Located in the heart of the Everglades in South Florida, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge stands as an exceptional aquatic sanctuary, characterized by its intricate network of islands, mangroves and canals that form a unique ecosystem.
The Ten Thousand Islands are about a two-hour drive from Miami (using Everglades City as a reference), a little longer if you have to tow a 12-person boat on a trailer. I love driving the pick-up!
There is a fee for unloading the boat at the marina…
… but they do not give discounts for wildlife endangerment (¡ C U l8r alligator!)
Most of the islands (islets) are impracticable mangroves. It is possible to anchor in their proximity and have a swim, but there are practically none of them that have an area of dry land. There is a wooden jetty on one of the islands, in the middle of nowhere where, with permission, you can camp and spend the night. On top of the jetty, of course. When you go into the mangroves on any of the islands, there is the possibility of encountering an alligator.
Indian Key
So the day looked like a day of boating and exploring canals… but nothing like buying a nautical map at the marina store to see the depths and not run aground… talk to the manager and ask him where he would go… and he turns out to be a nice guy and reveals the jewel in the crown: the Indian Key.
It is the last islet before entering the immensity of the Gulf of Mexico. More than an hour and a half of navigation from the marina. In front are, in a straight line and depending on the direction, of course, Key West, Cuba, and Cancun, among other places.
It is full of seabirds, and has a tongue of firm, sandy land, about 200 m. long, which is completely flooded at high tide, and uncovered at low tide.
It is possible to snorkel, although as it is a point where the water exits the network of islands into the gulf, there is a strong current.
We chose a place to anchor the boat and had a picnic on the beach. Alone. No one passed by for hours.
A very significant characteristic of the state of Florida and, in particular, of its southern area, is the absolute volatility of its weather. It is well known the picture/meme of the car seeing a radiant sun through the windshield, and an absolutely black and overcast sky reflected in the rearview mirror. Since the Florida peninsula is absolutely flat, there is no orographic feature to serve as an anchor or boundary for wind currents or clouds; thus, a wonderful day can turn into a dangerous downpour in a matter of minutes. Because when it rains at SOFLA, it really rains. But for real. And that also means that weather forecasts, except in extreme cases, are of little use. On the weather apps you can see the heavy rain radar crossing the peninsula at tremendous speed. A spectacle.
Aha, so you have already seen the waterspout in front of us? No, it was not predicted, at least with that intensity. And yes, that was the direction we had to go back to. At 5 o’clock in the afternoon, with about two more hours of daylight. An hour and a half of trip between mangrove islands where sometimes to deviate 5 meters to one side or the other, according to the charts, means rubbing with the propeller on the bottom.
When we had already started our way back, it started to rain heavily and we had to turn around in the middle of the channel because of the big waves (with the storm it was very windy) and we returned to take refuge in the forest of Indian Key that you can see in the photos, resigned to having to sail in the middle of the night, once the storm had passed (which would last just another hour, it was very extreme but short).
But as adventure is not complete without risk, the swell and the now stronger current that carried the water flowing into the gulf… unanchored our boat. We were about 30 meters out, under a makeshift roof of towels and plastic, but fortunately enough one of us noticed that the boat had moved out of place and we jumped in to grab it and push it back.
The anchor was useless, because these types of boats are equipped with shallow anchors, typically for bays and inland channels. So it did not hold because the sand of the cay was very inconsistent and the swell would carry the boat into the gulf if we did not avoid it by pushing some of us and pulling the other side with some ropes. Little by little the boat was taking us deeper and deeper. And this, in the middle of the rain and already with electrical apparatus. Holy guacamole!
A guardian angel appeared to us – to whom I would like to express my thanks again, although I know he will never read this – in the form of a gentleman from Marco Island City who had come to the Everglades to fish with his son. He had a skiff but with a very powerful motor, and on seeing us he approached and asked us for a rope, tied it to his skiff, and towed our boat back to the shallow end, where we again tried to anchor it; I stood on the anchor for a while until we found a large rock under the water on which to hook the anchor more securely.
This man sheltered his son in our improvised roof and told us that he, who was an expert in the area, had also been surprised by the storm. When it subsided, we all got into the boats, cold-shocked, and set off on our way back. Without agreeing anything with him, and instead of leaving at full speed with his boat -which was much faster- the man set out in front of us at 50 meters and guided us through the maze of islands until we reached the main channel -onwards would not be risk of getting lost-, which was when he squeezed the hose of his outboard motor and lost himself in the horizon in a few seconds.
We still had to go around the canals inside the city until we reached the marina to moor and leave. Of course, during the day there is no problem, because you can see everything. But at night, we only had the lights of our cell phones and the reflections of the few lights of the city… and we were literally surrounded by alligators (it’s the Everglades, it’s at night, you go slowly with the boat and suddenly you hear a “clong”… that means you have passed over one). Finally, we arrived exhausted at the marina… to meet the gentleman, who, once his son was safe, waited to make sure that we had arrived safely. Without asking for anything in return, he said goodbye to us and drove off in his pick-up truck back to Marco Island. What a guy. Respect.
We spent the night in Everglades city, recovered… and the next day we went back to the exact same Island Key. It is such a fantastic place that we could not resist. The weather forecast was also good, and we would be back before 2pm, with plenty of time to get back to the marina before dark, and to get to Miami.
Of course, before going out on the boat again, we bought a powerful flashlight at the marina, because you never know, right?
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