Turtles

Eastern Painted Turtle

You'll find these medium-sized turtles in any body of water. You will often find them sunning themselves on any convenient perch, watching you. Get too close, and they drop into the water. Rarely, you may encounter a released pet that is tame.

Conga!

-- Wikipedia

Pond Slider

Red-Eared Slider

This is a non-native turtle that is also frequently found. The pet trade has spread them far outside their native range in the mid-west.

-- Wikipedia


Snapping Turtle

Usually, this is about as much of a Snapping Turtle as you'll get to see - coming up for a breath of air. While they do have a very strong and potentially damaging bite, and can be aggressive at times, a kayaker would have to do something incredibly stupid to have a problem.

Since they spend most of their time lying on the bottom in murky water, a kayak is not the best way to see one of these. They are better observed from a bridge or a dock.

-- Wikipedia


Stinkpot Turtle

Another common little water turtle. These will also snap at you, notice the careful way this one is being held.

-- Wikipedia


Spiny Softshell Turtle

This is an introduced type that can be found as far north as the Raritan River watershed. If you do run across one of these, leave it alone, they defend themselves aggressively and have a strong bite.

-- Wikipedia


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.

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