Houseboats

[yakmaster]

I know I'll get heckled by the purists, but just think of the rental houseboats in Flamingo as portable chickees...with a/c!

 

Went out this week on one of the rental houseboats the concessionaire at the marina is renting, what a weekend what a blast!

 

Took the boat up the North River & anchored up in one of the bays for the long weekend, nose to nose with a friend's houseboat. We had a couple of motorboats with us so we could pick launch points far afield for 1-2 hour paddles and then return to the motherships for food & drink...OK, mainly drinks!. We went all the way from the Labarynth to Hells Bay & paddled all in between. It's like eating the fillet, without dealing with the bones.

 

OK so it doesn't have the "chops" of paddling the whole wilderness waterway for a whole week or doing a 20 mile a day loop on either end, and no I don't have sand from the beach in all my gear and my favorite site wasn't taken from me by the guy in front of me at the VC, and yes I carried more comforts than I could take in a fleet of kayaks...but don't hate me for it...

This ain't Monday Night Football, it ain't supposed to be, it's the highlight reel.

 

This is not a substitute for an unsupported expedition, this is a way to see more of the southern portion of the parks best paddles in a weekend, than you'll see in 5 day paddle trip, with cold beer (or plenty of ice for your drink) every night and hot breakfast every morning as you get up out of a "real mattress". This is a trip to take that special someone that you've been telling about all the cool places, but that you couldn't convince or conceive to paddle a 20 mile day with a fully loaded boat.

 

These things are great for the price (350/night). Clean and well outfitted and the folks at the dock are very helpful.

 

But it ain't the Ritz. Due to the positioning of the various heavier components and tanks (fuel, water, waste, etc) they list quite a bit and it only gets worse as the weekend progresses. No navigation equipment other than a chart, so bring a compass & GPS. The coffee maker is 2 cups at a time, so supplement as needed. the stove is good, but no oven or BBQ. Though they'll let you bring your own Q.

 

They are barges and handle & cruise as such. Punch her hard and she can get to 7 MPH with a tailwind and the tide in your favor, but it's a comfortable cruise and hey when was the last time you did 7mph for 2 hours straight on your kayak!

 

Also and most importantly DO NOT believe the capacity, 6 people can live in this boat like 6 people can sleep in a 6 man tent or 4 people can use a 4 man raft...it ain't happening. There is one cabin with a bed that comfortably sleeps 2, the dining table converts to a bed for  a tighter 2 more. I imagine that what the couch converts into is supposed to sleep 2 as well, but they better not have reached junior high...

 

On the other hand, you can bring a tent, pitch it on the roof and wakeup to the best sunrises you've ever seen, looking over the mangroves not at them... That was my roost, up in the penthouse!

 

So there it is, mothership kayaking at its South Florida best, with a tent so you don't slam me too hard. Try it out...but hey just leave me the good weekends.

[Terry]

 

North River!?  I've been planning to anchor my floating motel up the North River to spend time on some

old routes I used to use.    I tend to always be on a through-trip in that area and don't slow down to spend

some time.   What routes did you paddle?

Years ago I paddled the Old Camp Route, which is a way to paddle from Roberts River Chickee, past the

old North River Campground and to North River Chickee.   You can paddle between the chickees without

going on North River or Roberts River.  That inlet due west of Roberts River Chickee goes through to the

old North River Campground, you then continue due west straight across North River and come out at that

inlet just a little south of North River Chickee.

North Watson Route connects North River Chickee to Watson River Chickee all by the backdoor.   You leave

North River Chickee going northeast up the river and take the first inlet to the northwest, you wiggle all over but

eventually come out in the bay northeast of Watson River Chickee.

By taking Hells Bay Trail to Lane River Trail to Roberts River Trail through the Maze, then take Old Camp

Route to North Watson Route and then go through the Labyrinth you can go all the way from Hells Bay

Landing to Shark River never crossing open water or paddling up major rivers.

The creeks have water year round and the backcountry solitude don't get no better.

 

I'd post the routes but all of a sudden this week my Outlook won't open jpg files I send from Google Earth.

If somebody can help me get the Google Earth screen shots over to my email I'd like to hear it.

 

[toofaraway]

Sounds fantastic. 

[1n0x8zwu8zl3t]

Sounds like a great idea as i can take the kids and wife.  Ive always wanted to spend time doing the www but havent been able do do it yet.  Any reccomendations where to go with the house boat, routes etc.

 

thanks

Richard

[yakmaster]

You are limited. You cannot go beyond the far side of Whitewater Bay, I forget if it was oyster or the Shark River. You cant go north of the bay beyond a red line on their chart.  But that still left the Joe, Whitewater itself and most of the northern creeks open for vistitation and habitation.

 

I loved where we were. It was wide open, but protected, good views without being out in the bay. There's a whole network of interconnecting creeks & rivers to choose from.

 

I imagine if you contact the marina, they can tell you exactly where the redline is.

 

I will tell you that we used 3/4 of a  tank & didn't motor around too much on the houseboat. You may want to take supplemental fuel cans if you want to use the houseboat to explore in. 

[vivian]

When I had my powerboat many years ago, we would always rent houseboats to use them as basecamps. The powerboat was always in tow. Our favorite anchorage was at the mouth of the Shark River to take in the best sunset view and to explore/fish the creeks south towards the Cape. Used to be great fishing there before the hurricane destroyed that area. The concession did not allow houseboats past the Shark River or into the gulf.

 

I wonder if they still have the old aluminum houseboats that did not have air conditioning? All kitchen appliances and water heater ran on propane. We prefered this to the other model that had a generator to run the A/C because of the noise.  How are the new houseboats in comparison? 

[yakmaster]

Like I said, they're quite nice, but they're more like the smaller old ones with all the bells & whistles than like the old grumman barges of the 1st gen pre-wilma fleet.

 

They have nice home like finishes, stereo, microwave, coffeemaker, a/c and a big fridge that require periodic gen operation.  Leave it running while you're out fishing, then the noise isn't a problem.

 

But very very nice, especially for like a family with a couple of kids, just perfect.

6 full size adults, not so much.