This Boat is Real: Our First Boat Trip of the Year

Downtown Orlando

It’s winter time in Florida, and that means…well, it means more boating days.  The only “Floridians” that even have the slightest idea of what the word “winterize” means, only moved here a few days ago.  I don’t bring this point up to throw it in the faces of my fellow boaters to the north; no, I would be doing myself and my fellow boaters a great disservice if I didn’t boat the heck out of those extra days available to me.  Click through the jump below to find out how we spent one of those days, on our first family boating adventure of 2012.

Let’s Start with the Rig:

The Rig

I would describe my current relationship with my truck as that girlfriend that you know you should get break up with but you’re honestly a little scared of what she might do to you if you leave her.  There also may be a little fear of not being able to find anyone anything else.  It’s not the healthiest relationship but she gets us to the water.

The most important part of the rig is the boat.  This trip we used our 17 foot Grumman “double-ender” Eagle.  The Grumman’s all aluminum construction and wide beam (39in) are great for canoeing with the kids.  The girls have a hard time sitting still, so the wide beam helps keep us fairly stable with minimal compensation.  Plus I don’t have to constantly nag them about sitting still.

Here is the Crew:

The Crew

The girls are some of the best young boaters a father could ask for; they couldn’t be more excited to go out on the water.  They are great helpers when it is time to load the gear in and out of the canoe and they listen well when it is time for instruction.  My wife is our busiest crew member, she at least has the most job descriptions on our crew.  She is our photographer, navigator, chef, bird watcher, I could keep going but you get the point.  She adds so much to our trips out on the water.  Without her, we would have blown by some of the most amazing Florida wildlife I’ve seen.  I love how knowledgeable she is about our native wildlife too, she does well passing that knowledge on to our girls.

The Location:

View Larger Map

Orlando’s Lake Ivanhoe is a 126 acre lake with a max depth of 27 feet.  It is situated next to the perimeter of downtown Orlando and the lake is split by our main traffic artery, I-4.  The lake has a boat ramp, and most weekends you’ll find people fishing, jet skiing, paddle boarding, tubing, or like us -canoeing.  One of the biggest reasons for choosing this lake was the beautiful view of the downtown buildings.  What I didn’t expect was how glassy the lake was on this particular morning, the previous day had been pretty blustery.  This was our first outing on this lake and it will probably make our short list of places to re-boat. 

The biggest draws for us were the proximity to our house (about 3 minutes down the road) and that the lake has a playground near the boat ramp.  Let’s face it; young children don’t have a very large attention span and more energy than they know what to do with.  The playground makes for a great incentive for the girls to behave (sit still-ish) in the canoe and it wears them out so they’ll be ready for nap when we get back home.  The only complaint was the noise from the I-4 traffic above the lake, but it is worth putting up with to see one of the best views of “The City Beautiful”.  Check out the additional pictures from out trip below.