Sea hippies kayak for Cancer


Castaways Against Cancer is a group of friends who kayak from Miami to Key West to raise money for the American Cancer Society. This is a photo from last year's trip.

This year they are shoving off from Dinner Key, right here in Coconut Grove. Since their first kayak trip 10 years ago, they have raised over $300,000. They are the eighth largest contributor to the cause in these 10 years. The 12 friends, self proclaimed "sea hippies," travel the 165 miles in seven days.

Steve O'Brien (right) is the brains behind the kayaking fundraiser, after losing his mother and grandmother to cancer in 1999, he decided he needed to do something. The Key West native first started kayaking at age 42 to just "get away," he found peace and spirituality on the water. His sister Kim, joined him.

In 1998, his friends and co-workers from Christopher Columbus High School in west Dade, decided to paddle from Key Largo to Key West, just to see if they could do it and the rest is history.

The embark on Saturday, June 11 from Dinner Key and arrive in Key West on Friday, June 17, you can follow them on Twitter here.

You can read Steve's inspring story at the Castaways website here.

You can donate here.


This is one of the stops along the way on last year's trip.