Paddle the Florida Keys — Attraction in Islamorada

This place deserves more than five stars.

While visiting the Florida Keys, I really wanted to experience the mangroves. A kayak tour with PTFK is by far the best way to do it. We took an unguided tour, and the staff were extremely helpful and getting us set up in the kayak, showing us how to paddle properly, and directing us how to find the trail. After a few minutes' paddle through a public channel, you enter the mangrove trails. The trail starts out large enough to paddle normally but as you get in deeper, you can put the paddle down and pull yourself through by the low hanging branches and tree roots. While you're on the trail, you are right up close to the most incredible ecosystem. In less than an hour, you come out into this stunning lagoon. It is so quiet and peaceful you can paddle around looking at birds until you are ready to paddle back the way you came in. I expected the waters to be muddy and maybe smelly but this was not at all the case. You can see all the way to the bottom in most places and see fish etc right up close. We then paddled around the marina until we had to have the kayak back to shore (before 5). The trailhead off the public waterway is easy to find, and after that there is only one trail to follow so it's impossible to get lost. We stayed totally dry in the kayak on a calm day. This was truly one of the most amazing experiences I had in Florida and would do it again in a heartbeat.

There are so many kayak tour places in the keys and I spent forever trying to find a good one. I even went to two others - one had ridiculous requirements to check in at one location then paddle in another, and the other was clearly a tourist trap and only interested in rushing as many people as possible out and back. Look no further, this place is the...

We decided ot kill a few hours on a lazy afternoon and do some kayaking. We instantly hit it off with the two employees Mike and Chris. Chris said he was leading the afternoon tour which didn't begin for an hour and suggested we grab something cold and tasty to pass the time. He even gave us directions to a spot to buy a six pack, bottled water and a little cooler. We returned to the store with our purchases and enjoyed a couple cold ones out along the canal. There were six of us on the tour plus our guide Chris. The first stop was a small mangrove island which was reached without too much difficulty by all six of us. Chris educated the group about the importance of the mangroves in the Keys but never preached. After taking a few pictures, we all headed back inland. On the way back, we all got to see a manatee swimming under our kayaks. Chris then took us into a narrow creek off the channel that winds about a half kilometer back into the mangroves. The water was so clear we could see mangrove snapper hiding in the roots everywhere . The creek finally narrows to the point you can touch the mangroves on both sides so we turned around and headed back to the shop. We chatted with Chris and Mike while sipping another cold one in the sun before calling it a day. Nothing but positives to say for...

4 stars even though I actually didn't get to go kayaking which was a bummer, however, it was handled extremely well and my $ was refunded and technically, they didn't have to do that. I reserved a kayak for the day but the maps ap took me an hour away (traffic!) and when I called, it was indicated that they are having troubles with phone maps aps taking people to the wrong location and have been trying to resolve the problem. So, after sitting 2 hours in my car, I finally made it to their shop but really didn't feel like sitting anymore so I didn't kayak. I took off a star since really, if they know this is a problem, put a note on the auto-reservation email that goes out to confirm the reservation so we can double check it. And for the record, I think the problem is if you directly input their address into the ap, you will not arrive at the correct location. You need to enter 'Paddle the Florida Keys' and use that to find their location and you'll arrive at the correct place. Hopefully I'll get there...