© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Who Has Navigated Our Canals?

Terence Cantarella via Twitter

Terence Cantarella, the man who is currently navigating his way around Miami by canoeing through Miami-Dade’s canals, is not the first person to attempt something similar.

In fact, according to The Miami Herald newspaper archives, this is something that has even been attempted a few times before.

Here is are some stories of other Floridians who have traveled via Miami Canals:

According to the Herald‘s outdoors writer in 1994, Steve Sheridan, a 27 year-old Floridian navigated through Miami’s canals as part of his effort “to canoe alone from one of end the state to the other via inland lakes, rivers and canals.”

Part of his journey included paddling down the St. John’s River to the Bee Line Expressway east of Orlando, then through the Econlockhatchee River, the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee. He planned on exiting the Okeechobee “through the Miami Canal [heading] south to the Tamiami Canal, then east to Turner Creek,” the Herald reported. The Herald reported that Turner Creek would “take him to the Ten Thousand Islands, where he’ll follow the Wilderness Waterway to Flamingo, then paddle to Key West.”

At the time, it was estimated the trip would take him 50 days.

In 2003, Herald staff writer Susan Cocking took a tour of Coral Gables through backyard canals.

According to Cocking, the tour started beneath the Metrorail tracks by Riviera Drive and Ponce de Leon where they paddled to Biscayne Bay.

She reported that she was struck by the fact that she could see everyone’s house numbers on the backside of their houses facing the canals. The tour guide explained that mail used to be delivered by boat along the canals.

Her tour was part of a Coral Gables Canoe Tour  that Miami Dade parks was hosting at the time.

In 1984, Harriett Tupler, a Herald staff writer at the time, wrote a story about a dining experience that included canoeing down the Dania Cutoff Canal. The canoe trip was part of the Fort Lauderdale Recreation Department’s gourmet canoe trip event. After Tupler canoed down the canal, she arrived for dinner at the Rustic Inn.

More On This Topic