Destination: Collier-Seminole offers canoe adventures by day or by moonlight

Collier County is renowned as a golf Mecca, a world-class shopping destination, sunbather's haven, naturalist's playground and a diner's delight.

Another, less obvious, side harbors an adventure you might have never experienced. For a taste of nature beyond the beaches and a feel for what this land was like before development transformed it, take a canoe down the Blackwater River at Collier-Seminole State Park.

Guided canoe trips are offered through March, by day and at night, during the full moon. On moonless nights, volunteers instead, lead guided nature hikes in the park's uplands.

For daytime trips, guides bring the canoes together several times to share tidbits of nature lore and answer questions.

Volunteer guide Candace Bess imparts insights to the paddlers, such as the crucial role mangroves play in keeping our ecosystem healthy, or the difference between fiddler crabs and mangrove crabs.

There's history, too, as she explains this area's role in the Third Seminole War.

Before each trip, volunteer guide Don Bess tries to get a feel for his charges by asking everyone to rate their canoeing abilities on a scale from one to five.

For the less-experienced canoeists, Bess offers on-the-fly instruction in the water. For example, "Don't both lean (and paddle) in the same direction," he coaches. "We have a name for canoeists who do that-swimmers." Reassuring the group about their safety, he humorously says, "The water is way over your...knees."

The best part of the experience for many visitors is just seeing the unspoiled Florida landscape, looking for birds, fish and crustaceans, and steering their canoes through the twists and turns of the channel.

Here, in the largest mangrove forest in the western hemisphere, kingfishers dart from bank to bank, turkey vultures soar overhead and herons watch, bright-eyed, from branches along the river, or unfold their massive wings and take flight.

Sue Maisch and her husband Jim, from Glenwood Springs, Colo., loved getting out on the water. "The serenity of the trail," says Sue, was the highlight of the trip, "and, not yelling at my husband."

Night canoeing in the mangroves adds a new dimension to the experience. Under the cover of night, the river is transformed. Tree leaves lining the stream glisten in the moonlight and the shadows are an inky black.

Sounds are magnified, and a bird rustling his feathers in the branches overhead takes on an eerie quality.

Jim and Lisa Scott, from Michigan, saw a sign for the canoe trips on their way to play golf. "We always look for adventure," says Lisa. "You can only sit on a beach so much."

She loved getting a chance, as did each canoeist, to lead the group along the river. "The reflection on the water from the moon made a path. Sometimes, I had to squint into the moonlight, it was so bright," she says.

The park is also known as the home of the historic Walking Dredge, a self-propelled excavator that made possible construction of the Tamiami Trail between Naples and Miami in the 1920s.

The entrance to Collier-Seminole State Park is located on U.S. 41, at the corner of SR 92, eight miles east of Collier Boulevard (CR 951). Daytime canoe trips are offered from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (Fridays in February). Cost is $25 per person, age 6 and up. Moonlight canoe trips are conducted from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Wednesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 12. Cost is $30 per person, age 12 and up. Night hikes are held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 24, Wednesday, Feb. 25 and Thursday, Feb. 26, as well as Wednesday, Mar. 25 and Thursday, Mar. 26. Cost is $10 per person, age 6 and up. Group, club and family trips are available. Advance registration is required.

20200 U.S. 41. E. 394-3397

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