A Kayak & Beach Outing

My wife and I were both available for some fun on Sunday and she really wanted to go to the beach. Kommiecticut beaches SUCK because they are in Long Island Sound which is the sewer outlet for every Kommiecticut city along the shore, and especially NYC. I only go to ocean side beaches of RI or MA. RI is closer so that is where we usually go. Normally we would go the Charlestown, RI and put our kayaks in at Lake Quonochontaug at the boat launch by the breachway. A 1 1/2 mile paddle to an area where you can go ashore and then a quick hike over the dunes puts you on beautiful West Beach. Because that area is reached only by boat, there are very few beachgoers there. Last year we discovered the the state of RI eliminated more then half of the parking there, making a weekend trip out of the question, but we decided to go anyway and see how bad it was. We got there at 08:30 and it was worse than imagined. People were dumping their vehicles wherever they felt like, blocking access to the one small parking lot and blocking in other vehicles. A perfect setup for a road rage incident. We left the area and pulled into the parking lot of the bakery on the corner of US RT. 1 to lookup some place else to go. While there were several, only one nearby put us at an ocean side beach... Ninigret Landing Marina on Ninigret Lake. It was a short drive further north on RT. 1 to the marina access road. It is a small marina with a decent parking lot and a concrete boat launch. $10 just to park and $20 to park and launch a boat. I went inside the office and found a gorgeous young brunette with a laptop sipping her coffee running the place. She took my $20 and said we were all set for the day. She said friends of hers take their boat across the lake to the dunes to get to the beach, but she did not know where they land. I told her since it was our first time there we would be exploring the right shoreline to look at all the big beautiful homes, and circle around to the dunes to find beach access.

We left the truck parked about 40 feet from the boat launch and carried our kayaks to the ramp. We set the kayaks side-by-side, load and stow everything in the boats, and then she grabs both front carrying handles and I grab the rears and we walk the boats to the waters edge. She gets in first so I can shove her off, then I get in. At my age, my knees don't work like they used to. I cannot enter the cockpit without the kayak floating in knee deep water so I can step up and in. With that we were under way. The sky was overcast with a slight sea breeze, and temps were not quite 80.

Our excursion plotted on Google Earth manually by me

We stopped at the East Beach Landing twice. The first time was to check it out and we spoke to the young man that was the park ranger. We then walked out to look at the beach and it was more crowded than we were used to, but nothing like the mad house crowd at Misquamicut State Beach to the west. We decided to explore the shoreline along the dunes to the east, and come back if nothing panned out. As you can see on the plot above that is what we did. We stopped to check out a couple more landing spots, but the path dead-ended into woods, or on the road with no visible way to get to the ocean. It was only when I viewed this satellite image on Google Earth did I see where we should have gone which we will know for next time. We paddled back to the East Beach Landing.

I learned from someone else's bad experience to tie up your kayak in tidal areas, not to simply beach them. You will find your kayak far from shore after the tide takes it away. I carry a length of 1/4" nylon rope and an auger style anchor like you'd use to tie up a dog. The anchor gets screwed deep into the sand and the kayaks are securely tied up. We haven't lost them yet. We take EVERYTHING of value with us, and stow anything else out of sight in the trunks. I insist on taking our nice carbon fiber Aqua-Bound Sting Ray Hybrid light weight paddles for two reasons. First, leaving the paddle is like leaving the car keys in the ignition. It lessens the temptation and ability to "borrow" our kayaks. Second, it prevents some asshole from getting a free paddle upgrade and leaving us junky heavy paddles. We have never had a problem.... yet.

We walked through the parking lot and over the dunes to find a nice spot on the beach. It was now lunch time so that was the first order of business after setting up the beach blanket. Then it was time to succumb to the food coma and nap. With the sea breeze stronger on the ocean side of the dunes, my wife was all covered up with another blanket at towels because she was cold. I thought it felt refreshing and zonked off uncovered. We slept about 45 minutes and then got up to use the bathroom and go for a walk. While the water temperature was nice, with the breeze and no sun neither of us went for a swim, but I did go in up to my knees. There were not many other people in the water either. We hung out for another hour and then decided to pack up and paddle back, going in a straight line across the lake to the marina. Upon arrival, my wife went to change clothes while I got loaded up. We headed out and actually beat all the beach traffic headed for Kommiecticut. Getting caught in the mass exodus on the bypass road RT. 78 is a nightmare we are familiar with from years ago. We stopped for ice cream closer to home. At home, I got everything unloaded and rinsed our kayaks off in the yard. I only do this if we go somewhere muddy or swampy, or in salt water. Because the sun was out at home, the kayaks dried off and I was able to hang them up in the garage where I store them.