Things to do / Travel Guide
For kayakers in eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland there's a simple rule of thumb: wherever you find water, you'll find good paddling, sea kayaking, and (usually) rentals available. From the Delmarva Peninsula right on down to North Carolina's Cape Fear, the opportunities for kayaking are as vast as the water is wide. Here are some kayaking tips to get you started:
Kayaking on the Delmarva Peninsula
You can set out on a kayaking excursion on Little Assawoman Bay. Start out in Fenwick Island, Delaware and paddle a couple of miles across the bay (which should take about half an hour). Kayak rentals are available on Fenwick Island.
Another popular paddling option is to rent a kayak in Chincoteague, Virginia and explore the coastal inlets and back bays in and around Chincoteague Island, Assateague Island in Virginia and Maryland, and Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland. There is no set route here, just as little or as many water-miles as your arms can log. Tracing the full circumference of Chincoteague Island will give you an approximately 26-mile paddle, but if you want a shorter excursion with a little wildlife observation, try paddling around the Virginia end of Assateague Island through the Assateague Channel to have a look at a wide range of shore birds including snowy egrets, blue herons, scoters, oldsquaws, and other sea ducks and. If you're lucky, you might catch the island's famous wild ponies grazing along the marshy banks.
Eastern Virginia Kayaking
Checking out Chesapeake Bay is a must in eastern Virginia. For a 14-mile roundtrip tour, launch at Bethel Beach Nature Preserve in Mathews, and paddle south toward Horn Harbor - the Wolf Trap Lighthouse and the New Point Comfort Lighthouse will bear silent witness to your pleasant paddle on the water. Turn back, retracing your route and head two miles north of Bethel Beach toward Rigby Island for wide open views of the Chesapeake Bay. But this is just one paddling excursion - more than 200 miles of Chesapeake Bay shoreline are open for exploration. Kayaks and canoes can be rented in Mathews.
In August, you may just find yourself paddling with the dolphins on a 10-mile sampling of the waterways near Virginia Beach. Put your kayak in at Rudee Inlet, travel north along the oceanfront for authentic sea kayaking in the Atlantic Ocean, continue around the bend of Cape Henry, and finish at the First Landing State Park in the Chesapeake Bay. A wide range of liveries and kayak outfitters are located in Virginia Beach.
If the saltwater has got you a bit bogged down, you can paddle the crystal-clear waters of Lake Drummond, located near Suffolk, in the Great Dismal Swamp. Surrounded by marshy bogs, bald cypresses, and black bear families, Lake Drummond is about two and a half miles across and eight miles around. You can put your canoe or kayak in on U.S. Highway 17, several miles north of the Virginia/North Carolina state line. Rent a canoe or kayak in Suffolk.
North Carolina Shore Kayaking
Beaufort is a great starting point for beautiful kayaking. Paddle out of Beaufort's entrance (try to time your exit with the outgoing tide) and head out for a nine mile route past Fort Macon State Park to Shackleford Banks on Cape Lookout National Seashore. Travel around the northern end of Shackleford Banks watching the wild horses or if you're adventurous, climb out on the banks and stick your feet in the soft Shackleford sand - some of North Carolina's best shells litter these banks. Kayak rentals are available in Beaufort.
You can have a supreme sea-kayaking stint on the virtually-boat-free Pamlico Sound. Launch from the coastal village of Salvo, on Hatteras Island, and paddle south. The water is clear enough to see schools of fish swimming (and jumping) in tandem as well as large jellyfish. Stick to the shoreline of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and you can see wading egrets, diamondback terrapin turtles, blueclaw crabs, and marshy shores filled with fiddler crabs. After about five or six miles, when your arms are just getting a little sore from the workout, you can stop at No Ache Island for a break before you either continue on or turn around and head back to Salvo. Kayak rentals are available in Salvo and Nags Head on Hatteras Island.
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