SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. -- The two-man kayaks lurched forward, backward, sideways. They spun around, bumped into one another and drifted into a thicket of mangroves.

Luckily, the water was only about 3 feet deep.

"This is your paddle," shouted the Tarpon Bay Explorers guide, holding up the black plastic stick with a wedge on each end. "Remember, the person in the back steers," he yelled. "I don't want to see anybody in the front trying to steer."

With that, I lifted my paddle out of the water and rested it atop the fir-green kayak.

I felt the warm sun on my arms. I sipped a nice drink from my water bottle.

"A little to the left," I directed my husband who was paddling in the stern. "Watch out for that branch."

Oh, boy. Kayaking was going to be fun.

In case you haven't noticed, kayaking while on vacation is all the rage.

Tourists are kayaking at the Grand Canyon, in Honduras and over in Crete. They're paddling off the coast of Big Sur, up in Tuscany and in Alaska next to the icebergs. You can take 15-day sea kayak trips on the open water or rent a kayak for a quick paddle on a placid pond.

The big draw?

"People want solitude, peace and quiet in their busy lives," says Bruce Clevenger, a kayak instructor at Quiet World Sports in Jackson, Mich. "Plus, it used to be that people thought of kayaks as scary and tippy. But recreational kayaks are very stable."

About 6.6 million Americans went kayaking in 2006, according to the Outdoor Industry Association, which has tracked a gradual rise in participation since the 1990s. The trouble is, kayaking is a bit harder than it looks for anyone out of shape -- or for anyone who has trouble sitting on their bottom in the bottom of a little plastic boat.

I've done a lot of Great Lakes canoeing, so I wasn't exactly a novice. But I decided to warm up my kayak skills on the 3-hour Tarpon Bay Kayak Trail Tour ($30), no experience needed.

What a warm-up.

"If you run into the mangroves, don't panic," shouted our guide, Dave, watching one couple veer into the bushes. "And if you see someone stuck, help them."

We set off. I resumed paddling up front to help us gain speed. After a 3/4-mile paddle along the southern edge of Tarpon Bay, we came to Commodore Creek and the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, where all 11 kayaks were supposed to turn the corner into the creek. The tide was rising and the current was kind of swift for some. Some kayaks were drifting away.

Our guide threw an anchor over the side of his kayak.

"Bump into me," he said. "Hold onto me."

So we clanked and scraped and hung onto each other until everyone was situated.

"It's 'the dingbats go kayaking,'" my husband grumbled.

What was he grousing about? I was having a great time.

Seriously, southwest Florida is a fantastic place to kayak, with miles of interesting little rivers and estuaries and enough birds to fill a thousand aviaries.

In fact, southwest Florida has embraced the kayak fad with a 190-mile kayaking route called the Great Calusa Blueway.

The route with the lilting name was invented not by paddlers but by tourism officials in 2003, who wanted to create for kayakers and canoeists something similar to the so-called greenway route that bicyclists can take in this state.

They named it after the Calusa Indians who lolled, loved, fished and died in this part of Florida for more than 1,000 years until the 1700s.

The Blueway meanders in and around estuaries, rivers, streams, bays, passing through remote mangrove swamps, crossing shipping channels and hugging the coast. Area parks and kayak rental spots have detailed maps that show the routes and give you all the information you need (you can also get it at www.greatcalusablueway.com).

And you need information, because the Blueway isn't just one route. It is many.

The first part, marked and mapped in 2003, goes through Estero Bay, which is the waterway near Ft. Myers Beach and Bonita Springs.

The second part, marked and mapped in 2005, lines coasts and estuaries on Pine Island Sound and Matlacha (MAT-la-shay) Pass, including part of Tarpon Bay and the edge of the Ding Darling refuge off Sanibel Island.

The third section, which just was just mapped and launched in October 2007, are routes on the Caloosahatchee River and its tributaries. Its most famous section is the Orange River, where manatees congregate near the warm water outflow of the Ft. Myers power plant at Manatee Park.

Although many routes are marked regularly, and maps contain GPS coordinates for those who bring their own GPS unit, the Blueway is vast, and some of it is difficult. So before you launch on the Blueway, get a guide or get experience.

Back at Commodore Creek, birds were everywhere, motionless in the midday sun. White ibises stood on one leg on still mangrove limbs. A jet-black cormorant with its wings spread guarded a catch. A roseate spoonbill with a big pink body flew above. Around us, the water was a mysterious murky brown because of the tannin from the red mangroves lining the creek.

After about an hour of paddling, I started to get hot and tired. My shoulders hurt. Meanwhile, a schoolteacher on the tour kept asking a million questions. What's the way to grow a mangrove in a pot? Are mangroves asexual? What's the name of a worm in the lake? Our guide answered everything patiently.

After 1 1/2 hours, the group arrived in Mullet Lake, where, sure enough, little mullet fish were leaping out of the water like friendly firecrackers. This marked the moment we could break off on our own, heading back.

"Let's go," my husband said, paddling as if he were in a race. Our kayak skimmed the well-marked creek, twisting through low-hanging branches. Primitive-looking birds watched us from their woody havens in the sunlight-dappled mangroves. The swish-swish-swish of our paddles was the only noise.

Have you ever tried to take a picture from a kayak? It was hard. I don't have a single record of my achievement. And there was an issue of where to put my legs. Straight out? Up over the edge? Cross-legged? No good answer.

But three hours after we started we were back where we began, gliding across the smooth-as-glass bay, skin pink, throats thirsty, brains elated.

Next time, we'd be ready to try our hand at the big Calusa Blueway -- at least, the easy parts.

KAYAKING TOURS:

• Southwest Florida

Tarpon Bay: Tarpon Bay Explorers in Sanibel Island offers the 21/2-hour kayak trail tour described in the story ($30); a more advanced kayak sunset tour ($40) and kayak rentals ($20 for two hours). (900 Tarpon Bay Rd., 239-472-8900, www.tarponbayexplorers.com ).

Orange River: Lee County Manatee Park in Ft. Myers offers kayak rentals ($10) that take you on the Orange River, where manatees congregate near the power plant discharge canal. Also offers kayak clinics (State Road 80, 239-690-5030, www.leeparks.org ).

Great Calusa Blueway: Gaea Guides, based in Ft. Myers, offers kayak tours from 2 hours to 5 days long on the Blueway. The overnight tours include equipment, naturalist guide and hotels. For costs and dates, contact Connie Langmann at www.gaeaguides.com or 239-694-5513.

• Worldwide

Honduras: Uncommon Adventures in Beulah, Mich., offers week-long trips to Honduras' Bay Islands for sea kayaking, March 23-30 and March 30-April 6; $1,795 includes lodging, meals, kayaking and guides; excludes airfare (www.uncommonadv.com , 866-882-5525). Owner Michael Gray also offers other trips.

Isle Royale National Park, Michigan : Keweenaw Adventures will offer several 3- to 6-day kayak and camping tours this summer starting at $679. Dates, details at www.keweenawadventure.com , 906-289-4303. Also offers day kayaking off the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Grand Canyon : Otter Bar Lodge Kayak School in Forks of Salmon, Calif., offers its 17th Annual Kayak the Grand Canyon trip, Sept. 7-21. Starts from Lee's Ferry, Ariz. Fifteen days down the canyon for intermediate paddlers; $3,225 not including airfare (www.otterbar.com , 530-462-4772 ).

Crete: Inn-to-Inn Sea Kayaking beginners' tour leaves from Heraklion, Greece, June 13-20 or Sept. 13-20. Eight days, $2,695 not including airfare, through Northwest Passage in Wilmette, Ill. (www.nwpassage.com , 800-732-7328). Instruction

Quiet World Sports in Jackson, Mich., teaches people how to kayak; classes will start at the end of April (www.quietworldsports.com ; 517-750-3490).