Comments (0) Best Place To Canoe - 2000
North Fork of the New River
For a place that bills itself as "The Venice of America," there aren't very many good places to paddle a canoe. There's a lot of water around, but on most bodies you'll have to dodge yachts and personal watercraft and deal with their wakes when you decide to hit the water under your own power. Thanks to the low height of the Broward Boulevard bridge, however, motorboats can't make it up this way, which is why this section of the New River offers peace, quiet, and scenery right in the heart of urban South Florida. Launch from little-used Delevoe Park, then head east under I95. Soon you'll find yourself in a lush landscape of pond apple and cypress trees and banks lined with vegetation instead of bulkheads. Between the park and Broward Boulevard are islands galore and channels that wind off the main stream. Check out the old Sweeting Estates, a 22-acre riverfront parcel right in the heart of Sistrunk that used to be home to a revival church but now just nestles quietly in the luxuriant growth. Go west from the park, and the New River turns into a canal, which dead-ends near the Swap Shop in Sunrise. In either case this stretch of river is one of the county's best-kept secrets.
