Great Loop: John Pennekamp State Park

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Mike and the Mangrove Cut


February 19th, 2022

We traveled through a great variety of features on our voyage to John Pennekamp State Park.   The density of Keys and shoals increases as you head east to Key Largo.  With more obstacles to safe navigation, there are cuts through mangrove islands, cuts through limestone and coral formations, and considerable weaving to remain in water sufficiently deep to provide safe passage.  A challenge, but we loved it!


Mangrove Cut on the way to Pennekamp

The traffic volume was also greater due to travelling on a Saturday.  It is best to avoid travel on weekends in Florida.  On weekends,  people explode from land to sea, and want to see and do it all at 50+ miles per hour.  Boating courtesy, such as slow passes disappear and it is not unusual to have a sport fishing boat, with multiple outboards pass you in close quarters at high speed.  Wake management is no-existent.  It is every boater for themselves.  We were travelling as the weather windows don’t pay attention to the weekend and we wanted to make progress before conditions soured and high winds returned.



Amy Marie enters Adam's Cut



Perfect Choice in Adam's Cut

Transiting Adam's Cut



House - Adam's Cut


House - Adam's Cut

We encountered one of the most unusual features of the trip so far, the Marvin D. Adams Waterway.  This is a canal that allows passage from the Atlantic side of Key Largo to the Florida Bay side.  It is a shortcut for boaters to avoid a longer trip around either end of Key Largo.  The cut through the limestone and coral is one half mile long, 100 feet wide, 12 feet deep, and vertical walls rise up to 15 feet tall on either side of the cut.  Water courses through the canal at high velocity during tide changes.  As boats travel both directions it is a white knuckle trip as you have to travel with some speed to maintain steerage.  There is little room for error.


Kayak Trail in the Mangroves

Successfully passage allows entrance to Largo Sound and John Pennekamp State Park.  The Park is fabulous.  There is even a “re-created” Spanish shipwreck off one of the swimming beaches!  It even has cannons and an old anchor….  Here is a link to their website for information on all the park has to offer:

 


One of the Lagoons - John Pennekamp State Park

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Trip Log



Location: John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, 102601 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo, FL 33037, USA

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