Kayaking in back country provides a bold alternative to usual paths in the Keys
3/22/2006 5:05:21 PM by Susan Cocking
Just like its neighbor the No Name Pub, Big Pine Kayak Adventures is a great place – if you can find it. I raced right past captain Bill Keogh’s concession at the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp as I drove over the concrete-and-steel span that replaced the camp’s namesake.
Fortunately, I turned back and spied the glint of orange kayaks stacked up at the marina and was heartened. Located so far off the Lower Keys’ beaten track, Keogh’s operation just had to be something more than a tourist trap.
Keogh ambled out of his houseboat/office to greet me as I apologized for my tardiness. He acknowledged that, yes, he is hard to find, but his very obscurity weeds out cranky Key West tourists with attention deficit disorder.
“If people can find me at the end of the road, they’re worthy,” he said.
Keogh, 45, has lived in the lower Keys for nearly 25 years. A Connecticut native, he aspired to a job as a forest ranger, but ended up working as a staff photographer at Big Pine’s Newfound Harbor Sea Camp after graduation from Unity College in Maine.
He launched his kayak business 10 years ago, and last year published a book, The Florida Keys Paddling Guide (Backcountry Guides, $22 – including tax and shipping).
“I ended up here on the ocean. I made the best of it,”’ he said. “I really like promoting the natural history of the Keys.”
We set out on his 24-foot Carolina skiff, bearing two kayaks and several fishing rods. Hurricane Wilma had recently blasted through the region, scouring the mangrove islands of the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, shifting sandbars, and scattering flotsam throughout Florida Bay.
Keogh pointed the skiff northeast, stopping at the tip of a small island called Crawl Key where Florida Bay meets the Gulf. He put the two kayaks overboard, and we paddled over to a sandy depression lining the lee side of the island.
The mangroves were mostly brown or leafless from Wilma’s battering, and a disembodied day marker lay tangled in the roots. But the bare branches were lined with cormorants, pelicans, herons and egrets cawing, squawking, and flapping.
I had never realized – in countless previous trips to the Lower Keys back country – how much the cormorants’ croaking sounds like a bunch of kids trying to force themselves to burp. So much for a quiet day in a bird sanctuary!
Giggling at the birds, Keogh and I continued to amuse ourselves casting Tsunami holographic swimming baits tipped with shrimp into the sandy ditch. Mostly, we caught small barracuda, jacks and mangrove snappers.
But then Keogh hooked into something displaying shoulders and girth. His light rod bent like a buggy whip and I fully expected his kayak to flip upside down as he leaned backward, forward and sideways, struggling to gain control over whatever it was.
“Is there anything I can do?”’ I asked.
“Nope,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’ve just got to get it away from the mangroves.”
After what seemed like a 10-minute battle, he reeled up the mottled, photogenic creature for which the Lower Keys back country is known: a juvenile Goliath grouper of about eight pounds.
“All I could think was, it’s going to get in the roots and break me off,” he said with relief. “To get him out of there was tough.”
After releasing the fish, Keogh said he has been seeing a lot of young Goliaths lately in the back country, more than he has seen since he started guiding. A hopeful sign, especially after the hurricane’s devastation.
Reluctantly, we headed back to the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp. Waiting there was a tourist couple from England, who wanted to book a trip for the next day. They said they had a hard time locating him, but finally succeeded. Smiling, Keogh agreed to take them out.
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quicksplash IF YOU GO Big Pine Kayak Adventures, Inc. is located at the Old Wooden Bride Fish Camp across from the No Name Pub. Kayak rentals cost $10 per hour; $25 for a half day; $125 weekly. A three-hour guided paddling tour costs $50 per person. An overnight houseboat/kayak package costs $200 per night. A back country tour with motorized skiff and kayaks costs $125. Back country skiff/kayak fishing costs $150. For more information, call 305-872-7474 or 1-877-595-2925 or log onto www.keyskayak-tours.com |