on the oceanside, but once we hit the Long Key Viaduct bridge, we were basically ferrying across, inching along with probably 2-3 foot swells.

At the other side we tucked up into a lee and took out the sandwiches, already discussing a change in our route, which was to go to the bayside and camp at Jolly Roger Travel Park. Thankfully, there's a little marina on the oceanside not far from Jolly Roger, where they let us pull our boats up and unload. Norm from Jolly Roger was kind enough to bring his truck and pick us up with all our gear. We had a book-signing under the pavilion and great night's sleep.

Thanks, Norm, Tania, Debi and Angie at JR!

Pictured are Norm, Kathy, Bill and Jill. And the truck that has bailed us out before (check out our KL2KW blog from 2008 and scroll down to Day 14!).



In Memory: Today's paddle was the same one we did with our friend Krueger Nicholson (Edie's husband), who passed away this past November. He was a ranger at Long Key State Park and a great friend to paddlers. Here he is making the same crossing of the Long Key Viaduct with us back in 2008 (under much better conditions!). We felt like he was with us on this trip. Take care, Edie, we'll see you soon.

Day 3 Florida Keys Paddling Trail

Friday, March 12

This morning at Coconut Cove Resort, Bill gavea demo of packing tips for filling a sea kayak with camping gear. Click to watch the video!

Today we passed from the oceanside of Islamoarada, past Holiday Isle, cut through to the Bayside to hide from the wind and go through some beautiful mangrove creeks. We passed by many great lunch spots: Lorelei, Morada Bay, Zane Grey Lounge, but our destination was the Kayak Shack at Robbie's Marina (home of the famous tarpon), where we met up with John, owner of this great kayak shop offering tours and rentals to Indian and Lignumvitae Key. What a chill spot to have lunch and get a healthy smoothie at the Hungry Tarpon!

Our day's destination is Long Key State Park, a long day of about 16 miles. See you tomorrow!

Day 2 Florida Keys Paddling Trail

Day 2 on our 100-mile Paddle your Atlas off, Key Largo to Key West! We did about 8 miles from Tavernier on the bayside, through Snake Creek to the oceanside, accompanied by Dave and Christine, long-time paddling buddies.

We passed by reggae singer playing at the Island Grill, to land at beautiful Coconut Cove Resort, which has a lovely, shady tent area. It's really the only place paddlers can camp in Islamorada. Thank you Paul and Magda for the wonderful hospitality! They do great weddings here too, on the beach or under the tiki.

Key Largo to Tavernier: Day One

Here's a video blog on the start of our 100-mile paddle from Key Largo to Key West, dubbed "Paddle Your Atlas Off" since we're doing book-signings along the way for our Florida Keys Paddling Atlas, as well as our just-released Knack Kayaking for Everyone.

We're following the Florida Keys Overseas Paddling Trail, the sister trail to the bike trail (thanks Monica with Greenways and Trails for seeing us off!)

We have some folks joining us along the way, so stay tuned for updates on the adventures, camping all the way and stopping at historic sites and paddling under Henry Flagler's beautiful century-old railroad bridges.

We started at Florida Bay Outfitters next to the famous Caribbean Club in Key Largo on Florida Bay. Along the way we passed through the magical Dusenbury Grottoes and entered another world in deep and rough Tarpon Bay. Lunch stop was on the pretty beach at Key Largo Grande Resort, where the tiki bar serves awesome grouper sandwiches and Margaritas. In about 12 miles we reached our friends Dave and Lynda's for the night in Tavernier. Here's Bill's map of today's trip (click for a larger image).

Paddling Key Largo to Key West

Here's a slide show Bill put together of images we've taken paddling throughout the Florida Keys over the last 7 years. Once a year we take customers on our "Paddle your Atlas off," from Key Largo to Key West. It's scheduled for March 22-31, 2011, 100 glorious miles in ten days, camping all the way. March is Alternative Transportation Month, so it's the perfect time to get off Route 1 and take to the Florida Keys Overseas Paddling Trail.

If you've ever dreamed of paddling to the southernmost point in the US over shallow Caribbean-blue waters and landing on island beaches each night, this is your chance.

We do all the work for you, kayaks and gear, all camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, pads, etc.), all meals prepared for you, and even instruction along the way are all included. Plus, you get to take home a signed copy of our Florida Keys Paddling Atlas, winner of a National Outdoor Book Award.

Details are at www.burnhamguides.com; email or give us a call: 305-240-3298.

Paddling under the 7-Mile Bridge

I shot this video while paddling underneath the old span of the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys. I'm passing beneath the 100-year-old railroad bridge built by Henry Flagler from Miami to Key West. It's held up pretty well over the past century! (Read Last Train to Paradise for a terrific history on the railroad.)

We launched from Knight's Key campground, located at the tip of Marathon, oceanside, and passed beneath the bridges. While looking for rays or sharks along a shallow sandbar, we saw some dolphins arcing in the deeper water close to the bridge.

We made a rest stop on historic Pigeon Key a tiny island museum preserving the community that housed bridge construction workers and their families in the last century. ($11 admission charged per person for a tour.)

From there we passed again beneath the bridges, being carefuly of some pretty stiff current between the arches (whatever you do, keep paddling!). We rode the swells between the spans, and one in our group saw a manatee, before we popped back out into the ocean.

We could see our destination: Molasses Key, a private island where camping permitted for paddlers on the Florida Keys Overseas Paddling Trail Since we are trail volunteers, we'd brought some trash bags for a quick beach clean-up.

This island is a tranquil place to set up camp, watching the headlights on the far-off bridge and birds feeding in the flats.

Read more about our overnight kayak tour along the Seven Mile Bridge and here's a new photo slide show: