By Vladimir Brezina
After more than a week away from civilization, paddling through Florida’s Everglades, we are back in NYC!
Every time we are away from the news for an extended period, we keep in mind the story of Shackleton, who returned from two years in the Antarctic to the news that a World War had been raging for some time. Fortunately, no such news greeted us. But we did miss all of this year’s Christmas festivities. This was our Christmas dinner of 2013 ——————————>
Here is a preliminary small selection of photos from the trip (click on any photo to start slideshow):
We pack the boats at our campground in Chokoloskee
Ready to launch!
Afternoon sunshine on the black water
Ahead, the bays open up
Afternoon silver
Sunlit clouds
We paddle on into the night
The next creek
We paddle out into glittering Alligator Bay
In the open bays, just the sea and sky
We stop for lunch on the water
The last tree
King bird
Hurricane damage at Highland Point
Calm evening seas
Last rays over the Gulf
Dawn at our campsite…
… at Highland Beach
Ready to launch into the blue Gulf
Floating on the water
We head down the coast
We follow markers through the shallow waters
But what are those clouds building up behind?
A front is coming our way!
Immediately the wind picks up
… and surf into the shelter of the Shark River
Calm waters again
Rain squall is coming our way
Double rainbow
… and the rain!
We paddle on into the night
The boats are still there :-)
A windy day
Expectant crows watch as we repack our boats at Flamingo
At East Clubhouse Beach: Christmas dinner, 2013
Milky shallows
Campsite with a view
We paddle south
Mid-afternoon
Late afternoon
Toward evening
Dock at Little Rabbit Key
Bug protection, as usual
Pink over blue
Sunny Florida Bay
New islands
A cormorant crowns each marker
Becoming pink and blue
We look back…
Soft colors of the evening
Afterglow of sunset
We turn on our headlamps
Our writeup, with more photos, begins here!
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
looks like you had a great trip Happy New Year!
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We sure did! Happy New Year!!
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Reblogged this on victormiguelvelasquez.
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Thanks for reblogging!
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Have you seen Shackleton’s latest pics? Kodak’s mail-in development folks just got back to him about the rolls of film he sent in 100 years ago.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/30/258432566/lost-images-come-to-life-a-century-after-antarctic-expedition?ft=1&f=1007
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Thanks! Yes, I saw those. Better late than never, I guess! ;-)
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Hi. Your photos, as always, are beautiful. You may have missed the NY Holiday festivities, but you are back just in time for a terrific snow storm. Don’t envy that! Like you, we’re in Florida, but now and for a bit more in the future. I hope to miss every single snowflake!
Glad you are back. Missed your photos!
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We actually like our snow! (That may change in a couple of days, of course ;-) ) Another way to look at it, lemons and lemonade…
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after 60 years fighting off the snow, I’m done! have fun, however.
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Looks like a fantastic trip and much warmer than NYC! I was especially intrigued with the photo of the tent on the dock under a roof. Is that an actually camp site?
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Yes. Probably about half of the campsites in the Everglades park are these platforms, called chickees (the other campsites are more traditional ground and beach sites). They are located in areas where there is no solid ground, sometimes for many miles around, only mangrove islands on which you can’t really land in any useful way. Although landing on a chickee, and especially unloading and loading a kayak that is floating several feet below the platform, is no picnic either… ;-)
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awesome trip!… sorry about Christmas Dinner…but, your outing had to be worth it!
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It totally was! :-)
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How exciting!
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Thanks, Gayle!!
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Gorgeous photos! Looks like an amazing trip! Happy New Year!
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A most happy New Year to you, Naomi!!
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Fantastic! Happy New Year — we look forward to hearing all about your trip. Were you pleased with your distance/time/etc.? Did you encounter the famous Snopes alligator?
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You’ll get the full story in due course—the longer you wait, the better it will be! ;-)
It was quite a smooth trip. The Everglades turned out to be smaller than anticipated. We learned a lot, and did much better that on previous trips in terms of the logistics of camping, avoiding sunburn and the little cuts and bruises that can make existence distinctly unpleasant…. On the other hand, we had bugs :-)
We averaged more than 20 nautical miles a day. But in the Everglades Challenge we’ll have to do almost twice as much…
No Snopes alligator. It looked like we wouldn’t see even one the entire trip, until we saw one in Alligator Creek…
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Wow, what a wonderful and exciting trip for you both. Happy New Year and may all your adventures be safe and fun!
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Thank you! Happy New Year to you—all the best in 2014!!
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Beautiful pics! looks like you had a nice time! beebee
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Thanks, and Happy New Year!!
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Welcome back from what looks like an amazing Christmas. I see you captured a beautiful king bird atop a tree. More lovely exclamation marks on the photos. Wishing you both the happiest of times in 2014!
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Likewise—a most happy and productive 2014 to you!!
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Lovely, I needed to see something warm! Thanks for sharing!
George
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You are most welcome, George! Happy New Year!!
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Happy New Year to you both, too! Jeanie and I just viewed your photos on a split screen with Google Earth. It is a trip we look forward to making. Thanks again for the preview.
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Go for it! The inside route, especially, is probably more suited to a canoe than a kayak…
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Nice photos as always. Hope to get some good photos to show you on next kayak trip starting end of month. And HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
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Looking forward to them, Ian! Happy New Year, and happy paddling!!
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Beautiful pictures! I may have to get your advice on kayaking – about to get my first one with a goal of crossing Mobile Bay this year. You make it look so easy!
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Go for it! We’ll be most happy to provide any advice we can. Happy New Year!!
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What type of kayak do you recommend for crossing this bay? It can range from flat-calm to being blown south to the Gulf of Mexico (or north, depending on the weather!). The bay averages 10 feet deep but has a rough shipping channel…Thank you!
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Well, what kayaking experience do you have and will you be going with others?
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Limited to whitewater rafting in Tahitis (rubber kayaks) on the west coast. I will go alone but will probably have a pilot boat guiding me. There are bull sharks but I understand they stay away from anything close to them in size! Thanks for your guidance…
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My first thought would be to say, don’t buy a kayak, but rent one. Most people buying their first kayak without having paddled much soon change their mind about what kind of kayak they really want…
That said, you probably want a mid-sized sea or “touring” kayak—say 12-14′ long. A very short “recreational” boat is likely to be frustrating to paddle any distance in wind and waves. On the other hand, a long (17′) boat will require some paddling skills. Not that the mid-sized boat doesn’t, and you can still get into trouble, so having another boat along is probably a good thing :-)
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Excellent advice! Hadn’t thought of renting, but that’s perfect – we have lots of rental places along the waterways here. And that will allow me to buy a recreational one for routine fun, which also will help me train for it. Now, what kind of training does it take to traverse a large body of water? I’m about to run a 1/2 marathon in a week, but isn’t this mostly upper body?
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If you are paddling with the right technique, it involves the whole body—the legs more than you might realize—so long-distance running is probably very good general training for paddling too (never having done it, I can’t say for sure), as are many other cross-over sports. But ultimately the best training for paddling is going out there and paddling as much as possible…
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Johna here, weighing in on the training issue (since it’s front and center in my mind at the moment :-).
I would suggest weight lifting with independent focus on arms/shoulders, core/back, and hips/legs/glutes, plus any kind of good cardio (training for 1/2 marathon should be ideal). As Vlad says, the motion is mostly a core one, but you’ll find that conditioning the other upper-body muscles can be a help–and if your form is correct, you’ll find a surprising amount of effort coming from the hips and legs.
I have a theory that kayaking torso rotation is most closely approximated by swimming crawl stroke (freestyle), but I haven’t yet tested that theory in serious training. I will let you know, though!
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Thank you for sharing this fantastic journey!
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You are most welcome!!
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Quite a good alternative to a traditional Christmas meal :)
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For some strange reason, it tasted wonderful… ;-)
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Happy New Year! You inspire me to get paddle trip planning underway for 2014! Beautiful… can’t wait to see more photos.
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Go for it! On our part, more photos coming soon… Happy New Year!!
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Happy New Year ! A very great trip, with wonderful shots, as always !
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Thank you! A most happy New Year to you, Kristel!!
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Fantastic photos, very interesting impressions! A happy new year for you both :) ! Rgs Anja
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And a most happy New Year to you, Anja!!
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BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
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Thanks, Francine! Happy New Year!!
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Which is this place. Looks like heaven. :) best wishes for the new year.
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Florida Everglades. The photos don’t show the bugs (mosquitoes. no-see-ums, other biting insects…). I guess every paradise has to have its serpent :-)
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A Paradise!! Wonderful photos!! Happy New Ydear 2014!!
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And a most happy New Year to you!!
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Nice way to start a new year! Beautiful photos.
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Thanks so much, Jeanne!!
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Dear Vladimir,
Looks like a great trip! Just looking at the sandals I am green with envy! Compare this to paddling on the Hudson or upstate New York in a dry suit. Happy New Year!
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There are no bugs on the Hudson in winter, especially if you are wearing a dry suit ;-) But yes, I do agree that Florida paddling has some advantages. Happy New Year!!
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Looks like fun! Happy New Year!
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And to you!!
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Great photos
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Thank you!!
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stunning images as always!
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Thank you!!
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Lovely images Vladimir, MM 🍀
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Thank you!! :-)
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Like a tonic to look at these images. But unlike Shackleton, you didn’t miss the headlines. You came home to the arrival of headlines —- these snowstorms! these subzero temperatures!
Maybe Shackleton is really appropriate as a reference. Maybe we’re all living a new normal here in the New Antarctic!
Hope you and Johna are doing fine and keeping warm. (The photos are undoubtedly helpful.)
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Those are headlines we could have done without ;-)
We are keeping warm by writing up the Florida trip day by day, and trying to ignore the ice floes that are now filling up the East River outside the window… And (if everything works out according to plan) we’ll be going back to Florida in a month for the Everglades Challenge itself. Of course, by that time the weather will be balmy up here too—just our luck :-)
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Looks like a fascinating trip, looking forward to more posts about it. Great pictures as always!
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We’ve written up most of the trip now, with many more photos, in six posts beginning here (two more to come). Take a look!!
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