It only seems fitting to talk about critters in the same context as food and water. When you carry food and water with you, you are a potential food source for various animals living in the Everglades.
FOOD You can’t get around it, you will need calories and other nutrients while paddling through the Everglades. My knowledge of nutrition while paddling is partially from Everglades experience and partially from my profession, exercise physiology. If you are interested in the nutritional aspects of performance and want a deeper insight into the role of nutrition during exercise, please check out my website where you can find out how to calculate your calorie expenditure, learn about caloric intake requirements for paddling, meal planning with meal examples and information on diet supplements. Please go to: http://www.cmierphotoandfitness.net/fitness.html.
What I will discuss here concerns how to pack your food and some tips on preparing it. It should be no surprise to you that frozen items will not stay frozen long in the Everglades. For the first couple of nights, I can plan my evening meals with more flexibility because I can bring along a small cooler and keep whatever is inside it cold enough to last for a couple days. Beyond a couple days, there is no guarantee that meat and dairy products will remain safe to eat. Some may disagree and in fact, one of my paddling partners eats nothing but pre-made deli sandwiches for dinner on multi-day trips. I’ve seen him consume a turkey breast sandwich (without mayo) on the fifth night of a trip and he never got sick. To be safe, I use a cooler only for foods I will consume within a 2-3-day period. In those cases, I’ll bring homemade items like lentil soup or refried beans, or veggie burgers with condiments. The lentil soup (or any homemade soup) is great because it can be frozen in a plastic container or bag and will help keep other items cold. I also pack the cooler with plastic containers (like old Gatorade bottles) filled with water and freeze them at home. This is water that can be used for drinking and cooking after it thaws, so it doesn’t take up additional room in your boat. I’ve also found that frozen cans of Heineken beer taste quite good after a thaw. If you have a hankering for a cold beer, it will stay that way for a couple days for sure.
For the non-cooler foods, I like to pack foods for the kayak in an organized way so that I keep the breakfast items together and separate from the lunch and dinner items. That way, I don’t have to waste time searching around for food. I use nylon stuff bags for organizing meals and snacks. For instance, in one bag I may have 2 dinner meals that include pasta, crackers, bread, bag of dried veggies and nuts, tuna pouch and desserts. Another bag might include lunch items such as a plastic container with peanut butter, bagels, honey, jerky, and tuna lunch kits. And yet another bag might include several power bars and other snack items like jerky, dried fruit or trail mix. I plan my meals with one other person so we split up the camp items in such a way that one of us has all the food in one boat (with the exception of that day’s allotment of snacks). In the morning when I pack the boat, I place the snack and lunch items close to the hatch opening so I can more easily get to them when we stop for a lunch break. I also take out my daily snack allotment and put that in my deck bag.
In addition to using the nylon bags, I use zip lock bags for just about everything, with the exception of canned or pre-sealed items. In one gallon-size zip lock bag, I will put all the items needed for a dinner meal. Another gallon bag will house all the oatmeal, coffee and tea used for breakfast. So once again, items are bagged in an organized way. Another nice thing about the zip lock bags is that you can use the empty bags for trash. They also work quite well keeping your foods moist-free. For foods that come in cardboard boxes, I remove them from the boxes to get rid of bulk and debris. I place the loose food items into zip lock bags and if cooking instructions come with it, I cut them out of the box and place it inside the bag with the food.
Another convenient thing about the zip lock bags is you can pre-mix your meals and place everything in one container. For instance, I eat instant oatmeal for breakfast but I like to add dry milk, dry fruit and nuts to the oatmeal. I pre-mix all of it at home and place it in a zip lock bag. Another great breakfast meal is a package of Instant Carnation mixed with a 1/3 cup dry milk and a heaping teaspoon of instant expresso. Add hot water to that and eat a power bar with it, and you have yourself a 500-600 calorie meal bursting with caffeine, protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals. And yet another advantage of the zip lock bag (make sure you use the freezer bags) is you can eat out of them. They are sturdy enough to withstand hot water and will relieve you of dirty dishes.
WATER I bring about 1 gallon per day, but can get by with ¾ gallon. The weather may dictate the amount you actually use, and I found myself using extra water during an unseasonally hot trip we took over new year’s eve. One of my paddling companions uses very little water and before he dumped out his extra, he offered it to me and I willingly took it and used it. The point is, you need to carry in what you will need; there is no fresh water where you will be going. For the kayak, I have Stearns water bags that hold about 2 ½ gallons each and have a spout for pouring and can be hung from a tree. The bad news is they no longer make these water containers. There are other versions, like Dromedary bags, which I have no experience with. But, if you are in a kayak, water bags are easier to pack than hard plastic containers. In a canoe, you don’t have that issue and when I travel in my canoe, I use a large plastic container, either 4, 5 or 7 gallons or some combination of the 3.
CRITTERS There are two critters in particular that I will talk about. The first one is the raccoon. You will likely have a raccoon encounter and the chances of that happening largely depends on where you camp. Some sites are more notorious for raccoon raids than others; Pavilion Key once had the dubious distinction of being a raccoon-infested island. For good or bad, these little critters do not have a lot of fresh water available to them and will try their hardest to find it. To their credit, they are extremely clever and have left many paddlers distraught after waking up to find their boats empty of water containers, punctured water bags and food wrappers scattered about. So a big word of caution, protect your food and water as if your life depended on it, because it does.
If you are traveling in a kayak, all your food and water must be stored in your sealed hatches overnight or when you are not at the campsite. DO NOT leave food, water or food trash in your cockpit. If you think your nylon cockpit cover will keep the raccoons out, you are sadly mistaken. Do not leave your cooler out unless it is locked. If you are traveling in a canoe, all food and water must go inside hard containers (plastic or otherwise) that are sealed. For food, I use the large animal food containers that you can purchase at a pet store. The top screws on and is quite tight. Feel free to bring food items into your tent; you do not have bear issues down here. In fact, I bring my breakfast in with me at night and eat it inside my tent in the morning.
About those gators; the chances of you seeing an alligator on your trip is about as high as the chances of you not seeing an alligator on your trip. Whether or not you see one depends on where you paddle. On the coastline and the gulf islands, you will not encounter alligators, they are freshwater creatures. But, in the backcountry where the water is brackish, you will likely see alligators in a creek or possibly at a campsite. Some campsites have a resident alligator that lurks about in the water and sometimes comes up on land, blocking the boat entrance area. Sites that you are more likely to see an alligator include Willy Willy, Watsons Place, Camp Lonesome and Canepatch. Some of the chickees also have a resident gator that will circle the platform around dinner time.
So what do you do if you see an alligator? Not much, take a picture and maybe stare at it for awhile. On the creeks while paddling, give the animal some distance. What often happens is you come up on a sunning gator and it gets spooked by your boat. It will head back into the water quickly, making a splash and some noise which can give you the impression that it is on the attack. I assure you, it is not. It’s simply hiding and trying to stay away from you, so respect it and stay away from it as well. At the campsite, DO NOT feed the gator under any circumstance. If you can, clean your fish somewhere else, but if not, throw it as far away from the dock as possible. If you paddle up to a campsite and there sits a gator in your way, find another place to get out and stay clear of the animal. The gator is not going to go on the attack, rather it will lay there not moving for hours until its time to go back into the water. Simply let it be and it will not be a threat.
You may encounter other animals on your trip. Some lucky individuals have spotted bobcats in the mangroves. You may see wild pigs or deer on some sites, like Highland Beach or Tiger Key. If you don’t see them, you’ll find their hoof prints in the sand. I believe I have seen rabbits out there as well. And of course, you will see dolphin, probably lots of dolphin in the gulf, in the large tidal rivers and the back bays. You’ll spot a manatees as well and hopefully not by awakening it under your boat. Very large loggerhead turtles will show their large loggerheads above water on occasion. And of course, there are the fish and the birds. I’ve seen large tarpon fly out of the water, especially during sunsets off the cape. I have seen large sting rays shoot out of the water on several occasions as well. I’ll discuss the birds in another chapter when I talk about photography, but you will certainly see lots of them.
SOME TIPS ON FOOD PREPARATION
1. This really isn’t a food preparation item, but if you like wine, bring it. A 750 ml bottle fits perfectly in the stern or bow of a kayak. I’ve also found certain boxed wines to be very nice and they store well in the boat. You can also chill your bottled wine in the water before dinner.
2. Bring a thermos and heat water for breakfast and morning coffee the night before to avoid cooking in the morning. Bring it as well as your breakfast foods inside the tent with you at night. Wake up and have breakfast in the tent while the no-see-ums go on the attack outside. I use the Nissan thermos and the water stays unbelievably hot over a 12 hr period.
3. A nice hearty soup made at home makes a wonderful first or second night’s meal. I’m partial to lentils and will add barley or rice for a nice combination of carbohydrate and protein. It’s a good meal for those nights when you are very hungry and don’t feel like cooking. I freeze it in a gallon size (or quart size for single serving) zip-lock freezer bag.
4. I do all my cooking with a Trangia alcohol stove. It’s clean, it takes up little room and the stove is so low maintenance, nothing can go wrong (no clogs, no leak, etc). And unlike the popular Whisper Lite stove that sounds like a whispering jet taking off, it makes no noise. I use denatured alcohol and store it in old hydrogen peroxide bottles. I replace the bottle cap with a water bottle drinking spout for easy use. I carry a long lighter and waterproof matches as back ups.
5. Bring an extra meal for that small possibility you may be stuck an extra night. It’s always better to err on the side of bringing too much food than not enough. Of course, you can survive without the food, so adhere to this rule firmly when it comes to water.
6. Certain breads will get moldy fast. I find Lenders bagels and white flour tortillas to work well against that. Whole wheat breads, especially pita, do no last long and will turn green and fuzzy within a day.
7. You can use salt water for boiling pasta or rice, but know that you will likely get sand in there too. I do use the ocean water to wash my pots and pans after a meal. The shells and sand help remove the hardened food.
8. When I boil water for the next meal, I place my used eating utensils in the water for sterilization and will also pour the water into my eating bowls and then dump the water back into the pot for cooking. I don’t do this every night, but every couple of days.
9. Especially for beach camping where there are no picnic tables but lots of sand, I bring a large nylon tarp and spread it on the ground. Here, I set myself up with my Thermarest chair and all my cooking gear and food for a meal. This is our kitchen and dining area.
10. Use your food storage zip lock bags for garbage after you’ve eaten the contents of the bag.
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