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This page last updated: 03/27/02
The trip is now over. Eighteen days of paddling without a day off. We took a slightly different route than I originally planned, so the over-the-water distance was approximately 280 miles. We saw: wood stork, flamingo, dolphin, shark, scorpion, osprey, eagle, and spotted eagle ray to mention just some of the more rare wildlife. And we encountered mosquitoes and no-see-ums by the billions. Our camp suffered almost nightly raids from raccoons, rats and on one occasion small Key deer. At one campsite we had a crow that ate from our hands and insisted on food every meal. And speaking of eating, I lost 12 pounds on the trip!
Seemingly, we had headwinds every day, but we did have three good days of nice tail winds and we made the most of them. There were days when it was hot, humid and calm, and days when it was cold, rainy and very windy with big seas. We suffered blisters, sun burn, cuts and abrasions, but on the whole we completed the trip without major incident. For a day by day overview, click here ---> Progress of the Martyrs .
Will we do this trip again next year? Who knows?
The Martyrs
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The Martyrs, (not present: Leon Mathis and David Kaplan). |
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For the entire trip, the Martyrs included: |
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Paddlers for a portion of the trip: |
Leon Mathis - Gulfport, Florida - Missing in photo, for
first 8 days only. Sharon Alton - Venice, Florida - Left in photo, first day & last two days only. Ed Engel - Placida, Florida - Right in photo. Withdrew after 3 days. David Kaplan - Marathon, Florida - Missing in photo, last two days only. |
| David Kaplan and his wife Marie own Marathon Kayaks in Marathon, Florida. They took us in during our pass through the Marathon area and David joined us for the last two days of our trip. If you get to Marathon and need a rental or tour from someone who really knows the area, give them a call, or click on the logo to the right to visit their web site. |
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Other Pictures of the trip
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Day Eight Dan Colodney on the beach at White Horse Key. |
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Day Nine Leon Mathis and Dan Colodney on the beach at White Horse Key. |
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Day Ten Looking out Joe Mullen's tent on Morman Key. |
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Day Seventeen Sharon Alton, (L) and I paddle southwest with the Seven Mile Bridge in the background. |
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Day Two Ed Engel continued to weaken as his illness intensified. Here, Dan Colodney tows Ed. I had gone ahead to see if we could camp on Fisherman's Key. |
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Day Three Leon Mathis insisted we eat lunch at a Fort Myers Beach restaurant. Moving fully loaded boats, even for a short distance is difficult. Here, three of us move Dan's boat up on the beach. We had a serious incident here, but I have agreed to not mention it. |
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Day Seventeen Two of us out front heading south of Marathon. The water for this section of the trip was beautiful. It was in this section that we saw many large spotted eagle rays. |
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Day Seventeen Me, with the Seven Mile Bridge in the background. Note how low our loaded boats sat in the water. |
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Day Eighteen Finally, on the beach at Key West. We arrived at 5:08 p.m. just beyond the Key West Airport. We paddled over 28 miles this last day. L to R: Dan, Joe, David, me. |
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