Paddle with the sharks in Florida

CUDJOE KEY, Fla. — Gliding slowly over the glass-clear water, I approached a clump of dark shadows about 20 feet off my bow, where a stir on the surface caught my eye.

Stingrays? Maybe. But the Florida Keys are also known for nurse, blacktip and lemon sharks, barracuda and tarpon, even American crocodiles, among hundreds of other species. Thanks to the variety and visibility, kayaking in the Keys is like floating through an aquarium.

I paddled my kayak quickly toward the gray mass and saw nurse sharks, four of them lying still on the sandy bottom. Big ones, too — nearly 5 feet long.

I was just a few feet above them on the shimmering surface, within touching distance, when they suddenly scattered, vanishing into a cloud of sand.

A few minutes later in a mangrove-lined cove tucked into the center of Raccoon Key, I was greeted by a curious spotted eagle ray, which circled my boat until several 4-foot-long blacktip sharks swept into the pool for lunch.

No luck. The ray was quick to camouflage by burying its flat, winged body in the sand.

South Florida is a water-lovers' playground, from Everglades National Park with its abundant alligators, south to the Florida Keys.

U.S. 1 runs from the top of the island chain, near Key Largo, about 100 miles south to Key West, slicing through a tiny spit of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Just some 60 miles from Miami, the keys provide a great, quick getaway from the buzz of the city.

The mostly two-lane highway is within view of water nearly the entire trip, offering numerous stop-off points for a dip, a quick snorkel, kayaking, fishing or just a lazy nap on the beach.

I drove to Cudjoe Key, about 20 miles from the end of the road in Key West, for a paddle to Raccoon Key, a great area to view nurse and blacktip sharks that favor the warm, shallow waters hugging the shoreline. Over the next six hours, I saw eight sharks.

Putting in at the tip of Cudjoe Key, I paddled out past a U.S government facility surrounded by thick mangroves and satellite dishes. From there, TV Marti, a Miami-based program that opposes Fidel Castro, is broadcast to Cuban airwaves.

It's about a mile-long open-water paddle to Budd Keys, another two miles to tiny Hurricane Key and on across the Gulf to my destination, Raccoon Key, an island once used as a breeding colony for rhesus monkeys.