That's fortunate for all the canoeists and kayakers in the area, and anyone looking to try the sport of paddling.

There's plenty to explore in the Indian River's wide open spaces, too. Anthony Poponi returns from a trip to Mullethead Island (background, right), known as a bird rookery. Poponi was looking at the island as one more possible destination for a guided nature tour with his company, Landseasky, in Indialantic. Image by Robert Hughes, for FLORIDA TODAY

We're blessed with the nation's most biologically-diverse estuary, the wildlife-rich Indian River Lagoon, which runs the entire 70-mile length of the county (and then some), and it has countless nooks, islands and tributaries to explore.

From Turnbull Creek to Turkey Creek, paddlers find they don't have to go far to feel like they have, because the lagoon hides a surprising wildness.

Jim Durocher, commodore of the Space Coast Paddlers club, has been paddling area waters for 22 years, but can still get lost in his favorite getaway -- the Thousand Islands area in Cocoa Beach.

"Once you get back there, you can't see any civilization," Durocher said. "You can go in a bunch of different directions and go for miles. I've gotten lost many times."

The Thousand Islands is a stretch of natural mangrove islands that were sliced up for mosquito control canals. Tall mangroves, Brazilian pepper and Australian pine tower above to create a maze that challenges paddlers to find their way through, even though it's a relatively small area at the edge of town. "And that's what makes it great for paddling," Durocher said.

Another place where Durocher likes to lose himself for a while is on Merritt Island. The Ulamay Sanctuary provides even more twists, turns, channels and ponds to explore than Thousand Islands -- and offers intimate views of a wide range of birds.

Teressa Smiley and David Stewart of Vero Beach turn around in one of the many bends of the Sebastian River, which forms part of the county line between Brevard and Indian River counties. Image by Robert Hughes, FLORIDA TODAY

There's plenty of wildlife and scenic beauty to be enjoyed on the lagoon and its sidekick, the Banana River. And while paddlers share its open waters with motorboats, they can explore unlimited nooks where powerboats cannot reach.

A few of those nooks turn into beautiful streams, like the lagoon's northern-most reach, Turnbull Creek.

That creek turns from broad sweeps of salty cordgrass marsh to a pristine freshwater swamp in a scant two miles.

Near the south end of the county, Turkey Creek provides an even more dramatic backdrop for that salt-to-freshwater change, with tall cliffs towering over the stream in perhaps the most varied paddle possible over a four-mile course.

Turkey Creek's remarkable scenery makes it a No.1 favorite for a lot of Brevard paddlers, including Melbourne's Joe Wilk.

"It's real interesting, because you've got a good mix of wildlife," Wilk said. "You can see manatee, alligators, great blue herons . . . Everything is back there.

"And then you can stop for a lunch break and walk on the boardwalk" in the Turkey Creek Preserve.

Wilk doesn't require parks or even a natural setting at all when he sets off on many of his paddles, however. He likes to explore many of the little crannies that indent the shore in developed areas.

Waterways like Crane, Eau Gallie and Goat creeks may go unnoticed by the cars that drive over them, but Wilk knows them well.

"Crane Creek looks really wild back there, and then you end up at Florida Tech," Wilk said, referring to a 1.5-mile paddle that includes commercial, residential and almost jungle-like areas.

Wilk said he and his wife, Suzanne, "pretty much know where all the put-ins are, so we can go anywhere."

Durocher said the best way to learn where the best places to paddle in the Indian River (and beyond) is to go to kayakguide.com, an Internet site developed by another local paddling club member, Al Vazquez.

Vazquez's site offers directions to and detailed descriptions of paddling trips in Brevard and around the world.

Among the locations described is Pine Island Conservation Area, which has stretches of shallow water so clear, "occasional sponges, large red fish, mullet, sting rays and horseshoe crabs" can be viewed down below.

Indian River Lagoon doesn't have many long tributaries, but the one it does have in Brevard is a beauty.

The southern branch of the Sebastian River actually runs most of its seven-mile course in Indian River County before merging into its middle and north prongs in Brevard.

A paddler could easily spend more than a day exploring the three streams.

Like a miniature Mississippi River, the Sebastian has twisted and turned upon itself so much over the centuries that it hides dozens of dead-end passages that provide quiet stillness under a deep canopy of hard and softwood trees.

That paddling experience stands in sharp contrast from what's available directly on the other side of the lagoon just a few miles to the east.

There, Sebastian Inlet gapes as the only outlet to the ocean in Brevard aside from Port Canaveral. A trip out there opens the paddler up to the winds and salt spray, but also offers twists and turns of its own through thick mangrove forests that, again, house so much wildlife.