New Jersey Kayaking

This is a difficult area to even gain access to, for a number of reasons:

Almost the entire waterfront in Old Bridge township is now fenced-off. This is because not that many years ago, the jetties and seawalls were constructed not from rock, but from slag from a lead foundry in Perth Amboy. The slag was later determined to be toxic - what a surprise! Supposedly, much of it has been cleaned up, but the whole area remains 'off-limits'. Since the poisons leach into the water and are carried off by the currents, you really have to wonder about the entire bay.

Under the Rt 35 bridge over the Cheesequake Creek, everything is marked "State Property - No Trespassing". When I was a kid, I used to fish at the Robert E Lee Inn that once stood there; now you can't even get near the spot. ( I don't recall catching much there - just as well! )

Up the creek in Cheesequake Park, the rangers occasionally conduct guided paddling tours, but to quote the NJDEP page for the park: "No access is permitted to the tidal creeks." The rest of the creek is either inaccessible or private marinas. The only access in the park would appear to be the crabbing bridge, which would be quite a haul from the parking lot. The lake is also off-limits.

However, there is one place in all this blight where you can launch a kayak. You can see on the map there is a small open beach ( no fishing! ) with convenient parking and not too long a slog down to the water, at least at high tide. From here, you could paddle around the inlet jetty and go up the creek, if you really had to.

I can't recommend this spot. As I have said elsewhere, the further you go up the bay, the dirtier the water gets, and the one time I ever went here ( out to the end of the jetty, but not up the creek ) it was ... ick. You're better off going to Keyport and up Matawan Creek if you want to do that sort of thing.

I've also marked a couple of spots to the west where you could conceivably put it, but those are really close to the outflow from the Raritan River, and as I said - ICK !!! If you scroll the map around this area, you can see lots of abandoned and ongoing industrial sites - I wouldn't go near here.

A quick search online will reveal more on this subject than you ever wanted to know.