This post is 100% dogs in kayaks in Florida. Unlike my post about dog-friendly kayaking adventures in Florida, you won’t learn anything new about paddling with your dog here. This is a gratuitous post for me, and if you want to stay and read, that’s fine, but I need to write something that makes me feel good.

Why? Because it’s been a long week and sometimes looking at dogs I love having fun make me feel better. Without getting into too much detail, a longtime friend and fellow Florida-phile killed himself this week, I found out another old friend died, and another more casual friend died of somewhat unexpectedly.  This kind of shit comes in threes, I guess.

Add to that the state of the world, democracy, and… well, I don’t think anyone would fault me for wanting to spend a few minutes looking at pictures of dogs.

With that said, here’s a happy story about dogs in kayaks in Florida.

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Once upon a time there was a tiny black-and-tan dachshund puppy named Calypso, and from the time she came to live with me — 18 years ago — she went kayaking with me. A lot. Her first paddle trip was on the Weeki Wachee River, and she was enchanted. She slept on the bow of the kayak and jumped off to try and catch a mullet (no mullet were captured that day, rest assured.)

For a while I worked with Kayak Nature Adventures, leading paddle board and kayak trips, and on many of those, Calypso would come, too.

She loved the paddle board. When a boat passed in front of our board, she’d learn to crouch to brace for the wake (how much lower can a dachshund get, though?)

One time, my boss — Big Z — and I were paddling near Maximo, scouting a possible new tour location, and Calypso grew tired of me. She jumped off my paddle board and swam to Kurt, putting a paw on his board.

“What does she want?” he asked me.

“Up. She wants to paddle with you,” I told him.

Because Calypso’s whole life has been: A series of wants granted (except for chocolate, onions, grapes, and cat poop, and sometimes she”ll sneak a littler box treat if I’m not careful). And that’s how a dog’s life should be.

Banyan

Then Barry adopted Banyan, a coonhound mix who spent the first two years of her life in shelters. She was a nervous wreck, but she quickly fell in love with the water. Unlike Calypso, who isn’t exactly aerodynamic and doesn’t love swimming (sometimes she rolls over in the water, which is not ideal), Banyan dog paddles like a champ. She sometimes will swim in a lazy circle, simply because she can.

During the pandemic, we spent Thanksgiving at a place called White Gate Court, in Islamorada. And that’s where we wondered if Banyan loved Barry and the water enough to be able to enjoy being in a kayak.

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Yup, she loved it.

And so soon we all four started kayaking together.

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Sometimes Calypso would look around, but mostly, she just chills in the kayak.

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Same for Banyan.

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Although sometimes, when we’re paddling saltwater and it’s calm, both dogs enjoy getting their paws wet.

Banyan will never be 100% in love with people other than Barry (and sometimes me, when she’s feeling generous), but she’s the most relaxed when she’s on the water.

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Calypso’s always been a chill, lazy little dog, so it’s no shock that she’s pretty chill on the water, too.

Maui (An Occasional Paddle Buddy)

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On occasion, Maui and his humans join us. He’s a sweet dog, but definitely not as chill as a couple of hound dogs. But he sits and paddles and barks at birds and only occasionally loses his pebble-sized mind.

Calypso’s 18. Sometimes her legs don’t work as well as they once did, she’s blind, and slightly deaf, so we don’t go kayaking much anymore. Nevertheless, I like to believe that when she dreams and makes her little puppy noises and wiggles her feet, she’s smelling the salt air and remembering the feel of the breeze on her fur.

We all need that sometimes.

I hope you enjoy your week, that you get outside and smell the salt air. And most of all I hope that if you ever wonder if you should end your life, that you don’t. That you realize that whether you believe it or not, your suicide would break someone’s heart.

Probably more than one someone.