Southwest Florida's "Blueway"

April 13, 2008 By: Marshall Cutchin

Looking for a new place to paddle and fish from your kayak or canoe? Check out the Great Calusa Blueway, nearly 200 miles of trail stretching through mangroves and creeks that line the coast near Sanibel and Fort Myers, Florida. I can tell you from personal experience that the trail will take you some of the best redfish and snook habitat in the area. Ellen Albanese writes about the Blueway in this morning’s Boston Globe. “The trail encompasses three regions of the Gulf Coast: Estero Bay, Pine Island Sound, and the Caloosahatchee. It uses Global Positioning System coordinates and key points are marked along the trail to aid in navigation. Many routes follow trails charted some 2,000 years ago by the area’s earliest inhabitants, the Calusa Indians.”