Re: [Paddlewise] nykayakers

At 08:39 PM 7/6/00 -0400, William J. Oetjen wrote:
>Hi folks,
>
>i will be in the ny/long island area in a week or so.  There is lots of
>open water, but also a great deal of motor boat traffic in most places in
>that region. I have two questions for my fellow paddlers.  
>first, are there any decent stretches of paddling left in the eastern end
>of long island that are not over developed or over-run by motor boats?
>
Dear Bill & Paddlewise,

I wanted to respond to Bill's question regarding Long Island but I'm not
sure what is ment by "decent stretches of paddling".  This is Long Island:
there are motor boats everywhere.  And even where the power boats don't go
you have jet skis.  Despite that, though, you can find lots of paddling
that takes you away from heavily boated areas.  None will be "miles and
miles", so probably don't qualify in the "decent stretches" catagory and
all are subject to having motor boats share the waterways, but let me offer
the following possibilities:

1.   The Great South Bay.  Anywhere you can put in is good.  What you'll
find is that the water tends to be shallow close into shore and the power
boats stay (pretty much) toward the center.  All along the mainland cost on
the Great South Bay are streams you can explore (about every 1/4 to 1/2
mile).  Some of these include marinas at the mouth so boat traffic will be
there, that that usually falls off as you go upstream.

2.   Carmans River.  You'll find canoes from the local livery but probably
not too many power boats.

3.   Gardners Island & Robins Island.   While you cannot legaly land on
either island, they are fun to circumnavigate.  Since you can't land there,
boat traffic near them is light.

4.   Peconic River.   While full of power boat traffic, this river has a
bird sanctuary section that is usually free of power boats.

5.   Nissequogue River.   I don't have any personal experience here, but
there are probably stretches that are free of power boats.

I have paddled much of eastern Long Island and I find it a great place to
paddle.  If you have specific questions, contact me and I'll do my best to
answer them.

Bill Leonhardt
(work) 631-344-2378
(home) 631-758-3284
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