Paurotis Pond to Pearl Bay

[Terry]

Paurotis Pond to Pearl Bay

Has anybody done this?

I made a short attempt back in the early 1980's but not having
aerial photos or a GPS, I went due south and hit that ridge.
I followed the ridge west then north but quit just before the
opening to the west at the north edge.
It's ashame I didn't try harder, there were fewer mangroves and I
could canoe right out of the pond.

I returned in October 2008 with aerials and GPS but was surprised
by the growth of mangroves surrounding the pond. I still think
it's possible to get to Pearl Bay, it will just take getting
serious about busting out of the pond.

With the parking lot and a ramp, it would sure make a nice entry
for a Paurotis Pond - Pearl Bay - Hells Bay Trail semi loop.

Has anybody done this?

[Keith W]

Somebody has been back in there, most likely Park research. About midway between Paurotis and Pearl Bay there are a couple of obviously man-made L-shaped constructs clearly visible in Google Earth less than 500 ft apart on either side of 25°16'12.72"N, 80°50'5.80"W.

This is probably a dumb question, but why would you need to break out of Paurotis Pond, other than wanting to use the ramp there? It looks to me like it would be easier to put in off the road about a quarter mile north of the Pond, and then head west about a mile until you got past the big wall of mangroves west of the Pond and then head southwest into the Jungles. There is probably a good reason why I'm wrong about this that isn't obvious from the aerial photos, but that is where I would likely start out.

Getting through the Jungles sounds like the really fun part of this trip. How long would you expect to take to find your way to Pearl Bay? It's only about 3.7 miles in a straight line from Paurotis to Pearl Bay, but I'd double that and more to cover the actual route you'd need to take, and it would be slow going until you started to hit the open areas. The more I look at it the more do-able it looks.

[Terry]

Paurotis Pond is a very nice under-used parking lot and ramp,
it's a premium entry point. It will be exit-able, I was just
overwhelmed by the growth in 20 years. Canoeing around this
area is handy because a you can explore remote areas quickly
after launching, one day, leave all that over night stuff home.
If connections can be made, it leads to very useful
inter-connected canoe trials. A good example is Still Creek
connecting Noble Hammock to West Lake, inter-connected trails
provide options for canoers. Also, a Miamian can do it all
in one day with just packing a lunch.
There's an old airboat trail leading out of the northeast
corner of the Paurotis Pond. I remember seeing
NPS airboats in the parking lot years ago.
The park evidently doesn't use the airboat trail (this was
the terminus for the trail that runs near Ficus Pond and
Mahogany Hammock) and it was grown over by cattails - but no
mangroves. The trail runs north close to the highway so, in a
way, the start of the trip will be as you suggest - north of the
pond. The trail is passable, so the next time I'm there I'll
go north then swing west as soon as possible.
The more southwest you can get the more open it gets, in fact,
the aerials show good creeks going northeast from the north side
of Pearl Bay. I'll do this the same as the others - blow up
Terraserver pages to a small scale with lat/long lines, tape them
together to make a 2X3 foot chart of that area, plot best
possible points and canoe to those points. This method has
worked very well, the only issue is just how many mangroves
are in the way for the first half of the trip.
Whiskey Creek meanders around halfway between the pond and bay
and I have a feeling a canoer will fall into that creek at some
point. Talk about packed with early last century history,
this creek was the main route for skiffs from Florida Bay to
Hells Bay before Ingraham Highway was built. It's still clearly
seen on aerials on the east side of the highway and serious
old cut branches exist to this day on the west side of the highway.
I've explored this creek a couple of times but that's another
story.
Hopefully, I'll be canoeing this area again real soon.

[Miami101]

It sounds like a good idea. It strange I been to the pound but never thought about it.
I was in this pond around Dec, and I can say it holds some of the biggest Croc. The size of the Croc here keep me at shore, and I could not go in that day to Paurotis. My Kayak is not the greatest it is a sit on top. After running into this site I have to review my tools for the back country, and put some thought into trips.

The other thing I notice, but was not sure about was the sight of Flamingo's flying around. Is it me, or has anyone seen this before.The thought of Flamingo's wild in the park has been on my mind for months

[Terry]

I have given up on Paurotis Pond, for now. I went back after my post and seriously studied the edges
of the pond. They quit using the airboat trail and the mangroves have really grown in around the pond.
I could not find a way out with out carrying my canoe across thick mangroves. This area is probably
the most I've seen change since the 1980's. Back then the mangroves were just small pods and
we could freely canoe right out of the pond into the grass.
Also, since 1980's, they now close the pond sometime in late December.

[Miami101]

I just went to this area Friday, and might be going back on Sunday again.
I notice some spots that look like spots that look to open into other area. Also found some other location that lead into small ponds but on right side. I did notice via Google earth there looks to be some kind of tail that was once used. This area I still don't feal at ease due to the large Gators I have seen here in the past. Not that I have had any issues with them.