Kayaking Mangroves at Robbie's of Islamorada

When we decided to take our first trip to the Florida Keys, the one person in our party of six who had been there before recommended kayaking through the mangroves. We did not prearrange that excursion, however, because we knew we'd be staying in Islamorada very close to Robbie's of Islamorada, from which we planned to rent kayaks. Fortunately, that plan worked out well.

For our group of six we rented four kayaks, two double kayaks and two single kayaks. Robbie's of Islamorada provides two different recommended kayak routes with one in the bay and one on the ocean side (Indian Key).

Because we intended to kayak through the mangroves, we opted for the bay route.

In some places, the mangrove tunnel got relatively tight.

In other places, it was more spread out.

There were curves to make it even more interesting.

In some locations the mangroves provided welcome shade.

After exiting the mangroves to reenter the bay, the vegetation and some kind of jellyfish under the water's surface are highly visible in the clear water.

It's a scenic route back to Robbie's.

Because we were staying in a rental house very close to Robbie's of Islamorada, we decided to head to the house to shower and eat dinner. Afterward, we were in the mood for some key lime pie, but the places we had planned to go for it were closed either for the evening or because of COVID-19. We decided to return to Robbie's of Islamorada to have some key lime pie at the Hungry Tarpon restaurant.

We enjoyed eating on the restaurant's patio near the bay and marina. Between the six of us, we ordered two slices of key lime pie, three slices of mango key lime pie, and a slice of cheesecake. Everyone happily enjoyed their dessert while sitting on the Hungry Tarpon's outdoor patio next to the marina.

We had read about and seen videos of the famous feeding of the tarpons at Robbie's of Islamorada before our trip. This well-known Florida Keys activity is located next to the Hungry Tarpon, so we tried that next. We purchased the bucket of smaller fish to feed the tarpons and went out onto the dock.

To feed the tarpons, one simply lies down or crouches down on the dock, holds the fish as bait above the water and the large tarpons jump out of the water and gobble up the offered fish.

There were numerous birds of the docks waiting to steal fish from the unsuspecting people. These birds would try to eat the bait fish out of the buckets people had and out of their hands if they weren't watching. We saw a bird steal one out of a kid's hand as the kid was getting ready to feed the tarpon.

The employees were pretty good about getting the birds to leave the dock, but they'd just go to the piering and then come back. When people in our party tried to shoo the birds away, the birds didn't seem to care.

I thought watching the birds' antics was almost as much fun as feading the tarpon.

Conclusion

Kayaking through the mangroves was everything we had hoped for and was a fun family activity. We also enjoyed Robbie's of Islamorada, eating key lime pie at the Hungry Tarpon, and feeding the tarpons (and sometime opportunistic birds).

One of the perks of lodging in Islamorada was the convenience of going to Robbie's of Islamorada during the week.