Inland Route - Flamingo / Cape Sable

[Terry]

Inland Route - Flamingo / Cape Sable

Before Hurricane Andrew the preferred paddle route between Flamingo and
Cape Sable was the Homestead Canal. Avoiding the open bay provided a
wind protected route and separated paddle craft from power boats. It also
guaranteed solitude and remoteness by staying in the back country wilderness.
The 1992 hurricane damaged Homestead Canal with downed trees making passage
very difficult. As it became less traveled, foliage growth accelerated and
the 2005 storms made the canal impassable. After Hurricane Wilma a plan was
created to reopen the canal and a volunteer group headed by Tom Rahill and
Jim Brack took on the project. They cleared the canal to Bear Lake and
reopened the Bear Lake Trail which loops through Mud Lake and comes back
down Buttonwood Canal to the Bear Lake parking lot. The section of
Homestead Canal between Bear Lake and Gator Lake remained impassable,
cutting off the inland route to Cape Sable.

Sue Cocking, Bill Evans, Terry Helmers and Jay Thomas devised a plan to
survey the damage to the canal west of Bear Lake and search for an alternative
passage through a body of land between the waters of Bear Lake to the east
and open water to the west. Previous trips by Thomas had identified
the narrowest section of land between these two waters which was called 64M
but there was another slightly wider area of land that warranted
investigation. If a navigable route could be established through these two
bodies of water the entire stretch of Homestead Canal between West Lake and
Gator Lake could be abandoned. It would also establish a natural route from
Coot Bay Pond to Cape Sable - the ultimate trophy. The group also had heard
reports of a route that went into Bear Lake with a portage over the narrowest
piece of land between the canal and the lake.

On 18 January 2014 the four set out in 3 canoes from Bear Lake parking lot
and went directly to the narrow area between the lake and canal. The last
time Helmers had paddled the canal was 28 years ago when there was nothing
at this narrow spot. This time, the explorers found ruins of what appeared
to be a dock that could have been built to assist portaging. It's assumed
that shortly after Hurricane Andrew an attempt was made to keep the
Inland Route open by using as much of the lake as possible to shorten the
length traveled in the canal. Today there's a small break in the narrow spot,
making it easier to slide a canoe through this slot and back into the canal.
After doing this, the group continued west through near impassable
"jack straws" (a sawyer term for criss-cross piled trees) but after making
headway of only a couple hundred yards in an hour the effort was abandoned
and the canoe party returned to the lake to continue west in Bear Lake and
then across the lake to its' west. Since Thomas had already examined the
narrowest portion of land barrier between the east and west the decision was
made to continue directly to the other narrow spot just south of 64M. After
negotiating mud bars a small creek-like opening was spotted. Although there
was a 3 foot mat of pneumatophore roots to be portaged, the creek continued
west with a hard twist to the north then west again to the open water of the
"other side". After the search party spooked a spoonbill at the west mouth
of the creek it was quickly dubbed Spoonbill Pass. Knowing "this was it" all
agreed to ignore 64M and paddle the shallow but open water to Gator Lake.
How ironic that paddlers spent decades paddling back and forth in a straight
as an arrow canal, how ironic that a large dock was built to go over the
narrow spot between Bear Lake and the canal, how ironic spending the effort to
keep trying to push through the canal between Bear Lake and Gator Lake when
there was a beautiful natural creek waiting for paddlers at Spoonbill Pass.

On 20 January 2014 Terry Helmers launched at Coot Bay Pond to
specifically survey and map the Spoonbill Pass area. Although launching at the
pond meant it took 2 and a half hours to get to the pass, it reduced the
paddle distance in the canal to just 200 yards between Bear Lake Trail and
Bear Lake. Two additional non-portage creeks were mapped with the optimal
route going from 09.858'N and 59.397'W to 09.857'N and 59.447'W. After two
rewarding explorations, a natural route from Coot Bay Pond to Lake Ingraham,
Cape Sable has been established.

To use the Inland Route, study and printout or download maps of the area.
Carry a spare GPS unit. There's a lot of shallow water throughout the trip
but it's all open paddling.

[Terry]

Geezz, I thought I'd go on the computer to start processing data from Saturday and there's an explosion

of posts on GladeGoDeep.   Vivian, Jay - Sounds like your other half of the day was as productive as ours!!!

Great news!   Looking forward to more details.

"...the hardest was Spoonbill Pass..." ?!?!?   Spoonbill Pass is pretty easy, sounds like the

Inland Route continues to get thumbs up.

Before Hurricane Andrew the inside was the only way paddlers went to the Cape, is it finally

going to come back?

A million thanks to the 20 people in 17 boats who participated in this expedition.

[vivian]

Still not have had time to download any info but wanted to share a few observations and pose some questions to see if any of you have any insights. The section from end of Bear to spoonbill pass was the shallowest area and does need to be marked if this trail gets approval. The section that we thought would be the worst was the easiest. RP7 on out to the east cape canal had plenty or water, jay measured 2' most of the way. I tasted the water at mud lake, bear both were salty but the saltiest was in the praire section. There were several openings from RP7-11 where the HC was accessible if water levels too low in the praire. But is the HC clear all the way from the lunch spot to C3? We should've broken up the group so one could take the canal the other the prairie.

The tide was coming in all morning and it was a strong tide. How does the tide affect this area? When we were going out the creeks the flow was outgoing until we got closer to the east cape canal. This means that the water flows out from the interior and the tides have little effect in the praire if water is flowing out of the area. Terry's observation that there is a connection of water flow from coot bay to the prairie I think is correct. So this route might be seasonal access only when water levels are high like the Nov-Feb?

I personally had a fantastic time and the group was a perfect mix of people. Thank you for letting us be the guinea pigs for your findings.

[Esther Luft]

Terry, Easy is a relative term.  We must keep things in perspective. Bear Lake to RP (let's call it Mud Flats Lake) is not easy, for the average person.  Substantial back country experience required.  Your experience is well beyond substantial. 

Terry said:

Geezz, I thought I'd go on the computer to start processing data from Saturday and there's an explosion

of posts on GladeGoDeep.   Vivian, Jay - Sounds like your other half of the day was as productive as ours!!!

Great news!   Looking forward to more details.

"...the hardest was Spoonbill Pass..." ?!?!?   Spoonbill Pass is pretty easy, sounds like the

Inland Route continues to get thumbs up.

Before Hurricane Andrew the inside was the only way paddlers went to the Cape, is it finally

going to come back?

A million thanks to the 20 people in 17 boats who participated in this expedition.

[Esther Luft]

What a great adventure.  It very exciting you all had so much water.  The old topos and maps (circa 1920's) show good water in Raulerson.

I wonder how much effect the plug has had on keeping water in Raulerson.  There has to be water in the canal now.  Within a year of the plug there was water in the canal but not much adjacent to the canal.  Now you have confirmed water in the area previously thin.  Great news.  Looking forward to the rest of the details.  Great weekend all around!

[Jay]

Here is the trip overview out to the cape - red line and waypoints are planned, dark points are actual.

Charlie – your Fox Lake TR post wasn’t long enough….  Here is a proper posting!

As noted in another thread, Vivian and Jay's group met up at Coot Bay Pond with Terry's Misfits.  The combined teams departed for a leisurely warm-up paddle across the Pond, into Coot Bay, Mud Lake, and hooked up with Ester's team in Bear Lake.

First note on water level - Where the Homestead Canal (HC from this point forward) opens into Bear Lake, there is a submerged Barnacle encrusted stump normally @ 2" below the surface - It is usually and issue - it wasn't - good sign.

From there we proceeded west to the creek connecting to West Bear Lake. As noted earlier this creek is a graveyard of barnacle encrusted ancient Mangroves.  I was the sweep in this area and it was great to see everyone give that creek the respect it deserves - slow and careful - nice work.  Second note on water levels - as we crossed into West Bear Lake, I felt that we had a bit more water  (2"-3") more than when Terry, Bill, Sue and I were in the area 3 weeks earlier - good sign.

Third note on water levels - as we approached the far West end of West Bear Lake the water was skinny - but there is a mud bank on the right (North) that has been exposed on my other trips in the area - it was just under water - good sign.

I was honored to lead this group through Spoonbill Pass.  To give you an idea of the range of vessels that made the trip - virtually everything from roto-mold sit-on-tops, tandem canoes, solo canoes, to 20'+ tandem kayaks....about the only thing we didn't have was a stand-up paddle board - it would have made it.  Everyone made it through with no issues.

 

Now knowing for sure that this whole group of bodies of water West Bear and Raulerson's Prairie are connected - I expected water levels to be higher than 3 weeks ago -  and they were. The water in the East end of the "Prairie" is skinny - no doubt.  Are there fish - yes.  As the first ones through, Charlie and I spooked some Reds, one over slot charged me pushing a massive bow wave - and BANG - slammed my canoe amidships with a really loud thud!  I checked for structural damage and got some duct tape ready, the the Cedar and 4oz cloth held. Whew....

We continued on the route Vivian mapped out (Thanks Vivian - great work!)  There is one section that she planned that I don't think worked - it is pictured here - no big deal - when you get to this area - you know you need to head West - just find a way through.  There are two clear ways through - the track I followed was the clearest (thanks Bill for finding this one on our earlier trip, but you can't see it until you go a little further North). 

Made it through there, and continued West.  I was seeing indications that water levels were higher than our earlier trip out here - mud banks were smaller, I was not pushing through too much soup (although I had a few reports that some deeper draft craft were bumping - but nothing serious.).

Final note on water levels in this area, when we got into the area of RP6 on our earlier trip there was an exposed mud bank with a fresh reptile drag - it was submerged. - Good sign.

Had our planned lunch break but at the intersection of the HC.

11:15am - Here is where we split.  Terry's Misfits departed for points Northeast.  Our intrepid group of 11 of explorers, Vivian, Connie, Bob, Helen, Toby, Flex, Jim, David, Chris, Ann and Jay headed for points West.  Westward Hooooo  - across the prairie to points unknown!  We were looking for indications that the water would get skinny - In the vicinity of RP7 and RP71 - we had @3'.  We were feeling good.

First - it is a beautiful paddle.  It is very straight forward, quite open and exposed.  It does not have the feeling of a Prairie - meaning there are no random grasses or mini-islands to be seen.  There is an occasional random branch sticking up here and there.  As the water began getting a bit shallower, I pulled out fold-able yardstick and pulled some depths - consistent 22"-24".  There were areas well off to the left and way off to the right of course where we saw occasional wading birds but the middle of the Prairie  was very consistent.

In the vicinity of RP8, I decided to head well South of track to see how the depth was closer to the shoreline. The idea was to see if it would be possible for someone coming from the West to shelter in the lee of mangroves while paddling in a hard SE headwind.  The depth stayed consistent 20" right up to the shoreline.

All was going so well - as I left my little excursion and rejoined the group, I noticed it was getting a little shallower.... Measured it at 12" marked the point as 12IN (above image) and pushed on. Stayed at that depth and for about 25meters, then went back to 22".  We were well south of the planned track, we did not survey the north side - near the planned track - it might be better.

The next phase of this push was to join the creek system at RP10 which showed indications of a good bit of flow on GE (mud banks, mud swirls, etc.).  When we arrived there, we noticed a little bit of outgoing flow. This was a bit of a surprise since we were there about 2 hours prior to the East Cape high tide.  We expected incoming flow.  We followed the flow and a sub-group led by Connie pushed ahead of us.  They were going to exit the creek at EC2 and take a look at the East Cape Plug.

As we worked down the creek, we noticed the flow reverse to incoming between RP11-RP12 - now it was beginning to make sense.  We exited the creek at EC2 and went to join Connie’s group at the plug.  Once up on the plug we could see a clear canal heading north for as far as one could see.  The canal looked clear with no sign of silting in this area.

After a short stop, we all re-loaded and began the slog that the East Cape Canal is on a flooding tide - it was close to a 3 knot flood.  My wife and I re-entered the Creek at EC2 and made our way to exit back into the canal at EC1.  It was definitely a favorable result.  Those in the canal were really stroking hard and even though we had extra distance to go entering and exiting the creek, we kept right up with them and it was not as much work.  So on a flood, take the creek to EC1, on an ebb - get in the canal and fly out.

Once in the bay, the team headed west.  We had intended to round East Cape.  Thanks to a great weather call by Vivian who noted that the winds would be clocking to the East, we followed her recommendation and camped before the actual cape so as to be more exposed to the building breeze - hopefully making it more difficult for the Swamp Angels to terrorize us.  Great call Vivian - it was still pretty buggy - but it could have been so much worse.   Arrival at camp - 2:38pm.

Camp was set and afternoon festivities commenced - and the tide dropped...and dropped...and dropped. Flex had the aerial photography going, Hor d'oeuvres and a few drinks, followed by dinner.  We got the camp fire burning and the telling of paddling tales ensued. Toby broke out some of the brightest LED spot lights ever seen and Connie was in heaven working with Toby to create some interesting time lapse photos.  Did I say the tide dropped?

At the suggestion of Vivian and Connie - departure was set for 0700 in order to get off the beach before the tide really dropped on the next cycle and to get a jump on the forecast building headwinds.  We took the bay route home into building headwinds - eventually getting to @20knts.  We pulled into the marina at 12:50pm

 

Summary -

Last departure from Coot Bay Pond - 07:35AM

Arrival at Lunch (south of Gator Lake) - 10:35am (3+00)

Departed Lunch - 11:15am

Arrived Camp - 2:38pm (@3+00 - @20min detour to the plug

Total transit time - Coot Bay Pond to East Cape - 6+00

Total Distance - 14.28NM

Two day mileage total 23.38NM

Significant notes:

1. There are reliable indicators of whether Raulerson's Prairie will be paddleable well in advance of prairie.

A. At the entrance of Coot Bay Pond - stump

B. At the creek connecting Bear Lake with West Bear Lake - multiple stump graveyard

C. West end of West Bear Lake - just prior to Spoonbill Pass - Mud Bank to the right - exposed or not exposed.

D. Condition of far east of the Prairie - if it is paddleable - good sign.

E. Mud bank in the vicinity of RP6 large bank to the east = low water, no bank or small bank - good sign.

2. Once on the Prairie proper - Just head west.  Look for flow - any flow - turn left, follow the flow to the East Cape Canal.  As an alternative - follow your GPS.

3. There are indications on the Mangroves that the water gets significantly higher. Barnacles and water stains @ 12” above current levels.

4.  Reference #3 – there are numerous reports that the area experiences much lower conditions during certain times of the year.  Maybe not every year...but maybe all year - some years.

5. It worked for us on this trip – past performance is not necessarily a predictor of future success – your mileage may vary.

Thanks to everyone on the crew - you guys were fantastic - a perfect mix.  I would paddle with you anywhere!

(GPX file tomorrow)

[Jim Peele]

Great trip!  Many thanks to all the navigators who planned and led this adventure, especially Jay & Vivian & Terry.  And a great detailed trip report Jay!  It was a pleasure padding with all of you in the Cape group and also re-connecting with my Fakahatchee pals.

[Roger Hammer]

Way to go everyone. That was way more interesting and informative than reading the Miami Herald this morning. I still can't figure out where tidal flow is coming from back there. Someone mentioned Coot Bay but, ever since the weir was put in Buttonwood Canal tidal fluctuations in the southern portions of Whitewater Bay and Coot Bay are barely discernible. I also thought they closed off the openings from East Cape Canal into those backwaters, especially after having issues with powerboaters accessing the area. I'll have to scrutinize Google Earth more closely.

[yakmaster]

Dang Boy! That was an EXCELLENT report!

Good job to you and all the crew for establishing the viability of at least an early season inland route!

It was such a positive result, I'm sure more will follow and we will find out how late in to the season this remains viable. I think the mangrove boneyard and spoonbill pass will be the controlling features, so east to west will be the preferred routing in questionable water levels so you are not so committed by the time you realize it's a no go.

Jay said:

Here is the trip overview out to the cape - red line and waypoints are planned, dark points are actual.

Charlie – your Fox Lake TR post wasn’t long enough….  Here is a proper posting!

As noted in another thread, Vivian and Jay's group met up at Coot Bay Pond with Terry's Misfits.  The combined teams departed for a leisurely warm-up paddle across the Pond, into Coot Bay, Mud Lake, and hooked up with Ester's team in Bear Lake.

First note on water level - Where the Homestead Canal (HC from this point forward) opens into Bear Lake, there is a submerged Barnacle encrusted stump normally @ 2" below the surface - It is usually and issue - it wasn't - good sign.

From there we proceeded west to the creek connecting to West Bear Lake. As noted earlier this creek is a graveyard of barnacle encrusted ancient Mangroves.  I was the sweep in this area and it was great to see everyone give that creek the respect it deserves - slow and careful - nice work.  Second note on water levels - as we crossed into West Bear Lake, I felt that we had a bit more water  (2"-3") more than when Terry, Bill, Sue and I were in the area 3 weeks earlier - good sign.

Third note on water levels - as we approached the far West end of West Bear Lake the water was skinny - but there is a mud bank on the right (North) that has been exposed on my other trips in the area - it was just under water - good sign.

I was honored to lead this group through Spoonbill Pass.  To give you an idea of the range of vessels that made the trip - virtually everything from roto-mold sit-on-tops, tandem canoes, solo canoes, to 20'+ tandem kayaks....about the only thing we didn't have was a stand-up paddle board - it would have made it.  Everyone made it through with no issues.

 

Now knowing for sure that this whole group of bodies of water West Bear and Raulerson's Prairie are connected - I expected water levels to be higher than 3 weeks ago -  and they were. The water in the East end of the "Prairie" is skinny - no doubt.  Are there fish - yes.  As the first ones through, Charlie and I spooked some Reds, one over slot charged me pushing a massive bow wave - and BANG - slammed my canoe amidships with a really loud thud!  I checked for structural damage and got some duct tape ready, the the Cedar and 4oz cloth held. Whew....

We continued on the route Vivian mapped out (Thanks Vivian - great work!)  There is one section that she planned that I don't think worked - it is pictured here - no big deal - when you get to this area - you know you need to head West - just find a way through.  There are two clear ways through - the track I followed was the clearest (thanks Bill for finding this one on our earlier trip, but you can't see it until you go a little further North). 

Made it through there, and continued West.  I was seeing indications that water levels were higher than our earlier trip out here - mud banks were smaller, I was not pushing through too much soup (although I had a few reports that some deeper draft craft were bumping - but nothing serious.).

Final note on water levels in this area, when we got into the area of RP6 on our earlier trip there was an exposed mud bank with a fresh reptile drag - it was submerged. - Good sign.

Had our planned lunch break but at the intersection of the HC.

11:15am - Here is where we split.  Terry's Misfits departed for points Northeast.  Our intrepid group of 11 of explorers, Vivian, Connie, Bob, Helen, Toby, Flex, Jim, David, Chris, Ann and Jay headed for points West.  Westward Hooooo  - across the prairie to points unknown!  We were looking for indications that the water would get skinny - In the vicinity of RP7 and RP71 - we had @3'.  We were feeling good.

First - it is a beautiful paddle.  It is very straight forward, quite open and exposed.  It does not have the feeling of a Prairie - meaning there are no random grasses or mini-islands to be seen.  There is an occasional random branch sticking up here and there.  As the water began getting a bit shallower, I pulled out fold-able yardstick and pulled some depths - consistent 22"-24".  There were areas well off to the left and way off to the right of course where we saw occasional wading birds but the middle of the Prairie  was very consistent.

In the vicinity of RP8, I decided to head well South of track to see how the depth was closer to the shoreline. The idea was to see if it would be possible for someone coming from the West to shelter in the lee of mangroves while paddling in a hard SE headwind.  The depth stayed consistent 20" right up to the shoreline.

All was going so well - as I left my little excursion and rejoined the group, I noticed it was getting a little shallower.... Measured it at 12" marked the point as 12IN (above image) and pushed on. Stayed at that depth and for about 25meters, then went back to 22".  We were well south of the planned track, we did not survey the north side - near the planned track - it might be better.

The next phase of this push was to join the creek system at RP10 which showed indications of a good bit of flow on GE (mud banks, mud swirls, etc.).  When we arrived there, we noticed a little bit of outgoing flow. This was a bit of a surprise since we were there about 2 hours prior to the East Cape high tide.  We expected incoming flow.  We followed the flow and a sub-group led by Connie pushed ahead of us.  They were going to exit the creek at EC2 and take a look at the East Cape Plug.

As we worked down the creek, we noticed the flow reverse to incoming between RP11-RP12 - now it was beginning to make sense.  We exited the creek at EC2 and went to join Connie’s group at the plug.  Once up on the plug we could see a clear canal heading north for as far as one could see.  The canal looked clear with no sign of silting in this area.

After a short stop, we all re-loaded and began the slog that the East Cape Canal is on a flooding tide - it was close to a 3 knot flood.  My wife and I re-entered the Creek at EC2 and made our way to exit back into the canal at EC1.  It was definitely a favorable result.  Those in the canal were really stroking hard and even though we had extra distance to go entering and exiting the creek, we kept right up with them and it was not as much work.  So on a flood, take the creek to EC1, on an ebb - get in the canal and fly out.

Once in the bay, the team headed west.  We had intended to round East Cape.  Thanks to a great weather call by Vivian who noted that the winds would be clocking to the East, we followed her recommendation and camped before the actual cape so as to be more exposed to the building breeze - hopefully making it more difficult for the Swamp Angels to terrorize us.  Great call Vivian - it was still pretty buggy - but it could have been so much worse.   Arrival at camp - 2:38pm.

Camp was set and afternoon festivities commenced - and the tide dropped...and dropped...and dropped. Flex had the aerial photography going, Hor d'oeuvres and a few drinks, followed by dinner.  We got the camp fire burning and the telling of paddling tales ensued. Toby broke out some of the brightest LED spot lights ever seen and Connie was in heaven working with Toby to create some interesting time lapse photos.  Did I say the tide dropped?

At the suggestion of Vivian and Connie - departure was set for 0700 in order to get off the beach before the tide really dropped on the next cycle and to get a jump on the forecast building headwinds.  We took the bay route home into building headwinds - eventually getting to @20knts.  We pulled into the marina at 12:50pm

 

Summary -

Last departure from Coot Bay Pond - 07:35AM

Arrival at Lunch (south of Gator Lake) - 10:35am (3+00)

Departed Lunch - 11:15am

Arrived Camp - 2:38pm (@3+00 - @20min detour to the plug

Total transit time - Coot Bay Pond to East Cape - 6+00

Total Distance - 14.28NM

Two day mileage total 23.38NM

Significant notes:

1. There are reliable indicators of whether Raulerson's Prairie will be paddleable well in advance of prairie.

A. At the entrance of Coot Bay Pond - stump

B. At the creek connecting Bear Lake with West Bear Lake - multiple stump graveyard

C. West end of West Bear Lake - just prior to Spoonbill Pass - Mud Bank to the right - exposed or not exposed.

D. Condition of far east of the Prairie - if it is paddleable - good sign.

E. Mud bank in the vicinity of RP6 large bank to the east = low water, no bank or small bank - good sign.

2. Once on the Prairie proper - Just head west.  Look for flow - any flow - turn left, follow the flow to the East Cape Canal.  As an alternative - follow your GPS.

3. There are indications on the Mangroves that the water gets significantly higher. Barnacles and water stains @ 12” above current levels.

4.  Reference #3 – there are numerous reports that the area experiences much lower conditions during certain times of the year.  Maybe not every year...but maybe all year - some years.

5. It worked for us on this trip – past performance is not necessarily a predictor of future success – your mileage may vary.

Thanks to everyone on the crew - you guys were fantastic - a perfect mix.  I would paddle with you anywhere!

(GPX file tomorrow)

[vivian]

Thank you for writing this excellent report Jay!

I would love to know if we have a hydrologist among the group who can explain the hydrology of this area to me. Esther's point that the dams have also helped to keep the water "IN" is spot on. While the water flowing out through the praire from the big lakes negates the currents generated by strong incoming tides coming in from the creeks south of the dam on east cape. I suspect that after the water levels drop later in the season, more of this tidal flow will get further into the prairie.

[Terry]

I hope the world is paying attention, this is some top quality documentation.

Since the Inland Route and Fox Lakes is, been there done that,

Bill is raising the stakes with Phantom Loop.   As soon as you can take breath and

ready to look at something as challenging as the Widowmaker, take a look at his new

discussion.

However, if we can assemble another team like this I think it might be time to document

Smugglers Route and finally connect the corner of the Stair Steps ( Coconuts vicinity) to either

Willy Willy or Mullet Bay.

[Dallas]

Congratulations to all. Did you guys end up using Spoonbill Pass or 64M? On Charlie's SPOT it looks like he used 64M.

[Jay]

I think we are generally speaking of Spoonbill Pass as an area to cross over to Raulerson's Prairie.  I believe that we have found 4 ways across.  Three by water, at least one by land (64M). One of the water routes requires a pullover.  Two do not.

We took the water route closest to 64M.

Last year when I started thinking about going through, why did I focus on 64M?  Because there was no obvious route through from looking at aerials.  Why not pick the narrowest spot?  A couple of probes later when I actually went to 64M, I paddled right past an opening that Terry later found to be a clear creek.  You can actually see me go right past it  - it's on the left on my Youtube video.  I remember looking right in there and it looked like a Barnacle encrusted Mangrove wall about 5-7meters after the opening. So I pushed into a weakness I saw straight ahead from that point and got to 64M. What I missed was a 90-110 degree right turn that I could not see - because I didn't probe inside the tunnel (lesson learned).  It was wide open after that point.

Anyway - we used that tunnel into the creek that crosses the Pass.  I was pretty surprised that the 21' tandems made it through - but they did!

So to answer your question, the clear creek was only 5 meters from 64M - that's why it looks like we took 64M

Dallas said:

Congratulations to all. Did you guys end up using Spoonbill Pass or 64M? On Charlie's SPOT it looks like he used 64M.