Dolphins on the bow

6/14/25

Yesterday Opal and I decided to take advantage of probably the best perk of working here which is free skiff rentals. We set off at around ten o'clock in a 16 foot Carolina skiff that felt like the perfect size for two. The boat rentals are restricted to the backcountry which you may think is limited but its more area you could explore in a summer. After heading out of the Marina we traveled down the Buttonwood Canal which was dug for boat traffic and to help build the main park road. The canal took us into Coot Lake and then to a smaller riverway that leads to Whitewater Bay. The bay is actually a lake and is the second largest in Florida behind Lake Okeechobee. This fact can be a little misleading though because the bay is full of islands which make it feel far smaller. When you look out it seems like there is one 'tree line' but as you approach the shore it always turns into a mangrove island with more water behind it. We drove some distance into the bay and then turned south east heading to a Chikee for shade. The water way got more and more narrow to where it felt like a river and here we got a glimpse at some dolphins which was the first time we had seen them this summer. After some more exploring we found the Chikee which was in its own little lake. The wind was strong which made sitting in the shade very comfortable with very little mosquitos. We spent a good deal of time here tanning, eating lunch and doing some fishing. I caught a Snapper, Blue Runner and Needle Fish but none of them were eat'n size. We stayed most of the afternoon until we had to go back to return the boat. On the way back out we got an even better view of dolphins, once getting splashed by them jumping on the bow. We returned the boat, paid for gas ($24 for the entire day) and got ice cream bars. All in all one of the best days so far.