BIG PINE KEY, Fla. - Bill Keogh was dipping his paddle on opposite sides of his kayak while gliding over water that shimmered blue from the sky.
    "If you open your eyes, you can see anything from dolphins to turtles, bald eagles, sharks, stingrays, even little creatures like single-cell algae," he said. "You get unexpected surprises when you're on the water this close."

    Keogh runs a kayak outfitter at the Old Wooden Bridge Fishing Camp here, and I joined him and two other customers for a three-hour trip. We were paddling through Bogie Channel, which cuts through Big Pine and No Name keys.  Fortunately for us, Keogh really knows these waters. In 2004 he published "The Florida Keys Paddling Guide," which includes a sea turtle guide and birding checklist.

    Suddenly, to the near left of our procession, we heard a splash and turned to see shiny fish leaping through the air. And a pelican was already diving toward them. "Those are needlefish," Keogh explained. "Pelicans'll dive for them when they're jumping to escape the teeth of barracudas. Pelicans'll charge in on any feeding frenzy."  After this slight drama faded, Keogh resumed paddling and we followed. No Name stood straight ahead, and to the distant right the sky and sea blended together: There was no horizon line.

    "What you smell is the stench of decomposing grasses floating to the surface, or into this area from Florida Bay," Keogh said as we stroked our kayaks forward. "They form hydrogen and sulfur gases."  We all now paid attention to this third sense, and indeed the air reeked.

I looked through the shallow water to the swaying sea grass - it felt like I was paragliding over a breezy Illinois prairie - and soon saw several circular objects that looked like old car tires covered with vegetation. They were loggerhead sponges, our guide explained. Keogh pointed to an anchored white boat, which he said was used to hook the sponges. In deeper water, a boater was catching dwarf sea horses to sell.

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