Kayaking Delaware Seashore State Park...
- Isotrails Photography
- Jul 24, 2022
- 7 min read
I'm not sure the purpose of this article. I recently went on a self supported costal kayaking trip with the intent of revisiting an article I wrote on kayak photography a few years ago. I spent 2 days on the Delaware coast and wound up photographing pelicans, terns, terrapins and other wildlife. I am writing this mostly to share my experiences photographing our coastline. Maybe this blog will help you in your planning to take a break from the ordinary. Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band" was playing as I was looking for a way to tie all of my disjointed writing together, hence the titles.
It's a Buck Dancer's Choice My Friend...
The heat index was above 100 degrees when I loaded up the kayak and packed my car and headed for Delaware Seashore State Park last week. It was a new destination for me, as I am a creature of habit and prefer the familiar costal waterways of New Jersey, but I felt the need to do a little kayak camping and to take a break from the usual. I was looking for a challenge. In doing some research-DSSP checked a lot of the boxes I was looking for:
~2 hour drive from Philadelphia
Kayak access to a coastal waterway
Beach Camping and Facilities
Dark Night Sky for Astrophotography
Short drive\bike to restaurants and respites from the July heat.
Adventure- Sometimes you just need to challenge yourself to reinvigorate the feeling of self reliance.
Overall- I enjoyed my experience at Delaware Seashore State Park. Amenities were clean and the location was more than I could ask for. I will say that the campsite was next to Route 1 and in the middle of an open air parking lot. There was no shade -other campers were using the shade of their cars to get relief from the heat, and the tent sites did not have electrical hook up. It was primitive, sweaty, and enhanced the feeling that life is all about you vs the elements. Honestly, I've never felt more homeless at a campsite. I am not complaining, I signed up for it... its what I love about camping, and more specifically kayaking camping- you can't change the direction of the wind, but you can change your sails... in short adapt. That being said, I booked it for access to the water and dark skies, not to hang in the
campsite.
The site cost me $80.00 for 2 nights and it was money well spent. It granted me access to parking, a boat\craft launch, a bath house and a guarded beach to swim. For the next time, I will know to bring a pop up canopy\different tent for lounging, and I will try not to schedule my trip around a 100 degree heat wave. I woke up early, accomplished my tasks before the heat of the day, and then lounged by the sea breeze. The 500 yard walk to the beach solved a lot of the heat issues.
Got Some Things to Talk About Here Besides the Rising Tide...
Kayaking can teach you a lot about life. All one has to do is look at the tides. There are
periods of high and lows, and understanding how to manage them will make for a peaceful, enjoyable experience. There are 2 youtube videos I encourage people to watch before paddling on tidal waters. They are both by a sea kayaker from Australia named Gordon Brown, in the videos he explains the difference between a Neap Tide and Spring Tide, and paddling tidal streams. By the way- spring tide does not have anything to do with seasons, it is derived from a Nordic word for abundance.
It has been a long time since I last wrote about Kayak photography. My first article on the subject was December of 2020 and the world has changed in more ways than one since
then. For one, the popularity of kayaking and engaging in outdoor recreation has exploded as people have become travel restricted and have yearned for some adventure in their own backyards. This is a double edged sword as it is wonderful to see so many people getting out on the water. However I see a lot of people who either do not have a regard for nature-large wakes in no wake zones, trash, boater etiquette etc, or those who are ignorant of challenges to being on the open water.
The article I wrote a few years ago was written to address the latter. I emphasized the importance of preparation and safety towards a rewarding and safe day on the water while enjoying the unforgiving marsh . My experiences at Delaware Seashore State Park reflected those sentiments.
I planned my trip around a neap tide, I used my teacher skills to boil down the difference between Neap and Spring tides. Feel free to skip to pictures of the birds, this is very quickly turning into a 5 page essay on the history of Pasta when all you want is a shrimp scampi recipe.
I hope I haven't lost you- but understanding tides is essential to a safe and happy paddle. To demonstrate the power of the moon and sun and its effect on our shores- here is the tide chart for Indian River Bridge, DE 15 days apart. There's almost a 3 foot differential between spring and neap tides. This doesn't sound like much, but imagine the weight of all of that water gliding over channels and undulations under the water. For an analogy imagine a trickle coming from a garden hose. Now put your thumb over the hole. That pressure and spray is the same as a tidal drift you'd experience out on the open water as the water ebbs and floods a bay. You can
actually use it to your advantage to plan your paddle around the tides. Watching Gordon's video on tidal streams was immensely helpful in planning my last paddle. There is a rough formula that I won't attempt to explain for fear of losing you. He does a much better job explaining it than I ever would hope to.
All I want to know is... are you kind?
I have come to recognize that those tidal forces outlined above are general guidelines. Water conditions are heavily dependent on geography (both human & physical ) and weather conditions. I always scout a location before I put-in in an area that I am unfamiliar with. I consult as many online resources as I can, but its always best to lay eyes on where
you intend to paddle before you put in. So once I set up my tent for the day, I went down to a spot I found on Paddling.com. The comments had warned about green heads and other biting insets. I took my chances to check it out and found hundreds of dragonflies. It was awesome to see them. They are sky assassins, and it looks like they took care of most of the biting flies there.
The next day I woke up and had 7 hours before the tides would allow me to explore without worrying about beaching myself. I went down to the same spot and the dragonflies had gone, and the bugs were abundant but not unbearable. I had heard about a ramp somewhere in DSSP. It took me about an hour to find it. I met a kayaker who told me that the tide times are an hour and a half behind the official station.
With now an extra hour to kill, I went to the beach and tried to swim. The waves were a little too intense. Neck breaking waves were crashing about a foot from the shore. I hear thats the norm for this beach, and that you have to time your swim between the waves, then
you can float\tread in 12 feet of water just before the break. It was neat to do this for a while. The waves hit with such intensity you actually get a slap back wave from the shore. I tried
body surfing- something I excel at as I am shaped like a walrus, I caught a wave, was rocketed into the sky, then sucked under the wave. I found sand in places there shouldn't be sand... And this sand- well its more like extra fine quartz. Its beautiful, but well I'll say less as I'd like for you to continue to read. Pictures from the paddle are coming. I promise.
It was hotter than the day before, with a heat index of about 101. Being out on the salt marsh desiccates you further. I packed some extra water and gatorade -it's got electrolytes (what the plant's crave), and dressed for the surface of the sun. The original article I wrote
outlines a lot of how to dress for the elements- but something I've picked up since then is that flies do not like warm tones- greens and yellows ( and some say grey's) are your friend to reply biting flies. I also must stress the importance for dressing for an environment where sunlight is reflecting on you 360 degrees in all directions.
I headed back to the second paddle launch and I met a local outfitter hauling boats out of a trailer for group that was set to paddle within the hour. She was more than happy to give me some tips as I helped her offload her companies boats on to the beach. She gave me invaluable information about nesting shore birds, where to look for boat traffic and how much time I had before I would get stuck in mud. An experience once you have, you'll do everything in your power to avoid.
With what I could control accounted for, I set off to photograph some landscapes and shore birds. I saw a lot of Pelicans- which is something I hadn't seen before. I got really close (but still a respectable distance ) to some ospreys, terns and gull nests. I saw diamond back terrapins sticking their head out of the saltwater keeping a watchful eye on me, and I saw the aftermath of a night-crowned heron who lost a battle to another seabird. Oystercatchers were out foraging, terns chased me from their grounds, and military helicopters were on training flights. I tried to capture all of them as the kayak I was in was rocking, rolling and drifting through winds of Rehoboth Bay.
Its the Same Story the Crow Told Me Its The Only One He Knows....
It was a beautiful 3 hours on the water. Here are the highlights:
This was at the point in which the terns had enough of me being near their nest and started to dive bomb me...
Paddling back towards the bridge and the beach i launched from. Another thing a local paddler told me was that it gets extremely windy in the afternoon. Let that video be a testament to their word.
Note 3 of these images are from Cape May Point. On the way home, I stopped and biked Cape Henhelopen State Park before boarding the Cape May -Lewis Ferry to visit friends and family. I want to go back and explore there more.
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