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Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail
Segment 9
Tampa Bay / Longboat Key
Emergency Contact
Information:
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911
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Pinellas County
Sheriff’s Office: 727-582-6200
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Manatee County Sheriff’s
Office: 941-747-3011
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Sarasota County
Sheriff’s Office: 941-861-5800
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission 24-hour wildlife emergency/boating under the influence
hotline: 1-888-404-3922
Begin: Fort De Soto
Park
End: Lido Beach
Distance: 30 miles,
depending on route
Special Considerations:
Crossing Tampa Bay can be hazardous and is recommended for
experienced paddlers only, and only in good weather. Strong currents,
large ships and wakes, sudden winds and waves can all be factors in the
long passage across open water. Several options are given here,
depending on weather, including taking a shuttle across the bay.
South of Tampa Bay,
paddlers have the choice of paddling on the Gulf side or inside the
barrier islands, although motels for overnight stops are on the Gulf
side.
As with most
South Florida segments, boat traffic can be heavy, especially on
weekends.
Introduction
For thousands of years,
dugout canoes glided across Tampa Bay and nearby coastal waters, guided
by skilled Native American paddlers. Sometimes, these early Florida
sailors used small sails to help speed them along on trade journeys and
fishing trips, utilizing landmarks, currents, stars and sun position to
help with navigation.
Today, huge ocean liners
and tankers can be seen chugging through Tampa Bay, along with numerous
motorized pleasure crafts. Perhaps today’s equivalent to the ocean-going
dugout is a sea kayak, equipped with a foot-guided rudder, spray skirt
and sometimes a sail to make passage easier. Navigation is usually by
nautical maps, compass and global positioning satellite systems, but
that same sense of adventure early native paddlers must have experienced
can be captured.
Historic Tampa Bay,
abundant bird life, gleaming white beaches and a Native American temple
mound are highlights of this segment of the Florida Circumnavigation
Saltwater Paddling Trail. The trail passes through the Boca Ciega Bay
Aquatic Preserve and near the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve. These
preserves protect sea grass beds, hardbottom communities and other
underwater habitats, and efforts are underway to restore sea grasses in
places where pollution or boat dredging has damaged or destroyed them.
To learn more, log onto
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/tampabay/info.htm
Another
highlight of this segment is that paddlers can utilize alternative forms
of transportation to explore areas of interest. Bicycle rentals are
available at Fort De Soto Park, and a free trolley system can be
utilized on Anna Maria Island.
Paddlers have several options in crossing Tampa Bay, depending upon
experience level and weather. One route traverses the historic Egmont
Key State Park:
http://www.floridastateparks.org/egmontkey/default.cfm
Along the Manatee County
coast south of the bay, paddlers have the option of taking the
Intracoastal Waterway or paddling the Gulf parallel to sandy beaches,
depending again on weather conditions. A 75-mile network of paddling
trails along the coast, bays, inlets and rivers has been developed by
Manatee County. Click here to learn more about “Paddle Manatee:”
http://www.co.manatee.fl.us/internet/conservation_lands_management_site.nsf/ContentLookup/clm_paddlemanatee
The southern part of the
trail runs parallel to Sarasota and a blueways guide for boaters has
been developed by the Sarasota Bay National Estuary Program
(941-359-5841). Click here to view a pdf copy:
http://www.sarasotabay.org/pdf/SBNEP_Blueways.pdf Sarasota Bay
is an important estuary for fish spawning and reproduction, and the
outlying barrier islands support numerous loggerhead sea turtle nests
each year.
1. Fort De Soto Park
to Bradenton Beach, 15 miles
It is no
wonder that Fort De Soto Park is a featured stop on the Great Florida
Birding Trail. Flocks of shore and migratory birds seem to pose for
visitors as they feed or rest. Two hundred and ninety-six avian species
have been sighted in the 1,136-acre park.
Exploring Pinellas
County’s Fort De Soto Park is easy. You can kayak through mangrove-lined
lagoons in its interior to a kayak livery facility that also rents
bicycles (see map). By bicycling or hiking, you can tour the park’s
off-road trails that lead to beaches, coastal hammock forests, a small
museum, and historic Fort De Soto, built to protect Tampa Bay during the
Spanish-American War. The fort was named after Spanish explorer Hernando
De Soto, who began his tumultuous three-year march from Tampa Bay in
1539 to find gold and subjugate the native population.
From the park, you can
paddle or take a ferry to Egmont Key State Park (about two miles),
managed in cooperation the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S.
Coast Guard. On the island, you can tour Fort Dade (also built during
the Spanish-American War), stroll along century-old brick roads, and
tour an operating lighthouse that was built in 1848. Look for the mounds
of soft sand that mark the burrows of gopher tortoises, a protected
species abundant on the island’s interior.
Numerous campsites at Fort
De Soto Park are easily accessible by kayak, especially tent sites. A
small seawall surrounds most of the RV campsites, which may prove
difficult for kayaks, so make sure you reserve one or more of the tent
sites (sites 1 through 85). Advanced reservations are highly
recommended, so call (727) 582-2267 up to six months in advance of your
trip.
Primitive camping is
available at no charge on Shell Key, which is just offshore from North
Beach in Fort De Soto Park (see map). This island is also managed by
Pinellas County. Leave No Trace principles should be followed on the
island, meaning that all trash and human waste should be packed out. To
learn more about Leave No Trace principles, log onto
http://www.lnt.org/
To traverse Tampa Bay
from the campground, you have several options. For one, crossing the bay
is recommended for experienced paddlers only in calm weather. Strong
currents, large ships and wakes, sudden winds and waves can all be
factors in the long passage across open water. In calm weather, the
shortest distance is to Egmont Key (two miles from the tip of Ft. De
Soto Park), and then across to Anna Maria Island. Then, the day’s total
is about 12 miles to motels at Holmes Beach or 15 miles to motels along
Bradenton Beach.
Another passage is along
the Skyway Bridge, where larger ships are funneled into a deep channel,
although strong currents can be dangerous. Rest areas at the beginning
and end of the bridge are accessible to kayakers. In rough weather, it
is recommended that you either wait it out, paddle several miles along
the interior of the bay to avoid long stretches of open water, or
arrange a shuttle across the bay with a local outfitter. If you choose
to paddle around the interior of Tampa Bay, you can utilize the Pinellas
County Blueways Guide for the Pinellas County portion of the bay
http://www.pinellascounty.org/Plan/blueways/default.htm and
the Hillsborough Blueways guide for the Hillsborough C ounty portion of
the bay
http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/parks/parkservices/blueways/
. Some motel options are outlined in the Hillsborough Blueways
guide.
If one paddles the Skyway
Bridge and proceeds to Holmes Beach, the day’s total is about 21 miles.
This total will be shortened considerably when Manatee County opens a
planned primitive campsite at their Robinson Preserve along Perico
Bayou.
Two points of interest in
the area are accessible to paddlers, although a bit out of the way until
the Robinson Preserve campsite is open. At Emerson Point Park, you can
visit the large Native American temple mound on the south side of the
park (see map). You can easily beach your boat and walk up a palm-lined
walkway to the mound. The mound was used for centuries by Tocobaga
Indians and later by a settler who built a structure atop the mound. The
native people likely used the mound for ceremonies and as a place where
chiefs or priests lived.
Almost directly across the
mouth of the Manatee River from the temple mound is the De Soto National
Memorial. Kayakers can land on the shore and explore the visitor’s
center, try on heavy Spanish-style chain mail and armor, visit an
historic Spanish camp--complete with living history interpreters--and
marvel at mature gumbo limbo trees.
After crossing Tampa Bay,
you have two route options. In good weather, you can paddle around Anna
Maria Island on the Gulf side, or you can paddle along the Intracoastal
Waterway through Anna Maria Sound and Sarasota Bay. There are
opportunities for bathroom breaks on both sides of the barrier islands
as there are numerous public county beaches, boat launches, and private
marinas. No overnight camping opportunities are available at this time,
so paddlers can find motel lodging at either Holmes Beach or Bradenton
Beach on the Gulf side. GPS points are given for Holmes Beach and the
Bradenton Beach Econolodge at Bradenton Beach for reference points. More
information on these motels and others in this segment is available on
the Internet at
http://www.floridasmart.com/local/counties/manatee/travel.htm -
http://sarasota.lodgingguide.com/
and at other websites.
Since lodging
opportunities are all on the Gulf side, one option is to paddle through
Anna Maria Sound on the bay side, cut through Longboat Pass, and paddle
north along Coquina Beach two to three miles to the motels at Bradenton
Beach. On the bay side, you can stop at or cruise past the historic
fishing village of Cortez, founded by fishermen from North Carolina in
the 1880s. Being one of the last remaining fishing villages on Florida’s
Suncoast, Cortez is facing a number of pressures such as encroaching
residential development and increased fishing regulation.
The beauty of
staying on Anna Maria Island is the availability of a free trolley
system that runs daily from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., seven days a week. The
trolley arrives at different stops about every 20 minutes and can take
you to points of interest, shopping centers, restaurants, or simply on a
sightseeing tour. Near Holmes Beach, it links to a bus that can take you
to Bradenton and Palmetto for a small fee. Call 941-749-7116 for more
information.
Accessible by trolley or
kayak is a post office across the road from the historic Anna Maria Pier
along the northern end of the island. The post office is open from 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon on
Saturday. The zip code is 34216 in case you want to receive mail in care
of general delivery.
2. Bradenton Beach to
Lido Beach, 15 miles
Once again,
you can take either the bay side or Gulf side for this stretch,
depending on weather and preference. The bay side adds one to two miles.
On the
bay side, one point of interest is the Joan Durante Park, where you can
beach your boat (see map) and walk down several scenic trails and
boardwalks. Bird life is abundant in the lagoons and coastal hammock of
this wetlands restoration project, and restrooms are available near the
parking lot.
If you land at the boat
ramp on the south side of Ken Thompson Park, you can visit the Mote
Marine Laboratory Aquarium, the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal
Center, and Pelican Man’s Bird Sanctuary. All of these interesting
attractions charge entrance fees.
There
is a canoe/kayak launch on the bay side in South Lido Beach Park (see
map).
On the Gulf side, there
are numerous motels to choose from just south of Lido Beach
http://www.floridasmart.com/local/counties/manatee/travel.htm
,
http://sarasota.lodgingguide.com/ , and at other
websites). For a shorter day, you can stay at the Turtle Crawl In n or
other motels on the southern Gulf side of Longboat Key. The Gulf side
includes several scenic county beaches for pleasant stops and bathroom
breaks, most of which include outdoor showers and snack bars.
If you are paddling on the
bay side, you can access the Gulf-side motels by either cutting through
New Pass and heading south past Lido Beach, or by cutting through Big
Pass and heading north along South Lido Beach about a mile. On your
journey, look for some of the approximately 100 bottlenose dolphins that
reside year-round in Sarasota Bay. In spring and summer, mothers and
calves can be seen in shallow waters as newborns are more protected from
deep-water predators such as bull sharks. Manatees can also be seen in
the bay, especially during warmer months.
Whether
paddling on the Gulf or bay side, this segment provides paddlers with a
variety of bird life, scenic beaches and parks, fascinating attractions,
and historic sites.
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