I found myself on the phone explaining to a prospective visitor from New Mexico what our sliver of Florida is like.

Can I arrive by plane, take mass transit to my hotel and then get a kayak and just paddle everywhere I want to go?

Not a bad question. Sounds like a Nirvana-type of vacation.

In fact, the Calusa Blueway offers you options, depending on which island you choose to visit. (Find out lots about where to stay at www.FortMyers-Sanibel.com or check out our kayak/canoe-friendly hotels, RV parks and campgrounds at www.calusabluewaypaddlingfestival.com/ai_accomodations.html)

If you were to arrive at Southwest Florida International and take a taxi to Fort Myers Beach, you could check in at a resort on this skinny island and be set. Many resorts have kayaks, or many of our outfitters listed on this site will rent you a kayak for the duration of your stay. You could paddle the backbays of the Town of Fort Myers Beach, stopping in at blueway spots such as Matanzas Pass Preserve or Bowditch Point. You could use your biceps-horsepower to go to Lovers Key State Park. You could dine at Flipper’s or any of the beach-based restaurants on the water.

You’d want to make sure you were an experienced paddler to make it all that way, of course. But just vacationing in a spot where that’s do-able is fun. The Red Coconut RV Park, for example, sits on both the Gulf side and the bay side of Fort Myers Beach and is next to Matanzas Pass Preserve.

The options are so numerous, it seems unfair to list just a few here.

And that’s just one leg of the blueway from one barrier island.

So many more options exist.

A visitor could decide to go from the airport straight to Matlacha (pronounced like this rhyme “Spend the day in Matlacha, the island where the dolphins play). Guests at The Sun & The Moon Inn or at Angler’s Inn or several others can get kayaks with their rooms. Or Mel the Guide at Matlacha’s Gulf Coast Kayak has a fleet he can let you choose from. Then you could paddle to waterfront art galleries and restaurants, positioning yourself for sunset from a different spot each night. You could walk on the drawbridge to take in the local scene. You could eat dinner at one of a half dozen places, and several breakfast joints exist as well – Mulletville or Perfect Cup to name a few. The blueway takes you three directions from the tiny isle of Matlacha – northeast toward Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, northwest toward Bokeelia’s Jug Creek or southwest along Little Pine Island to Tropical Point and St. James City.

But there I go again, naming places that are just one of many stops on our 190 trail.

Guess there’s only one solution. Buy a plane ticket and come explore the island of your choice.