Kayaking/ Paddle boarding Brushy Bayou, Lido Key

This afternoon I spent the day kayaking and paddle boarding Brushy Bayou on Lido Key. It was a beautiful sunny day with a slight breeze.

We launched out into Sarasota Bay off of Taft Rd on Lido Key. Once you launch you can hang a right and go into Little Lagoon. It's pretty shallow and in the winter the water is crystal clear. We left at about noon so we caught the high tide. We could see big clumps of coral and lots of fish swimming around on the flats. My hubby pulled up the empty shell of a baby horseshoe crab and I grabbed a string of lightening whelk egg cases to show the kids. Once we made it through Little Lagoon we headed south through several of the mangrove tunnels. These tunnels were originally made by John Ringling and Charles Webb back when they were developing Lido Key. There was a fresh water pond that ran through the middle of the island and they felt it was a breeding ground for mosquitoes so they made canals and tunnels through the mangroves so the salt water and tides would wash away the mosquitoes eggs.

We continued south through Big Grass Lagoon and headed for Brushy Bayou. Since the kids were getting hungry we decided to stop at the southern most end of Lido to have lunch. My daughter spent and hour or so trying the paddle board out and has now added it to her "must have" list of things. While eating lunch we saw a school of dolphins cruise by.

After lunch we took a detour into one of the side canals over by Otter Key and checked out the old sunken barge that Ringling and Webb used to dredge the canals. This barge was used to pump sand from the water up onto the shore to "build up" Lido Key. You can still see it sticking up from the water off of Otter Key.

We ended up back at the launch site around 4 pm. Great day overall.

One last note. If you're looking for a great guide I highly recommend Jamie Hooks who runs his guide service out of Silent Water Outfitters in Nokomis. He's a good ole southern boy and a 5th generation Floridian. He really knows a ton about the area and is a terrific guide. We're going to go out with him again in the next few weeks over in the Vamo area.

Here are some pictures of our adventure today:








My middle girl, myself, My hubby and our littlest one



The girls paddle boarding at south Lido

If you're looking for a good guide give Jamie Hooks a ring.

Hope you enjoyed my the pictures from my Saturday afternoon adventure!