By Vladimir Brezina
We’re back from our week-long kayak trip, safe and sound—well, except for the usual collection of sunburn blisters and cuts and scrapes and insect bites…
Thank you so much, everybody who wished us a safe and fun trip—it was magical! Johna’s still writing the story and I am processing hundreds of photos. Here are a few to get you started…
Oh, I forgot to mention where we went! Any guesses?
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
 | CurlsnSkirls on The First Leg! |
 | Johna Till Johnson on The First Leg! |
| Johna Till Johnson on The First Leg! |
 | Marilyn Albright on The First Leg! |
| CurlsnSkirls on The First Leg! |
| Johna Till Johnson on Looks Like They Made It! |
 | Pit on Looks Like They Made It! |
| Johna Till Johnson on More Scenes From the Nort… |
| CurlsnSkirls on Halfway There! |
 | Larry Jensen on More Scenes From the Nort… |
| Johna Till Johnson on R2AK: Scenes From the Northern… |
 | Frank Winters on R2AK: Scenes From the Northern… |
| Johna Till Johnson on Halfway There! |
| CurlsnSkirls on Halfway There! |
| Johna Till Johnson on And They’re Off! |
Wind Against Current 
From your last photo, you went to Florida? I asked Google :)
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Google is your friend!! Yep, we sure did… preparation for the Everglades Challenge, which we hope to complete next year…
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Beautiful photos!!! The sea is really one of the most wonderful motive in the world – and Johna, with her nice hat ;) ! I’m looking forward to the other photos, you will show here :) ! Have a nice sunday Anja
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Thanks Anja! The hat was an impulse purchase… but boy, was I glad I had it!!!
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I can imagine :) .
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Beautiful. Luvin’ that hat! :-)
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It was hat or sunburn… glad I went with the former!
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WOW!!! …a wonderful tour, the images are stunning!!!
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Thanks! (On behalf of Vlad, who took all the photos here..)
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Great photos but I don’t know where it is? Definitely somewhere tropical!
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Indeed! A few other folks guessed it (or figured it out)…
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mosquitoes and mangroves and lovely lovely serene waters! i look forward to the stories!
z
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Coming soon—working on them now!
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What a wonderful trip! Photos are beautiful and so is Johna. My husband commented that he admires your fearlessness to get out together and see the world by kayak. Can’t wait to see more! K.
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I agree with you about Johna… :-) More to come!
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Wherever it is it looks beautiful. Stunning skies.
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Thanks!!
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Johna rays of joy! It is not difficult to understand in the beautiful natural surroundings. It is always exciting to follow on your adventure.
All the best
Hanna
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Thanks, Hanna!! A detailed writeup with more photos is coming…
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Welcome back! I can see that you two enjoyed the trip so much!
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We most certainly did! (Now that we are past the pain… ;-) )
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Punta Rassa is in Fort Myers FLA and the foliage would support this.
DO TELL! Great pictures!
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Very much so, and will do!
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Yes, we ended up in Fort Myers…
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beautiful pictures !
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Thank you!!
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Welcome back! Beautiful photos! Write fast Johna, I’m waiting to read about the trip!
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Thanks for prodding! ;-)
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wow kayaking sound interesting. may be you could visit Kalimantan for sure it has a long beautiful streams. hehe
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Might do one day… it also has a lot of seashore!
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of course :)
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Looks like you had a great trip!
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We sure did!
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it certainly looks warm … fab photos, what a wonderful week you must have had .. waiting to hear more!
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Too warm some of the time, (almost) too cold at other times… More coming soon! :-)
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Looks like you’ve had a nice time (never mind about the blisters etc.)! Lovely pictures too.
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Thanks, Anna!
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Looks like the Florida Keys to me. Also looks like you had an awesome trip!
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Florida, but not the Keys. I’ve never been to the Keys, but it appears that some features appearing in our photos—long sandy beaches?—are not present much in the Keys (see Stephany’s comment below).
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I was going to suggest the Florida Keys, too, but the nice beach photos don’t quite fit. What a wonderful trip and photos!
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You are right, not the Keys—but close!
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You do spark envy with your wonderful trips! I think this is the Sanibel – Captiva, Fort Myers area? Those wonderful mangroves….
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Yes, and see below….
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Oh yup … Sunshine Skyway… we spent some time round St Pete’s some years back. The Everglades will be quite a trip; some interesting swamp creatures .. and with big teeth.
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It’s the ones with tiny little biting mouthparts that we worry about more…
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Daunting little critters …. guess you’re going to get creative with mosquito netting. Good range of repellent clothing? What a fascinating water ecosystem to explore, the birdlife must a treasure down there.
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Fortunately the mosquitoes weren’t as bad as we feared. I am sure they will be much worse down in the Everglades proper… we’ll experience that next time! ;-)
Yes, Florida birds are amazing. We saw the usual assortment on this trip. I didn’t take too many pictures of them this time because I didn’t have my good (but non-waterproof) camera with me, but a few photos from previous trips down to Florida are here and here and here.
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Beautiful shots, Vlad. I see a bit of the Sunshine Skyway so you were in Tampa Bay. We are there now. Come back down and we can go paddling.
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…And also yes! Sorry to miss you, Peter–next time? We’ll be back, for sure.
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Started in Tampa Bay, indeed…
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Wonderful, I love to see the photos of you peeping out of your tent. What great views to wake up to, and Joannas hat is magnificent :-)
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I am so glad she bought the hat at the last minute—it’s proving to be quite a conversation piece :-)
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What’s not to love about a great hat!
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Very nice photos….
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Thank you!
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I am thinking Florida but not The Keys.
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Correct! Now, if not the Keys, where in Florida? ;-)
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Absolutely gorgeous pix and well-deserved after the nasty fall and winter !
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Yes, even though spring has finally come to NYC, it was still a welcome getaway to freer southern climes… :-)
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Oh, I can’t wait to hear about it! My kids are wanting to do a kayak-camping trip. The lakes by use do not allow camping. I would love to take them somewhere to do this! It looks like you guys had a blast. Terrific pictures!
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It’s great fun! But depending on the kids’ ages—no doubt you already know this very well—you might have to be quite modest in your ambitions on such a trip. Trips like ours do involve pretty long paddling days and constant (mostly minor) discomforts that we just have to put up with…
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Oh yes. My expectation is low. :). We will probably hit a river with camping stops along the way. For now, I will live vicariously through you!
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Welcome back and great pictures! I look forward to hearing and seeing more from the adventure!
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Thanks, Chris! More coming soon!
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White sand, clear water, mangroves – looks like Florida to me. Did you rent kayaks or take yours down with you? Beautiful images, can’t wait to see more photos!
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Thanks, Lynn!! We brought the boats down with us… Both are folding kayaks that pack into backpacks that are quite convenient to fly with, although the Red Heron costs extra because it is overweight…
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That’s pretty amazing Vlad; I would love to see a video or a series of photos of how you fold them up. I can’t quite get my head around that :-)
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I’ll try to post something about it at some point. For the moment, there’s this.
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Makes me yearn for the family canoe-camping trip we have planned this summer — perhaps by then the snow will be gone for us! Great photos!
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Summer will be here before you know it! Just a few hours remain until May as I type this…
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Mangroves, oranges, pelicans and cormorants…and plenty of sun cover-ups! Looks like it was a fantastic trip to sunny Florida. Love the happy camper photo!
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:-) Great guess! And happy indeed….
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What a gorgeous series of photos. Looks like a wonderful trip. It has been thirty-five years since I have been there, but the bridge shots, that sand, those waters, the vegetation all remind me of the Florida Keys. Welcome home, and thanks for sharing.
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Not the Keys, but close. Basically, St. Pete to just beyond Fort Myers… Thanks, Naomi!!
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Great pics making me feel super envious ^_^
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Looking at your pictures makes me feel the same way :-)
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A reverse lookup on the telephone number on the parasail just shows you can have too good of a camera. I vote for Fort Myers, FL
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Ok, that was clever of you! And it’s a great answer… not the only one, as it turns out. (Johna, on a break from writing..)
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You know, as I was posting that photo, I was thinking that that phone number would give the game away… Commendable energy on your part to look it up! :-)
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I find these trips you make very exciting.
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Thanks, Gayle! So do we… :-)
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cool trip – nice photo’s thanks for posting!
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You are most welcome—more to come!
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Florida? Haha. I cheated. Siesta Key Marina + google = a right answer, hopefully. ;-)
These are amazing!
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Siesta Key definitely a part of the journey—one of the nicer parts!
And thanks about the photos…
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Lovely pictures.. looks like a great adventure! And yes, photos do look like it’s Florida.
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It is indeed!
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Lovely photo’s. Looks like allot of fun… Just one question where do you put all your luggage???? I would not even attempt to guess where you were I’m from South Africa and have no idea… Thank you for sharing your travels and photo’s.
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In photo 2, you can see all our luggage, more or less, piled up on the cart. (Even though we need to be self-sufficient most of the time, we are not above using a cart when one does offer itself! :-) ) And all that luggage went into the kayaks by the time we launched in photo 3…
Kayak camping is very different from backpacking in that respect—-kayaks have so much more volume to bring stuff. Indeed, the amount of stuff that one is tempted to bring along can easily get out of hand…
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I saw all the luggage that is why I asked. Must be fun though…. Maybe one day I’ll have the privilege to go on a trip like that… Thank you for coming back to me. Looking forward to some more photo’s and blogs about your trip.
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Beautiful photos! Makes me want to head south!!!
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Yes, even a couple of hours flight due south from NYC changes the scene entirely…
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Welcome back! Those terrific pictures tell me you had a wonderful time. Where?
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On the Gulf coast of Florida, from St. Pete Beach to just south of Fort Myers.
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What a trip!!! Can’t wait to see more photos and read about the details.
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Working on them now! :-)
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Great photos! Cute hat!! Fort Myers — right? (Punta Rassa is there….)
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Yes! That was one of the places… :-) Thanks, Frank!!
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Wow! Warm and wonderful adventure. I enjoyed your new photos and look forward to more to come.
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More coming soon!!
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Punta Rassa on the boat ramp sign, Mr. Google — an unbeatable combo.
But I was gearing up to suggest something like the Everglades. Well, this is something like the Everglades, and you’re going to compete there!
Beautiful photos for openers, can’t wait for the complete words+images.
Welcome back!
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Thanks!! I knew that last photo would give it away :-)
We’ll get to the Everglades proper on part 2 of this trip, which we are already planning for later this year…
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BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS! Looks like everyone had fun.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
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We did! Thanks, Francine!
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Wonderful photos!!
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Thanks!!
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GREAT shots … !!!! The everglades is such a wonderful example of nature. I’ve been there many time. It’s just a quick 2 hours from where I live. I am not a fan of the nosee-um bugs. Pesky lil creaturs. It looks like you had a wonderful time.
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We didn’t actually make it into the Everglades…this time! But we did already get some of the Everglades bugs…
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Next time you go bring lots of bug spray or mosquito netting for all over you rbody … hahaha … they are always hungry. I come home with welts.
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We did, and still we did ;-) But in truth it wasn’t as bad as we expected, except one night, possibly because there was always some wind where we were…
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Ein kleines Paradies ♥
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I suppose Paradise must have had mosquitoes too ;-)
Thanks for following our blog!
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Looks lovely, but I am guessing lots of mosquitoes.
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We were dreading horrendous mosquitoes, but they didn’t really materialize. One or two of our campsites had significant bugs, but nothing really bad. Of course, we didn’t make it down to the Everglades proper…
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I’m glad to hear they weren’t that bad, they can really make a trip miserable in my opinion.
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I know exactly what you mean! Fortunately, we are not hiking, but kayaking. On the water the bugs are pretty minimal. So it’s just the camping part that we need worry about—all the more incentive to not camp and just keep going! We are preparing for a race, after all ;-)
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Hurray!!! So glad you guys had a fantastic trip. Looks like the weather cooperated. GORGEOUS photos! Johnna, hurry up with that story—can’t wait for the details. BTW, you look totally adorable in mosquito netting! Love the hat :)
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Yes, mosquito netting makes a charming veil that any proper lady must have to go sea kayaking…
I think the first installment of the writeup is almost done. Keep prodding ;-)
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