I’m stuck in Miami Beach for a few days with no car. Anybody know of a place to rent a kayak, on the water, accessible by bike or public transpo?
Mark
Big place…
If you can get to Oleta State Park. Near 167th st.
Possiby 30 minutes away by bus…
Is Florida Bay Outfiters in Largo. Great place with many sea kayaks like Valley, Necky and many others. They also rent skirts, paddles, the works! I would be surprised if there is not a bus going that way.
I’ll alert Scupper Frank of your request
and maybe he will weigh in here.
Jack L
Miami Beach Kayak Rentals
– Last Updated: Oct-22-10 11:51 PM EST –
Welcome South, Mark!
You can possibly rent at a private windsurfing rental outfit along the Rickenbacker Causeway (Miami-to-Key Biscayne), and at Crandon Park (on Key Biscayne) and/or Matheson Hammock Park (down south on Biscayne Bay in Pinecrest) there are rentals and good places to paddle as well at two of our Miami-Dade County parks.
Grayhawk notes a nice place for an easy paddle at the north end of Biscayne Bay at Oleta River State Park, run by Collen -Blue Moon...
And Gill notes a an even better, bigger, more complete paddling shop and place to rent down in Key Largo, run by Frank & Monica Woll...
But I'm afraid Gill's got his travel numbers just a little bit off... It's about a half hour, on a good day, by CAR, to (relatively) nearby Oleta from Sobe. On a bus? Maybe 1, 1-1/2 hours.
On the other hand, it's about an hour or hour and a half to Florida Bay Outfitters at MM 104 in the Keys -by car -on a weekday -away from rush hours. ...But by bus? Oh... maybe 2-3+ hours... If there's one going when you want/need it... after several transfers, from bus to rail to bus to bus...
But don't give up hope yet!
There's South Beach Kayaks!
South Beach Kayaks, a smallish shop on Purdy Avenue in SoBe, rents kayaks, and that I must admit, I thought had folded several years back. These days, it has kayaks available, and, all the rage down here, SUPs -stand-up paddleboards. If you aren't familiar -think of taking a canoe paddle, and making the blade big and fat, almost circular, and stretch the shaft till it's about 5' long, then hop on a surfboard, stand up, and paddle that board... more or less...
But back to kayaking...
I don't know the logistics, but the shop isn't at all far (basically across the street) from a put-in at a boat ramp on the west side of the island. Perhaps they drop you, or portage/wheel your boat, there. We no longer put in there, because there's only on-street pay-for-parking (the boat ramp lot is only for those who tow, not rack) with relatively short time limits.
From the boat ramp, you can do an easy urban paddle to Flagler Memorial Island, with its beach and obelisk memorial to Henry Flagler, the fellow who, with Julia Tuttle, put Miami on the map when he extended his railroad down the east coast of Florida to the Miami River back in 1896. You will be on Biscayne Bay, and have great views of the mainland across the Bay to Downtown Miami, up and down the Bay, and of what is still the largest cruise port in the world to the south.
You can also paddle around any of the Venetian Islands where nice waterfront homes and mansions abound, or over to Star , Hibiscus, and Palm Islands -home to mansions and more, where several current and past celebrities hang their hats.
There will be boat and jetski traffic, and there are several marinas in the area which have boats coming & going, so you will need to be aware, but it can be a nice, urban paddle.
Their website:
http://www.southbeachkayak.com/
Here's a blurb offered by someone who rented from them. Besides the gushing accolades, there's a small map on the page which shows you where South Beach Kayaks is located.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/south-beach-kayak-miami-beach
So bring your tourist dollars, your bathing suit, sunscreen, and some of your favorite adult beverage and c'mon down and
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Hey Frank…
many thanks for your in depth reply.
I’ll thank you since to OP didn’t.
Hopefully he is on the road and just didn’t bother to say “thanks”, as many on here seem to do.
Jack L
hrmph
I’m not like that. I had made a point to say thanks once I actually experienced the place. Then, a few minutes ago, I checked their website and discovered they are closed on Tuesdays. And of course I am flying out on Wednesday, so I will have to do a quick paddling trip or no trip. So here is a preliminary thank-you, and maybe a better one is coming.
Mark
So you’re saying…
You won’t thank him for bothering to type a reply and try to help a total stranger unless you have a great day and it doesn’t rain.
Glad I’m not your travel agent.
Frank Is The Greatest PNET Poster Ever!
Frank is always the most helpful poster here, and over at Topkayaker, too.
He really puts in the time and effort to be complete and helpful for strangers!
I hope you are enjoying retirement, and pleased to see you have better things to do on a day to day basis than mess around here, but we do miss you!
ai yai yai
No, that’s not what I was saying. I meant that I intended to consolidate my thanks and my report on what I ended up doing into one message. See my reply below for the kind of thing I had in mind.
I wish now that I had posted thanks-for-the-info immediately, then posted later on what I actually did. I learned (or thought I learned) long ago that excess in thanking and apologizing is never bad. Thanks to you and JackL for burning in the lesson one more time.
Mark
thank you
Thanks, all, for the suggestions. I had planned to check out South Beach Kayak, maybe for my first SUP experience, but in the end, the two days of playtime that had been promised me turned into about five hours of playtime, and I decided to spend them on the beach with a novel. So I did no paddling and no biking. I am not happy that I went all the way to south Florida and got no active outdoors time, especially no Everglades time, but that’s the way the gig went. Next time!
Mark
You’re welcome
jack L
MARK, YOU’RE MORE THAN WELCOME
Just wish you’d had the time for some slightly non-traditional “sun-time” down here, but a nice day on the beach ain’t so bad, either.
And thanks to friends JackL and Grayhawk for their thanks, and 'Cuda for his kind words. Congrats, BTW, amigo -the Black & Silver are looking a lot better this year…!
Well, you have the info you need, and if they’re still in business at South Beach kayaks the next time you’re down, hope you get a chance to rent and enjoy our Biscayne Bay waters. Better yet, give an early shout and maybe one of us locals can help out, as you
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
…and entertaining
And Frank’s messages are also most entertaining!
rentals
I’m looking for sea kayak rentals between ft lauderdale and west palm beach. North of miami.
Any suggestions would be great.
I SUGGEST…
– Last Updated: Jun-20-14 7:41 PM EST –
...that you start a brand new post where it'll get solo attention, and not bypassed by those who have already seen this thread. You'll probably get a better response and be better able to get a selection of spots from which you can get gear to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami