On Jan 27, 9:43*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:33:20 -0800 (PST), "Wayne.B"





wrote:
Anyone who is looking for a slightly offbeat boating adventure should
consider the Everglades Wilderness Waterway. *It extends inland
approximately 100 miles south from Everglades City in southwestern
Florida all the way to the southernmost tip of mainland Florida, a
little park ranger outpost called Flamingo.

We have not yet navigated the entire length but have now been on three
different segments of it: *North from Flamingo into the south end of
Whitewater Bay; the area extending from the north end of Whitewater
Bay up into the Shark River and Tarpon Bay areas; and today a short
distance on the northern portion extending south from Everglades
City.

This is not your typical boating trip with well charted routes,
frequent navigational markers and convenient access to marinas and
other services. *Au contraire, the charts are incredibly inaccurate
with GPS tracks frequently running over dry land; navigational
markers, where they exist at all, are likely to be rotting wodden
stakes, sometimes with a hand painted number; services and other signs
of civilization are totally non-existent. *It is not an area forgiving
of poor planning or ineptitude although we at times today we touched
on both and nevertheless returned unassisted.

http://www.tinyurl.com/waynebspottrack

For gfretwell's benefit, it makes navigating the Estero River look
like deep water and a piece of cake. *:-)

We encountered a number of spots where even local knowledge is not
enough - there just isn't enough water except at high tide, and high
tide on the Gulf of Mexico is basically a once-a-day thing, and today
it is at night. *It's an interesting challenge however and beautiful
country, even if best seen in a canoe or kayak as opposed to our
dinghy and outboard.

Here are some other sites:

http://www.evergladesdiary.com/

http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisi...ast-trails.htm

http://www.evergladeshostel.com/gall...s/waterway.htm

Got stuck right there by the Captain's Table huh? *;-)

I have poked around there quite a bit over the years. One of my old
IBM buddies grew up in Everglades City.

When my wife and I did our exploring we were using aerial photos from
my son in law (SFWMD). That is really better than a chart as soon as
you get yourself oriented on the photo. Now days with Google and Bing
getting the pictures is easy.
We spent a week down there the last time we went, day tripping out of
Everglades.
The last time I went with the guys we camped on the boats. One night
was OK, the next night we got ate up by bugs. Back Woods Off just
seems to attract them *;-(

If you do this, get the hell out of the mangroves before dark and
anchor out in Florida bay no matter how far it is. Pray for a wind out
of the south.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

===

January is really the right time of year for avoiding the bugs, not
bad at all this week. We spent one night anchored out with the
trawler in the Shark River area and the last several days based out of
Everglades City for extended dinghy excursions. You're right about
the satellite and aerial photos being more useful than charts. I just
need to figure out a way of incorporating the best of both worlds onto
a single screen.