Paddling trails — Sebastian, Florida

Three named paddling routes start in or near Sebastian: the state's Indian River/Pelican Island segment of the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, the St. Sebastian River route from the Sebastian Canoe Launch and the lagoon routes at Sebastian Inlet State Park.

The longest is a state trail. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection describes the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail, known as the CT, as a 1,515-mile sea kayaking trail from Big Lagoon State Park near Pensacola around the peninsula and Keys to Fort Clinch State Park, and calls it the country's longest designated national recreation trail. DEP divides it into 26 segments, and its segment list names Segment 21 as Indian River/Pelican Island, the stretch of the Indian River Lagoon that passes Sebastian, with Segment 22, Space Coast, beginning to the north.

The other routes are local. Indian River County publishes a river route from the Sebastian Canoe Launch on the South Prong of the St. Sebastian River, and Florida State Parks describes lagoon paddling from Sebastian Inlet State Park to islands along the mangrove shoreline. Together they let a paddler choose between sheltered river water west of U.S. 1 and open lagoon water east of Indian River Drive.

The Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail passes Sebastian as Segment 21, Indian River/Pelican Island, which follows the Indian River Lagoon past Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Florida DEP says the CT includes every Florida coastal habitat type, from barrier island dunes to salt marsh and mangroves, and traverses 20 national parks, seashores, wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries along with dozens of aquatic preserves and state parks. Near Sebastian, the segment name points to its anchor: Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes as sitting in the Indian River Lagoon estuary, a body of water running 156 miles down Florida's east coast. President Theodore Roosevelt designated the island the nation's first national wildlife refuge in 1903, and Congress made it wilderness in 1970.

The CT is built for long trips as well as short ones. DEP says thousands of residents and visitors paddle it for hours, days, weeks or months, some paddle the whole trail, and others finish it in segments over several years. Segment guides and maps are free to download from DEP, and the nonprofit Florida Paddling Trails Association, formed in 2007, serves as volunteer steward and keeps a CT Hall of Fame. For a Sebastian paddler, Segment 21 is the stretch of open lagoon between the Sebastian riverfront and the barrier island, crossed by the Wabasso causeway to the south and bounded by Sebastian Inlet to the east.

The St. Sebastian River route runs about three to four hours from the Sebastian Canoe Launch on the South Prong north to Donald MacDonald Park, Dale Wimbrow Park or the Indian River Lagoon.

Indian River County calls the Sebastian Canoe Launch a gateway to old Florida on the South Prong of the Saint Sebastian River, with a kayak launch and a separate canoe launch, a picnic pavilion and new paved ADA parking. The county's description of the trip is specific: launch there, paddle north to Donald MacDonald Park, Dale Wimbrow or the Indian River Lagoon, allow three to four hours, and arrange drop-off and pick-up, since the route is one-way. The county adds that the river is largely protected and offers chances to see alligators, manatees, native birds and fish. The launch has 8 parking spaces and 1 accessible space, and pets are not permitted.

The downstream takeouts are county parks on Roseland Road. Dale Wimbrow Park, at 11805 Roseland Road near Sebastian and Roseland, covers 37.19 acres, opens daily from 7:30 a.m. to sunset and has a boat launch 7 feet deep at the end of the ramp; the county calls it a great location to launch a kayak. Donald MacDonald Park at 12315 Roseland Road has a boat launch, an observation boardwalk and a campground with 26 primitive sites at $25 a night and electric sites at $35, which makes an overnight river trip possible.

Upstream, the river enters state land. Florida State Parks says canoeing and kayaking are popular at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park but that the preserve has no launch, and it points paddlers to boat ramps on Roseland Road such as Dale Wimbrow Park. The park describes both the North and South Prongs as winding into the preserve full of wildlife, with large bluffs along the banks and overhanging trees.

Lagoon paddling routes near Sebastian start at Sebastian Inlet State Park, the Wabasso Causeway and the Barrier Island Center, with Pelican Island refuge waters open except posted closed areas.

At the inlet, Florida State Parks says canoes and kayaks can be paddled to islands and along the mangrove-fringed shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon, and that non-motorized vessels can be launched at both Campbell Pocket Marina and the south side of Sebastian Inlet State Park. A rental concession operates in the park. The same page notes a 40-mile paved path along State Road A1A, which gives paddlers on the lagoon side a parallel land route.

Pelican Island refuge waters have rules. The Indian River County listing for Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge allows boating, canoeing and kayaking in the Indian River Lagoon except in areas marked as closed, and prohibits launching boats or kayaks, swimming or snorkeling in refuge waterbodies such as the impoundments reached from Jungle Trail. Paddlers circle the refuge islands from open lagoon water rather than launching inside the refuge.

Two more launches bracket the area. Wabasso Causeway Park on County Road 510 has four lobes along the causeway with shoreline for canoe launching and a boat ramp 6 feet deep on the southeast lobe, putting paddlers south of Pelican Island. North of Sebastian Inlet, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists a lagoon kayak launch at the Barrier Island Center in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays.

Sebastian paddlers generally choose the St. Sebastian River for sheltered, one-way trips between county parks and the Indian River Lagoon for open-water routes on the state CT segment.

The agencies' own descriptions mark the difference. Indian River County describes the St. Sebastian River as largely protected and plans the South Prong trip around a shuttle between the Sebastian Canoe Launch and the Roseland Road parks. Florida DEP, by contrast, frames the CT as a sea kayaking trail and publishes long-distance paddling recommendations for anyone planning more than a day on it, including the Segment 21 lagoon water off Sebastian.

Access hours shape the day. Dale Wimbrow Park opens at 7:30 a.m. and Donald MacDonald Park at 7 a.m., both closing at sunset, while the Barrier Island Center launch keeps 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours. Florida State Parks and Indian River County both list wildlife as a reason paddlers come, from manatees in the river near Sebastian to the bird islands of Pelican Island, and the refuge's closed areas and no-launch rules apply on every route that passes it.