I may be able to sneak in a last minute 3-day vacation in Florida this week to visit my sister and brother-in-law in the Palm Springs area with my wife and son.
My sister-in-law, who is not a paddler, says the Loxahatchee (spelling?) River area is great for paddling. I will try to research it tonight when I get home. Any thoughts or info on this area would be much appreciated.
which one
– Last Updated: Dec-21-04 6:19 PM EST –
there are two palm springs in florida..
one near Miami...lots of paddling and p-netters there. Also one in Palm Beach. Since you are asking about the loxahatchee i'm guessing Palm Beach.
The river is a good spot. parts of it might be closed due to downed trees from hurricanes.
Intracoastal is good except for some heavy boat traffic on weekends.
Two local outfitters to look into: www.adventuretimes.com
http://www.jupiteroutdoorcenter.com
The is some nice paddling around John D MacArthur State Park and they have some rentals available
http://www.floridastateparks.org/macarthurbeach/activities.asp
I'm in that area. Feel free to email me if you have questions.
I agree with…
checking out Adventure Times in West Palm Beach. They offer a variety of guided tours, can supply kayaks and equipment and are very nice people. If you want to try the intercoastal and the Loxahatchee you could start at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. For the intercoastal John D. MacArthur State Park, and the St. Lucie Estuary are nice options.
I live in West Palm Beach and would like to offer any assistance that I can. Call me on my cell at 561-310-9443 if you need or want to.
Regards,
Bill
Yep! Don’t miss it
loxahatchee
me and a friend just paddled it last week and it has lots of down trees on it from the hurricane although the outfitter has cut alot of them out of the way, expect to get out and pull over some trees. The weekend is the only time that they run shuttles from down stream which is prefered.
Thanks to All
– Last Updated: Dec-25-04 2:43 PM EST –
I am writing this from Florida. We were on the Loxahatchee today. My wife and I rented a tandem from the outfitter. We made it around most of the downed trees. We saw five gators on the river today; one jumped in the water right in front of our yak. They were probably as afraid of us as we of them. We don't get a lot of gators in Illinois. I highly recommend this meandering narrow river for it's Everglades-type scenery and wildlife (many turtles- I think Loxahatchee means river of turtles).
Yesterday my wife, son and I rented yaks from Jupiter Outdoor Center. Their area is mainly the Intracoastal and some coves off of the main waterway. Some huge boats- I couldn't believe some of the wakes (some large wakes I suspect were created intentionally).
If you visit this area, I highly recommend the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. There are many miles to walk and more types of birds than I have ever seen in one location.
We'll be back in Illinois on Saturday. Although winter can be beautiful there, we'll be waiting for the ice to melt. Thanks to all of you for your advice and comments.