Kayaking the Bay

This morning my Dad drove Noelle and I up to near 3rd Street and Bay Avenue in Ocean City to rent a ocean kayak from Bay Kats. It was our first time kayaking salt water and the start of our trip was a bit rough. There was a large expanse of open water with a stiff breeze. There were also a lot of people zipping around in personal watercrafts which created waves that made for some difficult paddling. Soon we caught our first glimpse of wildlife though: a nest of ospreys.

Then we headed into some calmer seas.

We generally stayed pretty close to the small grassy islands that dotted the back bays. We saw plenty of gulls and could hear gulls and other sea birds nesting on the islands.

 

While it was fun to be out on the water paddling in the bay, we didn't see as much wildlife as we had hoped. When we had first arrived at the kayak rental place most of the kayaks had been rented out for a guided kayak tour. Noelle and I wish we had signed up for the tour. A guide would know the area better and probably would have been able to take us to some areas with more wildlife. Other that gulls and ospreys we saw a few mussels in the mud flats.

Then we crossed the rough open water back to the dock to end our day on the bay.