Paddling in the Florida Keys in a Clear-Bottom Kayak

My friend Gene's family rents a place somewhere tropical each Thanksgiving, and the whole family gathers from far and wide for a week together, and I stop in for a couple days each Thanksgiving to see them all. In 2004 our little gathering was down in the Florida Keys in a place called Layton on Long Key, about 20 miles down the road from Islamorada. They had a nice house, great for entertaining our large and sometimes boisterous group.

Gene had brought along his clear kayak, the Molokini model from Clear Blue Hawaii. Of course, I just had to try it out.

It took him a few minutes to hook up the rudder attachment, then it was ready to go. He cautioned me that it was a bit prone to rolling when you get aboard, but stable once you're sitting inside. I wondered why he bothered to tell me that. He knows I'm an experienced kayaker.

I decided not to bring my camera, which was a bad move. The boat was a little tricky to get into, mostly because I was trying not to scratch the hull on the sharp rocks. After a kind of awkward entry, I sat down and found the boat stable.

The kayak was not very fast, and had little directional stability without the rudder down, but paddled along as I expected with the rudder down. For sheer paddling performance, I prefer a really fast kayak, but I was unprepared for how much fun the "glass bottom boat" effect can be in a kayak. I had always thought it would be kind of a fun idea, but not really worth doing. Too expensive, too fragile, too easy to scratch, too heavy, and all kinds of other reasons crossed my mind why a transparent kayak just should not and would not be built. Wrong again!

Great View of an Artifical Reef

I paddled up the shore to the next dock, where the owner had been accumulating tires, concrete blocks, and other such artifacts underneath his dock, creating a nice little personal artificial reef. It was a scaled-down model of the real thing, complete with colorful angelfish, triggerfish, and other tropical fish, joined by some snappers, grunts, and even some spiny lobster and a small grouper.

I was able to sneak in on top of them without causing too much panic, because I didn't make much noise, nor cast much of a shadow. I grabbed the dock over my head, and just held still for a few minutes, allowing the reef fish to more or less forget I was there and go back about their business. The view was incredible through the clear polycarbonate hull.

I moved on out over some turtle grass flats and passed over some starfish and anemones and a school of glass minnows. It was like a marine movie going on underneath me as I paddled along. I went over to a mangrove lined shoreline and paddled along close to the trees. Snook and redfish often hang out under mangrove branches and roots, and sure enough, a small snook came out and swam right under the boat.

I had to head back to the party, but I was glad I took the time to try out the clear kayak. Clear Blue Hawaii also make a foldable version, which is shaped much like my Klepper foldable. I would really like to try that one out. The view of the Clear Blue Hawaii transparent kayak combined with good paddling performance and seaworthiness would be a real treat over in the Bahamas.