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On an abandoned golf course, overgrown with shrubs and saw grass, you can hear the rushing water from 100 yards away.

On the other side of the path were fields of swaying saw grass and hardwood hammocks — dense stands of broad-leafed trees that grow on a slight rise of only a few inches.

This popular paddling destination includes open ponds, mangrove tunnels and saw grass fields.

In reality, it’s as unsentimental as a blade of saw grass.

They battled the heat and mosquitoes to carve farmland out of limestone, dense tropical forests, thickets of saw grass and marshes.