Kayaking West Lake Park, Hollywood



  I have kayaked with my daughter many times over the years at West Lake Park but now that she is in college, I decided to take a serious kayak adventure. A half day Kayak rental is $30.00. Way outside my normal local fun budget (which is generally free). I thought I had a pretty good idea of the area from my previous adventures but sometimes you just need to take the leap. Well, simply put, it was amazing. There are so many trails I never had seen before on the short trips. Some with pretty tricky paddling required. There was some wildlife but mostly it was the peace and quiet I came for. Hard to believe civilization is a few mangrove trees away. I cruised around for a solid four hours. I could do it again and not touch too many of the trails I saw this last visit. Word of warning - watch the tides. Some of the trails are tidal flats. What may look deep in one spot could be soft muck a few paddle strokes in the wrong direction. Even at low tide, there were no real problems. Just a quick back paddle and slight turn gets you right back on track. I will soon be going again and again but with my own, brand new kayak I've already started shopping for.