The tour was done as a collaboration between the Deal Lake Watershed Alliance (or the DLWA) and Paddle Time Kayaks, a mobile rental company that normally operates in Shark River. This tour only happens twice a year and the next one isn’t scheduled till September.

There were three different types of kayaks offered: the red ones were tandem kayaks that were thirteen feet long and built for two people. The green ones were twelve-foot single kayaks, and the yellow ones were nine-foot singles. The greens are recommended for people who are very tall.

Speaking of people, there were a whole bunch who signed up for the tour—I’d say about ten to fifteen at least. I spoke to and got to know a few of them and learned that they’re from all over New Jersey. And I couldn’t help but wonder what attracted them all here.

I didn’t have to wonder for long. Deal Lake is absolutely gorgeous. It has several fingers that stretch in different directions, allowing the lake to border numerous towns. We didn’t have time to explore them all so I traced our route below in red, with the big green spot being the launch site.

The first thing I learned on this tour is that Deal Lake once connected with the ocean back in the 1800’s. At this point, the water was over twenty feet deep. But a hurricane in 1890 forced the closure of the inlet they had there, and since then, the lake has been its own body of water.

A few minutes after paddling out from the launch site, our tour guide told us to stick our paddles vertically into the water. This was to give us an idea of how shallow it has become in the century since the closure. Your paddles can touch the bottom without much effort.

Another thing our tour guide pointed out were the ospreys and herons who commonly build their nests on top of telephone poles near the lake. He said it got so bad that the electric company had to install “bird blockers” on the poles to keep them away.

After that, we continued single file underneath a small bridge towards the top two fingers of the lake (see map above). As I went under, I could feel the rumble of a nearby train headed our way.

Due to time restraints, we could only explore the bigger of the two northern fingers. Our tour guide mentioned countless species of birds and fish who inhabit Deal Lake: herons and ospreys (as mentioned earlier), geese, ducks, egrets, robins and hawks for the birds, and sunfish, catfish, pickerel, carp, herring and bass for the marine life. It also had a group of turtles on a rotted log, but they jumped back into the water before I could get a picture.

We took the top finger to its end, which led us to Deal Country Club (again, see map above). Past that was nothing but marshland, too shallow to paddle in. Our tour guide said that when he first moved to the area thirty years ago, the marsh area was an extension of the lake that you could kayak in. Erosion has dried it up over the decades.

On our way back to the launch site, he told us quite an interesting story about an old nightclub that was once located on Deal Lake in the early 1900’s. It was called Ross-Fenton Farm, named after its two owners and the former farmland it was built on. This place was supposedly so famous that celebrities would fly into the lake on seaplanes from New York City and Philadelphia, and there would be people paddling in canoes with lanterns to guide them in at night.

Unfortunately, a fire ravaged most of the property in the late 1940’s. Its owners were already approaching the age of retirement and decided not to restore it. Instead, they sold it to a construction company that built a multimillion-dollar home in its place.

By the time we returned to the launch site, the tour had taken about two hours. We went in the morning and the timing was perfect, before the sun and the heat got too brutal. They said these tours are sometimes offered three times a year instead of twice, depending on how many people sign up.

And I certainly know who one of them will be.  https://www.paddletimekayaks.com/

For the first few months, I remember, we were strongly advised to remain indoors. Once it became acceptable to go outside again, I convinced my brother Mike (who also had to move back home after losing his job and apartment) to split the cost of an inflatable kayak with me.

We found one on sale for a hundred bucks, which is expensive for someone who’s been unemployed for half a year. The closest kayak-friendly spot in the area was the Shark River near Neptune City, so we went there to give it a test run.

That kayak was a bitch to set up. A million air holes needed to be plugged before you could even begin to inflate it. The paddles were packaged in over a dozen pieces, making it feel like you were constructing a Lego set to assemble them.

Worst of all, the air machine to inflate the kayak took forever. We might have been better off using our own breath.

Once we finally had it ready to go, we launched from a beach near a members-only marina. At first I was impressed with how smoothly it moved. It seemed to move faster than a real kayak.

We smoothly paddled past the marina’s boundaries and into the center of the river. This kayak worked so much better than I expected, though I wasn’t given much time to gleam over it before things went wrong.

It started when I saw water pouring into our seating area from somewhere under the kayak. We could have forgotten to plug a certain hole, or it could have just been a crappy kayak after all; either way, water was pouring in fast and we needed to do something.

I showed it to Mike who didn’t take it as well, shouting “Holy sh*t!” at the top of his lungs. Next thing you know, we’re in the middle of re-enacting the movie Titanic. 

Thankfully for us, the Shark River got its name from a series of shark tooth fossils that were found on its shores over a century ago. Actual shark sightings were extremely rare.

Even more thankfully, that members-only marina had a pier that stretched almost a thousand feet out into the river. There’s no way we would have made it back to shore at the rate we were sinking, but the pier’s edge was close enough to frantically paddle to.

Luckily, the pier had a ladder along the side of it. You could literally hear the air wheezing out of our semi-deflated watercraft as we hopped onto the ladder. By the time we reached the top of the dock, our kayak resembled a giant yellow sponge.

We managed to toss our paddles onto the dock before we got to the ladder. The kayak had a long rope attached to its rear that we used to hoist it up after collecting our bearings.

But now we faced a new problem. Everyone at the marina was staring at us, wondering what the hell was going on.

I said to Mike, “Just try to act normal here. If we can be nonchalant, we might be able to play it off like we did this on purpose.”

We waddled down the pier as casually as possible with all this wet baggage in our hands, when someone called out to us: “Are you guys alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re fine,” I said. “We, uh… we just got hungry so we’re making a quick pit stop.” Thank God there was a pizza place right down the street.

We got out of there and decided from this point forward, we’re using real kayaks only. It costs a little more to rent them, but worth every penny after the experience we had escaping a Titanic that hit an invisible iceberg.

On the north end of the beach is a Stewart’s Drive-In eatery, and on the opposite end is a kayak rental agency called Pedals and Paddles. Though I’ve rented from them numerous times, my first experience was by far the most noteworthy.

The attendant warned me of two things as he prepared my kayak: to avoid the 37 bridge and to avoid any jet skiers. There was a jet ski rental business a few miles down the road, and my attendant said, “Most people who rent from there don’t even have a boating license. They have no idea what the hell they’re doing, so just steer clear of them.”

I said, “Roger that.”

He launched me right out from the beach. The paddle onward was quite scenic, passing by a series of small wooded islands that all had tiny beaches. At least it was very scenic until an out-of-control jet skier flew past me and created a wake that almost flipped my kayak. And there were signs everywhere that said ‘NO WAKE.’

Once you got past the islands, the jet skiers, and all the yachts with flags on them, you were brought into the heart of the Barnegat Bay. The water here became a tad more choppy than I was comfortable with, but not bad enough to justify turning around. I considered if I should “stay local” or if I should disregard the attendant’s advice and give the bridge a closer look.

Of course, I went for a closer look. Otherwise, I’d have nothing to write about.

The water got choppier and choppier the closer I got to the bridge. Second thoughts began rising in my head faster than the rising tide of the bay. Finally, I reached the bridge, which left me at a crossroads. If I headed back north in the direction I came from, it would lead me into Mantoloking; but heading further south past the bridge would eventually bring me into LBI.   

I chose LBI and stuck to it until I paddled under the bridge and got about ten feet further out. At this point, the water was so rough that I felt like George Clooney in The Perfect Storm. I immediately turned around and luckily made it back under and past the bridge without further incident.

My next move was to get back to the islands near the rental agency. I rented my kayak for two hours and had time to kill after the botched LBI mission. Laying down and sunbathing on one of those island beaches would be a perfect way to accomplish that.

What happened on my way to the islands from the bridge would inspire me to write this piece. I might have been halfway there, a little more, a little less, I don’t remember. All I know is that something big slammed against the bottom of my kayak from below.

BA-BOOM!

Whatever it was hit me from directly underneath and my whole kayak was practically airborne for a split second. If it hit me from the left or the right, I would have capsized. When I landed back onto the water and regained my balance, I waited and hoped for a giant piece of wood or debris to float up to the surface. Maybe I just had a run-in with an object lost at sea.

But nothing ever came up. I started paddling a lot faster upon realizing what could have hit me. I made it to one of the islands after what felt like an eternity and laid out in the sand. Then I attempted to sunbathe and got eaten alive by greenheads in less than ten minutes.

After running full speed to my kayak and fleeing the island, I decided I’d rather deal with idiotic jet skiers than deal with horseflies and a great white. So I paddled over to Stewart’s and got lunch there with my remaining time.

Believe it or not, I’ve returned to Pedals and Paddles to rent another kayak on several occasions. I don’t have the storage space to buy one so I try to get down there once or twice a summer. The Route 37 bridge is now off-limits to me, however. These days when I’m out in the bay, I take the other way into Mantoloking. 

My long-finned friend from beneath the surface hasn’t followed me there yet.

I wrote about kayaking in the Shark River last year. Yesterday, my family and I were able to get out kayaking again!

Over the last two weeks, I took advantage of the warm September and October weather and did a kayaking trip in the Navesink River near Red Bank.

From the marina, you can travel in one of two directions: either head west down the river towards the parkway or head east towards the ocean. The Navesink is so immense that I had to take two separate trips on two different weekends to explore the full extent of it.

On the first week, I took the ocean route. After going under the train track bridge, you’ll be placed right outside the Oyster Point Hotel.

Further down you’ll see the Riverview Medical Center, along with fascinating pieces of real estate.

I managed to reach the Oceanic Bridge in Rumson before deciding it was time to turn around. The ride out there was easy because I was going with the current but the ride back proved to be twice as difficult. For that reason, I wouldn’t advise going in that section of the Navesink without a motorboat.

On the second weekend, I took the western parkway route from the marina, which turned out to be far more kayak-friendly. It benefits to go this way during high tide however, since the marshlands you enter become mud patches when it’s low.

There were all kinds of birds in this area: seagulls, geese, swans, herons, and even blue jays. Problem is, they kept flying further away whenever I tried to get a good snapshot. They probably didn’t know what to make of a ten-foot orange object floating in their direction.

Eventually, I approached a bridge for the Garden State Parkway. As someone who is on that road almost every day, it was nice being able to see it from this angle. After passing it, you’re unfortunately stuck at a dead-end within a half-mile. There’s a large pipe stretching across the surface of the river.

Overall, I couldn’t recommend this trip (or series of trips) enough. It’s $20 an hour to rent a kayak or a paddleboard at the Red Bank Marina and $120 to rent a small motorboat for the day with no boating license required. Their hours are 9 AM to 4 PM and they stay open till mid-November.

https://www.redbankmarina.org/

Paddlesports has quickly become a favorite pastime for many. Kayaking in particular offers a broad spectrum of ways to enjoy time on the water. In Shark River, we enjoy mostly recreation kayaking, but there is a big world of kayaking out there!

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Eric Jackson, founder and designer of the well-known brand of kayaks, Jackson Kayak. He is a world champion freestyle and slalom kayaker. His company has various designs for a variety of styles of kayaking, such as whitewater, kids and youth, exploration and recreation, and fishing kayaks.

A chat with EJ:

KL: Have you ever fished in saltwater from a kayak?

EJ: I fish for redfish in the bayou sometimes and have competed in the World Adventure Kayak Fishing Championships down there (2nd place). I use my Jackson Kayak “Kraken” for that. Super fun!! I am also paddling from Florida to the Bahamas in my fishing kayak with a friend of mine next summer and will be fishing a variety of styles along the way and then when I arrive in the islands.

KL: When you are paddling, do you find there is a spiritual element for you?

EJ: Always have found that when on the water I am a zone that can’t be duplicated easily any other way.  I am focused on the moment, in tune with my surroundings, and life outside of the kayak disappears.

KL: When you were in the beginning stages of planning and developing your kayak business, did you envision it becoming what it is today?

Not really, and yes….I had a strong vision of how the whitewater kayak part of my business would go, but the fishing kayak side has taken a much stronger part of the business than I expected and this is a very welcome, positive thing. I LOVE fishing and am using this part of the business to expand my personal athletics from kayaking to fishing, something I am very fired up on!

KL: For every idea you have for a kayak improvement, on average, how many prototypes does it take before you reach your vision?

For whitewater kayaks, rarely do I do prototypes. I know what I want and my design partner, David Knight and I usually nail it on the first try. For fishing kayaks, we have an expanded design team that will make up to 7 prototypes if necessary and really focus on tweaking the little things. Different process, but same outcome, we are happy with the final result and they tend to get the real enthusiasts fired up too.

KL: I read Jessie Stone’s blog post about her 15th year of leading summer camp for kids at Graham Windham School in NYC. What an incredible opportunity for kids who would otherwise never have the chance to kayak! Do you envision expanding this philanthropic endeavor?

EJ: This is a very intense week of instruction that I do with Jessie each year. The offer by this particular School is to make it a three-week program for more kids. I don’t have time to pull that off, and neither does Jessie. We plan on keeping it like it is right now- 1 week/year. It would be awesome to find a way to expand it, however, but it isn’t scalable the way we do it. It really needs very high-level instructors/leaders to manage the kids, teach them to swim, then kayak, and keep them in line and safe. Jessie scaled her clinic in Uganda successfully, however, and treated over 30,000 patients last year!