Captiva Kayak – Buck Key, Bald Eagles every day!
For our Fall break vacation we stayed at Captiva Island, Florida. This is a favorite vacation spot for us and one of the featured activities is the kayaking. Captiva is an island that sits between the Gulf of Mexico and the main land of Florida. The body of water between Captiva and Florida is called Pine Island Sound. This mangrove rich shallow water area is has all kinds of wild life.
Our kayak trips here are something we look forward to: always lots of nature!!
Day 1. For our first trip, we started by going straight for the Northern tip of Buck Key. We paddled South along the Pine Island Sound (far) side, following the edge of the island all the way to the bottom tip. We then looped back North along the Roosevelt Channel (near) side of Buck Key, all the way back to the launch point.
Along the way, we saw alot of wildlife: Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Anhinga, Little Blue Herson, Green Heron, Osprey, and the feature of the day: Bald Eagles!!
Along the return loop, a couple of Eagles started circling above us. We knew something was different because the nearby osprey all started cheeping. They got really low and landed on the channle marker right next to us. The channel marker isn’t that big, and to see both of them on the marker at the same time was pretty cool. The pair of eagles stayed for just a minute, and then flew away.
This was really cool!
Day 2. For our second kayaking trip of our Captiva vacation, we repeated the loop we did yesterday. We paddled around Buck Key. The water was very still, very flat. Nice.
We hoped to see the same Eagles we saw the day before. And indeed we did. On the far side of Buck Key, we saw an Eagle nicely perched on the top of a Mangrove tree. It was nice to see a Bald Eagle two days in a row.
Also on our kayaking trip we saw: Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Egrets, Osprey, Green Heron and lots of fish jumping out of the water. It was nice to see a Roseate Spoonbill. Usually they are over at Ding Darlling Nature Refuge.
We rented from Barb and Greg’s Captiva Kayak, http://www.captivakayaks.com/, on McCarthy Marina. They start renting about 10am in the morning or so. It is good to call first in case the weather is iffy. For today’s paddle, we waited for a rain storm to blow through.
Last Day. For our last day of our Captiva weekend, we went paddling around Buck Key for the 3rd time. Our thoughts were on the Eagles. We wanted to see them one more time.
For this morning, we were scared off a little. The winds were really heavy and the water had white caps… too much chop for us. We decided to wait until after lunch. Indeed, the water was calm when we launched at 1pm.
The water was running out of Pine Island Sound. Low tide was at 2pm and the more we paddled the more we were challenged to find pathes through the sound that were deep enough for our kayaks.
Again, about half the way around Buck Key, we found hidden in the tall trees our pair of Eagles. They were just hanging. We had seen them flying around earlier and knew they were taking their afternoon break.
Where there was water in our previous kayaks, there were exposed sand bars, with flocks of brids grazing. We paddled toward a group of them; we were excited to see a small group of Wood Storks. What a treat!
As we finished our trip, while we were waiting our turn to land at the McCarthy Marina, we saw a Mom and Baby Manatee splashing around in the marina. Again, a wonderful wildlife treat!!
Thanks. Each day we rented really nice sea kayaks from Captiva Kayak http://www.captivakayaks.com). The kayaks are big a comforatble, well suited for the sometimes choppy Pine Island Sound. We said good-bye to Greg and Barb, and promised to see them again next season.
Captiva Kayak Buck Key Last Day Eagles Osprey at EveryTrail