Periwinkle Creek from Rookery Bay: 23 JAN 2021 06:46

Warning - the trip up Periwinkle Creek should not be made in an outgoing tide unless you're proficient at getting out of your craft and dragging it through the muck and across sandbars. If you're heading north up the creek and the flow is coming toward you, that's a bad thing. Seriously.

The launch area is at the end of Shell Island Road near the Rookery Bay research facility. Shell Island Road is a 2.8-mile long; low speed paved road through an upland preserve where deer, tortoises, and other wildlife are common. The gate at the road (usually) opens at sunrise (±). The shallow sand/gravel launch is into a 4 acre protected cove with an outlet to the north. Free parking is a short walk away after you unload.

After leaving the cove, we headed west across Rookery Bay because the bay was calm and it was the quickest route. The cut is easy to find, but pay attention as it's easy to make wrong turns as you go from west to north. It's an easy trip - mostly open water, and the scenery is great when you get into the narrow bays and channels at the west and north portions.

The creek is a great paddle, but if you use a kayak paddle, you'll have to break it down a few times. We left at 0700 and hit the lake at the far end (5.25 miles) of the creek at 0900, just as it was filling with water but still too shallow to paddle. If we had launched an hour or two later (see attached tide chart), we could have traversed the 2.5 acres (1 Hectare for those familiar with the matric system) lake. The guy in the lead startled a flock of spoonbills and egrets and herons and pelicans as we approached.

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