By Bill and Mary Burnham

“Drink, Dive, and Fish!” So goes the standard response to the question: “What’s there to do in the Keys?”

Famous it may be for fishing and fun, the Florida Keys have a different reputation among the “quiet water” set—those canoeists and kayakers who know it as America’s tropical paddling paradise.

So what surprises await paddlers in the Florida Keys? A mangrove tunnel that empties into a shallow lake behind Card Point. The hot pink flash of a roseate spoonbill as it lifts off from its mangrove perch. A seagrass meadow, behind Rattlesnake Key in Pennekamp State Park, carpeted with Cassiopeia jellyfish. And the green-blue water that stretches to the horizon beyond the Swash Keys, offshore of Rock Harbor.

Paddling the Keys is a paddle through history. Classic spandrel arches support the 2.5-mile Long Key Viaduct, which has been described as the first completed triumph of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railroad. And on the edge of the Florida Straits, the awe-inspiring brick fortress that is known as Fort Jefferson rises from Caribbean waters, a testament to a bygone era.

In a kayak, you can scoot down a hidden neighborhood canal in the heart of Key West or snorkel nearshore patch reefs off Newfound Harbor Keys. Paddling in the Keys is to admire the intricate, delicate web of a golden orb weaver strung from branches of a red mangrove, or to join a great white heron on a remote Everglades island during its sunset vigil.

Upper Keys

Sheltered nearshore waters on the oceanside characterize the Upper Keys paddling experience. Rattlesnake and Elradabob keys—both within the boundaries of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park—are riven with small mangrove creeks and tunnels. Farther south, Rodriguez, Dove and Tavernier keys stand alone, surrounded by seagrass meadows and patches of white sand that, on clear days, reflect back the cloudless blue sky.

An Indian massacre and the dangerous business of salvaging ships that wrecked on the reef are two hallmarks in the history of Indian Key, a small lump of coral rock off Islamorada that has figured prominently in Upper Keys history and lore. A one-time seat of Dade County, it is now a state park, as is nearby Lignumvitae Key, where there’s evidence of an Indian burial ground. Landing is permitted on both islands (use kayak landing/launch areas, not the government docks), and rangers provide tours twice daily, Thursday through Monday.

Middle Keys

Beginning at Craig Key, the principal islands taper into a narrow, linear chain. For 33 miles—across Long Key, Grassy Key, Key Vaca and a host of smaller islands—there are points where only a few hundred yards of land separate ocean and bay. As a result, there are fewer nearshore mangrove islands like those that typify the Upper Keys.

This dearth of sheltered paddling makes areas with such character all the more special. In Long Key Lakes, part of Long Key State Park, kayaks and canoes glide inches above a silty bottom replete with Cassiopeia, or “upside-down” jellyfish, so named because they rest on the bottom upside down, with tentacles facing upwards.

In the Whiskey Creek mangroves in the heart of Boot Key, narrow creeks link three interior lakes. Mullet jump in frenzied fashion as you push through a break of mangrove branches into yet another shallow, seagrass-lined “room.” Wading birds flush from the trees. A circuit through this wonderland clocks in at only two miles, but it takes a full day of paddling to soak in the beauty.

If open water distinguishes the Middle Keys, the crossing from Long Key and Conch Key is its best display. From a boat, it is possible to see up close what people in cars never do: the architecture of the Long Key Viaduct. Built as part of the Overseas Railroad, this bridge carried passenger rail cars on a narrow track 30 feet above the water.

With the coming of the railroad, the Florida Keys adopted a new identity, one far removed from that of an isolated archipelago suitable for only the toughest and hardiest pioneers. Henry Flagler had the Overseas Railroad—officially called the Florida East Coast Railroad’s Key West Extension—built as a link between Miami and Key West, fueled by dreams of cashing in on Cuba’s proximity to America’s southernmost point.

It’s been said that Long Key Fish Camp was the Keys’ first “resort,” built first as a work camp and later converted into lodging for guests of the railroad. Postcard images of small seaside shacks set amid silver palms did much to boost the image of Keys as a tropical paradise.

Lower Keys

Mainland Florida is a distant memory by the time you hit the Lower Keys. Off the highway, places like the No Name Pub and Geiger Key Marina don’t mimic someone’s idea of the Keys—they are the Keys. Good food and cold beer, and an ear you can bend with a good story about that 12-foot bull shark that bumped the boat.

More than 200,000 acres of water and small islands make up the Lower Keys backcountry. Here visitors can view a great white heron—a color variant of the great blue heron—hunt in shallow water alongside Big Pine Key. Royal terns group on a sandbar near the Content Keys, intermingled with laughing gulls and the odd oystercatcher.

The shoals around the Water Keys are littered with burnt orange-colored sea cucumbers. As you paddle toward the Mud Keys, an osprey issues a sharp-pitched whistle as it scans the water for prey. White and brown pelicans, little blue herons, tri-colored herons, great egrets, snowy egrets and a host of wading birds work swampy mangrove flats from Cutoe Key to Cayo Agua. West of Key West, loggerhead turtles nest on natural sand beaches.

The highlight of the backcountry has to be a string of islands that start at the Content Keys and run southeast to include the Sawyers, Barracudas, Marvin, Snipe Point, Mud and Lower Harbor Keys. At low tide, miles of sandbars are exposed and recreational boaters pull up onto them for a few hours of lounging in the sand and sun.

As remote as they are beautiful, these islands are an ambitious open-water journey for a kayak, sitting between five and seven miles offshore from convenient put-ins. However you get there—by kayak or guided boat tour—a trip out to the “edge of the nearshore waters,” as we’ve come to term them, is one not soon forgotten.

Remember that imaginary line you crossed on US-1 when you entered the Florida Keys and left the mainland behind? It’s been a few hours since we crossed it, and you’ve slipped into the quiet of a mangrove creek. Perhaps a manatee has gently bumped the underside of your kayak, or poked its gray snout and rough whiskers out of the water. Maybe you’ve been startled by the sudden “whoosh” of a stingray or nurse shark swimming away.

What’s certain is you’ve never paddled in a place quite like Keys.

KAYAK OUTFITTERS

UPPER KEYS

Florida Bay Outfitters

MM 104 B/S, US-1, Key Largo,

305-451-3018, kayakfloridakeys.com

Backcountry Cowboy Outfitters

MM 82.2 B/S, US-1, Islamorada, 305-517-4177, www.backcountrycowboy.com

Florida Keys Kayak at Robbie’s Marina

MM 77.5 B/S, US-1, Lower Matecumbe, 305-664-4878, floridakeyskayakandski.com

MIDDLE KEYS

Marathon Kayak

6363 Overseas Highway B/S, Marathon, 305-743-0561,

marathonkayak.com

LOWER KEYS

Big Pine Kayak Adventures at Old Wooden Bridge Marina

Watson Boulevard, Big Pine Key,

877-595-2925, keyskayaktours.com

Lazy Dog Island Outfitters & Outdoor Adventure Co.

MM 4.2 O/S, US-1, Stock Island, 866-293-9550, www.lazydogadventure.com

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Portions excerpted from The Florida Keys Paddling Atlas by Bill and Mary Burnham. Copies are available at FloridaPaddling.com.