We live along the Cocoplum canal; I think the name comes from the South Florida tree, but I’m guessing on that one. This canal is controlled by numerous locks, and where we live, you cannot get into the open water to Charlotte Harbor or the Gulf of Mexico without going around these locks. This definitely keeps down the motorboat traffic, but we still get quite a few fishing boats and kayakers. A couple of these locks have the facilities to port your boat around, as long as you have only a kayak or a rowboat. By going through the lock behind the old Winn Dixie on North Port Blvd., you enter the waterway that will take you to the Myakka River and Big Slough. Heading this way, you could find your way to the Gulf of Mexico near Boca Grande. To do this by kayak would be quite a trip, but it is possible.
There are still plenty of miles of exploring to be done within the locks. There is the main Cocoplum canal and several offshoot canals, two of which terminate at locks. The offshoot canals are smaller in size and depth then the main Cocoplum. These smaller canals meander behind houses and wild areas, and there is plenty of bird life, turtles and alligators to see along the way.
We have four kayaks that we use, two are sit-in kayaks, and two are sit-on-top kayaks, three are shown in the picture below:
The other kayak I keep on the other side of the house. We drag them down the steps behind our house, and launch them from our platform:
Once in the water, whether you go right or left doesn’t really matter, there are equal exploring possibilities either way. In the shot below we are looking due east:
This is a shot looking the other way, west.
Once out in the water, looking back at our house.
Here is a shot of us exploring one of the side canals a few friends.
This is Sandy, myself and my neighbor exploring an offshoot canal. Here you can see that it is very shallow and can get quite narrow in spots.
My son Tim and I on the main Cocoplum canal:
The best time of the year to kayak here is from later October through April. The summer months are too hot and there is minimal shade on the water. You also have to look out for thunderstorms, which happen just about every day in the summer in North Port. Early in the morning and in the evening are your best bets if you want to go out during the summer.
There is a small lock down the main canal that you can port around and a small park that you can dock at, and then going past the park, the water opens up into lake size water.
In this area, there is still much more exploring to do. There is a canal that runs past another park further up the line, which I have not attempted yet. In this area you can see quite a few party boats with an occasional sailboat.
On a hot day it is very tempting to want to jump overboard and take a swim, but you really should resist the temptation for there is always the possibility of this lurking around:
Holy shit, did you guys luck out!!!! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!
Hey Bob,
It is a nice spot, we can kayak for miles on the canal system. Hope that you are doing well.