Getting Away from it All

This weekend my friends and I went up to Hobe Sound to kayak along the Loxahatchee river, Florida's first federally designated "Wild and Scenic River." It was our chance to get away from all the work, partying and other stresses of life. A few of us were still recovering from Halloween and the fact that we had to work that Saturday. So now was a good time to take a break and get some fresh air.


We ended up having so much fun that we can't wait to do it again. Well, most of us anyway. There were 7 of us on 3 boats (2 double kayaks and a canoe). The weather was great and the river was nice and calm. It was amazing that in some places the water was so still that it looked like glass and you couldn't tell where land ended and water started. It was kinda surreal.


At the start of our journey, watching everyone was such a hoot. We had mostly beginners except Paula and me. The 3 on the canoe kept crashing into the mangroves or the other kayak and the the other kayak had a lot of trouble going straight.


The river winds its way through the park under a canopy of cypress trees and at some points the river becomes quite narrow. Here's where it became really interesting, because you can quickly lose track of the other boats (which we did) and get a little closer to nature than you'd like!


Friend Brielle discovered this when a bunch of spiders landed in their boat. And Brielle doesn't like spiders! (I think she's still traumatized from our adventure.)


Paula and I saw an alligator, but I wasn't quick enough to get the camera. It was funny because I wanted to get close to it and she was screaming "NO!" With this many kayaks and canoes going through the river, I really didn't think the alligator was going to come after us.


We also saw a lot of cool birds, wild pigs, and turtles. When the river became too narrow we had to turn around. Although it didn't bother me, there were just too many trees in our face and spiders falling on us for this crowd. We had our fill of adventure for the day.