Because the route is generally within view, it’s hard to get lost in a kayak. On a lake, a river or in the ocean -there’s always a landmark or watery path to guide the paddler. While surprise thunderstorms and hail can be problematic (yet another story), to actually lose one’s way seems almost impossible. But it can be done.
When we paddled out from Islamorada last month, we had two destinations. The second one was visible to the northeast under and beyond the Overseas Highway: Indian Key State Park. First however, we planned to explore the extensive mangroves to the southwest of our launch point. Slathered with sunscreen, armed with an old map (the rental shop had run out of the updated ones) and prepared to make a day of it with drinks and a picnic lunch, we launched.
Stingrays, horseshoe crabs and schools of fish darted freely beneath us in clear cyan blue water. Sea birds perched on weathered posts, and mangrove shoots dotted the placid surface. We rechecked the map frequently to be sure we didn’t overshoot the entry points for the water trails and aimed carefully for an orange trail on the furthest western side of the mangrove map.
After a few false turns (which were just as fascinating and enjoyable as the correct ones), we found what had to be our orange trail. It looked a little too easy though. No overhead canopy, no leaning in or ducking down to avoid entanglement with branches and vines. We couldn’t see fish anymore either as the water appeared to have dramatically deepened. We looked at the map again and could finally make out that the orange trail was actually blurred words: DO NO(T) ENT(ER)…. There were more blurred indecipherable words, but by 
then as double deck ocean cruisers approached from both sides, abruptly cutting their motors to chug on by our diminutive kayaks, we figured out that we’d wandered into a boat channel. None of the boaters said a word. But we got the message and quickly pulled ourselves back into the twisting mangroves just as the fourth boat cranked up its speed to make up for lost time. Embarrassing? A little. Funny? Uh huh.
Painstakingly aiming for that orange trail only to find it was the one place forbidden to us -and our subsequent scramble to find a safe passable route into the mangrove jungle again… it was all pretty comical in a slapstick sort of way. I suspect it to be another one of those unexpected “Mom got lost” adventures that will generate a good laugh amongst us for years to come.
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Updated from April 11, 2011.
