Key West Wedding by Regina Nicolardi

Left out at the end of the road, Key West has always been known as an enclave of weird left to its own devices. There is a reason why some never leave this town full of artists and night life surrounded by the wildness of the keys.

We find ourselves on this journey to Key West to celebrate the wedding of one of our long time friends, not to mention she is a fellow paddler. So it didn't take much to convince the wedding party we should grab the boards and get out exploring.

Launching from Lazy Dog Adventures on Stock Island, we scoped out the Cow Key Channel, then made our way into the residential canals of Key West. Wanting to explore some tidal creeks, we hung a left and floated through a windy creek choked with mangroves before opening into a large salt pond right behind the Key West airport. The shallow sun-lit salt ponds are full of Upside Down Jellyfish.

Mazing our way through another creek we rejoined the residential canal. Looking at ominous clouds we made haste for Lazy Dog Adventures, just as a monstrous thunderstorm rolled in.

A week in Key West that followed, brought plenty of beach time, skate boarding, snorkeling, sight seeing, and of course paddle boarding (namely a beautiful and windy circumnavigation of Saddlehill Key), leading up to the wedding.

Following the wedding, our crew had to fly back to the real world, while Joey and I prepped to continue our summer tour in the sun. But before we could part ways, the bride and groom wanted to grab the paddle boards and hit the water one more time for a ‘trash the dress’ shoot!