A Delmarva Paddle Guide

 



Delmarva is a kayaking paradise, with hundreds of miles of fresh, brackish, and salt water trails available to explore. Beginning at Cambridge, Blackwater Adventures offers kayak rentals at the Hyatt Chesapeake Bay resort and, further inland, at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  The wildlife sighting possibilities at both locations are rich, including the osprey nest above. Call ahead to check reservations at the Blackwater site, which is relatively remote.  If you have your own Kayak, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has paddle trails and interactive maps available on their website.  

The beaches of Delaware and Maryland have numerous kayaking opportunities.  Coastal Kayak is located across Delaware Highway 1 from Delaware Beaches State Park, and offers opportunities for exploration in the Little Assawoman Bay.  Further south, the 67th Street Paddle Cove, Odyssea Waterpsorts, and 48th Street Watersports all offer kayak rentals on the Assawoman bay and Isle of Wight Bay.  Ocean kayaking is, at present, limited to those who own their own boat and will haul it out to the shore.

With its biological diversity and expanse of open water, the best kayaking is at Assateague Island National Seashore.  Assateague Outfitters, located within the park, offers kayaking in the Sinepuxent Bay. Of all the places listed, it is where I have found the most interesting wildlife and best water: something that is a good workout but still enjoyable!

Kayaking on the Sinepuxent Bay off Assateague Island





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review Hillbilly Elegy  by J.D. Vance Harper Collins, 2016  264 pages $27.95 A New York Times best-seller, Vance’s book, written in advance of the 2016 election, is a memoir of his own experiences growing up as a “hillbilly” in Ohio. In many ways essential reading for our time, it is a world I recognize, though thankfully was not a part of. Vance’s recollection of family dysfunction, substance abuse, and economic struggle on his course to Yale Law is ultimately an uplifting story and a much needed window into the working classes. At the same time, it is not without fault. As Vance concedes early, most of his life was spent between Cincinnati and Dayton, in Middletown, Ohio. His family was one of the millions that left for industrial jobs in factories; the “hillbilly” connection is through his parents and grandparents, who came to Ohio from Jackson County, Kentucky after World War II. His connection to Jackson is a place of the family homestead, of long summer and h
Read more

The Allegheny Mountains: Hoye-Crest to Blackwater Falls

Image
  The Alleghenies are a sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains, running north-to-south from central Pennsylvania to southern West Virginia.  It west of the Ridge-and-Valley range that runs along the VA-WV line, and includes some of the highest points in the Appalachian range. One of those points, Hoye-Crest, is notable not so much for its height in the over all range but as the highest point in Maryland. At 3,360 feet, it sits more than 1000 feet lower than its counterparts in Virginia and West Virginia, and is located on publicly accessible private property in the southwest corner of Garrett County, Maryland. This trip is for the moderately adventuresome, as it is a tough, steep mile long climb that is not easy to find. In order to access the trailhead, you must drive to a remote area along US 219, about nine miles north of Thomas, West Virginia. Parking is available along the side of the road, though you will need to be cautious for traffic as the area is not parkland and there are n
Read more

The Church Series: Old Trinity, Church Creek

Image
Living history in an historic church. South entrance and east chancel of Old Trinity, Church Creek An off-the-main-road stop on the way to the beach, Old Trinity Church ranks as one of the oldest sacred spaces in use in the United States.  (It is most likely the oldest east of the Mississippi.)  Built around 1675, it has endured to house a living congregation to the present day. According to the parish website , the church was restored to its 17th century appearance from 1953-1960.  At that time the Victorian renovation a century prior was undone; the original floors were discovered and repaired, walls reinforce, and new box pews and a pulpit were created from 200 year old heart of pine wood.  While a recreation of the original, it is stunningly beautiful in conception and liturgical use. Approaching the church, one walks from the parking area near the parish house through-centuries old graves.  These include Anna Ella Carroll,  reputedly one of Lincoln's most trusted
Read more