Note: New Jersey law requires the wearing of a PFD from November 1 through May 1.

Boats

If you go online, you can find a good deal of kayak snobbery. If you are going fishing in the ocean, or white-water, then yes, you could justify an expensive boat. But if you are just going on calm inland water, you really can't beat Lifetime boats for price, handling, and features. And they are indestructible. Lifetime also makes Emotion kayaks.

One more note: if you are going inland, then yellow is a great color for a kayak - it makes you easy to see and hopefully harder to run over by drunken motorboats. But if you are going in the ocean, yellow has a major drawback: Sharks are fascinated by yellow. In World War II, the Navy found out that yellow life jackets were a very bad idea. Online, you can find multiple videos of sharks harassing kayaks, and in every case it is a yellow hull. I even have personal experience: Once on a dive I got into a school of spiny dogfish, and they took turns trying to steal any yellow gear I had. Fortunately, dogfish are small and harmless, and the whole thing was kind of comical.




Specs:

  • Length: 9-1/2 feet overall
  • Beam: 30"
  • Height: 13" (hull only)
  • Weight: 44 pounds
  • Capacity: 275 pounds
  • MSRP: $379, $300 street

Cliffwood Beach
( 40.45216, -74.22137 )

  1. Lake Lefferts - Matawan ( 40.41563, -74.23362 )
  2. Raritan Bay - Cliffwood (E) ( 40.45089, -74.22033 )
  3. Raritan Bay - Cliffwood (W) ( 40.45216, -74.22269 )
  4. Raritan Bay - Cliffwood (Whale Creek) ( 40.45090, -74.22274 )
  5. Raritan Bay - Keyport (E) ( 40.44095, -74.19534 )
  6. Raritan Bay - Keyport (W) ( 40.43921, -74.20160 )
  7. Raritan Bay - Laurence Harbor (E) ( 40.45877, -74.24622 )
  8. Raritan Bay - Laurence Harbor (W) ( 40.46223, -74.25482 )
  9. Raritan Bay - South Amboy (N) ( 40.48343, -74.27059 )
  10. Raritan Bay - South Amboy (S) ( 40.47946, -74.26831 )
  11. Raritan Bay - South Amboy Ramp ( 40.48401, -74.27416 )
  12. Raritan Bay - Union Beach (E) ( 40.44787, -74.16598 )
  13. Raritan Bay - Union Beach (W) ( 40.45479, -74.17517 )
  14. Wagner's Marina - Matawan Creek ( 40.43540, -74.21416 )

The marker in the lower-center of the map is a super-easy put-in on Whale Creek, above. The other markers are a longer slog over the beach. All have convenient free parking (don't leave your vehicle in the launching area, that's a dick move!)