Kayaking Fort DeSoto
We stayed the weekend at Fort De Soto Campground in Pinellas County, Florida and had a blast kayaking throughout the area. Since we had a water-front campsite, we decided to rent kayaks for the entire weekend instead of just renting by the hour in the park. We had never rented kayaks for a weekend, so we googled kayaks and found Denis Wahls at Pinellas Kayak Rentals. Sometimes luck is on your side, and this was our weekend. Pinellas Kayak Rentals is AMAZING and made our weekend perfect.
Denis will deliver kayaks to your campsite for your entire stay. It added flexibility to be able to use the kayaks as often as we wanted on our own schedule. He delivered the kayaks to us when we arrived and picked them up at check-out time. He takes care of everything during delivery, so that you can leave at your leisure on check-out day and not wait for him to come to pick up the kayaks. We rented a double kayak and a single kayak. They were delivered with paddles, life vests, seats for the kayaks, maps and a chain lock to keep them from wandering off. He provided all sorts of maps of the kayaking area, visual landmarks for identification, mangrove tunnels, manatee hiding locations, launching areas, and wildlife identification. He spent time talking us through the maps and areas that would be the most interesting to us. He gave us all sorts of tips and tricks to ensure that we had an amazing day. He offers tours for those interested, but we were not sure about our schedule. We were impressed with his knowledge and excited to get out in the kayak.
Armed with all the right equipment for fun, we headed off in our kayaks. We did our research and expected to enjoy kayaking at Fort De Soto, but the actual experience blew our expectations out of the water. The park is a V shape at the Gulf of Mexico and the Tampa Bay, creating a protected area on the inside called Mullet Key Bayou. The water is calm making it perfect for kayaking. There are so many areas to explore, including a paddle to Shell Key, Mangrove Tunnels, and Manatees sightings. There are so many areas to launch your kayak, including, the campsite, the mangroves near the beach, and directly across from Shell Key. This is helpful because it allows you to put your kayak in the water in the area that you want to explore. We launched the kayak directly from the campground a couple of times and went down closer to the mangrove tunnels for one of our ventures to cut down some of the distance. Of course, you will need the appropriate vehicle for transporting the kayaks to take advantage of other entry points. We enjoyed the mangrove tunnels because they were so different from our normal experiences, it was fun to paddle under the trees and perhaps a little bit creepy. It is entirely possible to paddle everywhere from the campgrounds, but the distance was a bit far for us. Except for the mangrove tunnels, we mostly just enjoyed the paddle and the view. We were entertained by the birds fishing for dinner and playing around the kayaks. Next time we head out, we want to try the paddle to Shell Key.
We were happy we chose to rent from Pinellas Kayak Rentals. It was easy and convenient. We spent more time in the kayak than we expected because they were right there at our campsite and we could go out as frequently as we desired. We felt free to go out for shorter, but more frequent paddles. We liked not feeling rushed as we do when we rent by the hour. If you are going out to Fort De Soto, be sure to put a kayak trip on your schedule!
