Addendum: since writing this 2 years ago, I have been using a GPS, but I still carry the waterproof chart and compass.
You’ve started to plan the logistics of your Everglades kayak or canoe trip, you’ve already decided on the dates and number of days you will be paddling, and you are now ready to map out a paddling route. By now, you should have researched the Everglades National Park’s website (http://www.nps.gov/ever). As I mentioned in my previous entry, reading Johnny Molloy’s book, A Paddler’s Guide to the Everglades National Park is a good idea at this point, essential if you are planning anything beyond a couple days of paddling.
You may have decided on a route based on the Wilderness Trip Planner brochure from the ENP website. This shows you the approximate distances between campsites, but it does not give you any other information that is important to know when planning a route. This is where you need a marine chart. Irrespetive of a GPS, I recommend you get a waterproof chart. There are waterproof charts available from the following website, http://waterproofcharts.com/florida.html. You’ll find two area maps that apply to the ENP: #41 Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands, and #39 Lostmans River to Whitewater Bay and Flamingo. The #41 chart includes the entire Ten Thousand Islands area as far south as the Lostmans River. #39 includes Lostmans River and the southern end of the park including Flamingo and northern Florida Bay area. The cost is $25 for each map, not expensive considering their importance. One word of caution, neither map includes the short route off the wilderness waterway into the campsites Willy Willy or Sunday Bay, but you can get those supplemental maps when you purchase your permits at the visitor center.
The marine chart provides you the locations of shoals, nice to know when paddling or getting on or off an island at low tide (if you use a GPS, make sure it has up-to-date mapping software). The last thing you want to happen is to run your boat over a sharp bed of oyster shells in the Ten Thousand Islands or to find yourself in the middle of a very large mudflat in Florida Bay. These can be easily avoided if you know where the shoals to avoid exist.
You may think a chart is unnecessary if you are planning to paddle only on The Wilderness Waterway, a marked 99-mile water route that runs through the entire ENP. But two adjacent markers can be as much as a mile apart. If you don’t know where to look for the next marker, you may find yourself severely off course. Having a chart that shows you the marker locations will help you avoid losing your route.
Once you have your marine chart, you can visualize your route. One of the most important factors to consider when you plan your route is the tide schedule. To make your trip as pleasurable as possible, plan your routes to avoid paddling a river against the tide. Most of the water you will be paddling is tide-influenced. The greatest effect will occur on those rivers that connect the backcountry with the gulf, such as the Lopez, Lostmans, and Shark rivers. To get your tide information, go to the saltwater tides website: http://saltwatertides.com and search under the list of Florida Gulf Coast sites. For Flamingo, look under the list of Florida Keys sites.
You can choose to ignore the tides, but if, for instance, you find yourself paddling from Highland Beach on the Lostmans River during a full or new moon outgoing tide, you’re going to curse your decision to come here the entire way. This can be easily avoided by simply knowing the tide schedule for the entrance of the Lostmans River. For instance, say the low tide on the day you want to head up the river is at 7:05 am and the high tide is at 12:31 pm; this tells you that you would have a much nicer paddle if you head up the river before 12:31 pm. The closer the time is to the low or high, the less tidal effect there is; this is called “slack tide”. In this case, you have some window of opportunity for about 1 hour after the high tide before the outgoing tide becomes strong. Another tidal factor is the percent visibility of the moon. If you have a full or new moon, the change in water height is much more dramatic and the current is much stronger; thus, at least avoid paddling against a full or new moon tide.
With tide schedule and marine chart in hand, you can now plan an extraordinary trip into the Everglades. If you are acquiring your permit the first day of your paddle, account for the amount of time you’ll need that day before you can get on the water. Plan your first day’s route accordingly, especially important if you will not get on the water until noon or later.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: Although the marine chart is waterproof, I keep it in a waterproof map case, which you can purchase at this website: http://www.thecompassstore.com/mapcase.html. I do this for several reasons; it helps maintain the longevity of the map, I write on my maps, I carry a compass and pencil in case I need to make compass bearings on the fly, and I have my tide schedule print-outs inside the case. Along with my compass I keep in front of me on my boat, everything I need to navigate through the ENP is in that case which sits in front of me the entire time, attached to the spray skirt or the boat. I refer to it frequently while paddling in order to orient myself with my surroundings. In the horizon, 3 mangrove islands can look like one big land mass and distinguishing features to use as orientation points are difficult to find. Thus, you must be comfortable with using maps and a compass while paddling through the Everglades.
Next blog; Part 3: more about the tides (don’t ignore them!) and some info on the campsites.
