Tides were on our side today, so I got a chance to kayak an area I had been thinking about over the past few weeks. My home town, Tiverton RI isn’t a spot that I have really ventured out kayaking. For years, I hung out in this area, walking the trails at the bird sanctuary, hanging out at Sapowet Beach, jumping off the bridge on Seapowet Rd. It was one of my usual stomping grounds back in high school, and now was the time to explore it from another angle, via kayak.
Ironically, though I pride myself in knowing all the secret little places in Tiverton to hang out, little did I know about Inlet Rd, and the small beach at its end, with stunning views up the Sakonnet and a smooth drop off into the river. I had always thought this road was someone’s driveway, and had no idea until looking closely at the satellite map for a place to put in, that it was actually a short dirt road with beach access, and probably room for a half dozen cars. It had remained elusive to me until now, and was obviously not too well known to others considering we were the only ones at the beach when we arrived. At high tide, I was able to pull my truck to within feet of the water, which made for a quick and easy unload and put in.
Jacks Island, as labeled on the map, is more of a peninsula that we had to work our way around as we began our paddle south. The water at this point was smooth as glass considering it's pretty much an open bay here. We hugged the coast and stayed in the crystal clear shallows. Multicolored seaweed covered the bottom, and piping plovers, terns, and gulls were gliding around us as we swept by them towards Sapowet Beach.
The beach area is quite shallow. It extends out quite a bit from the shore, and you find yourself in under a foot of water even during high tide. We still stayed in the shallows as we passed the beach-goers watching us glide by them in the direction of the bridge leading to the marsh area.
The marsh was calm, and at this point of the tide, quite deep. We stayed to the left as we went into the marsh and headed towards an area called Barker Island. The tide was still rising slightly at this point, and was creating a nice soft current down into the marsh and made our ride down the narrow channel pretty easy going. The heat was pounding down on us here. When this deep into the marsh your blocked from the winds coming off the bay. It wasn’t until we turned around, and made our way back up towards Seapowet Rd that we finally began feeling the breeze.
We stopped briefly for a break at the put in/boat ramp located just next to the Sapowet bridge, where Desmond got a good chance to take a swim and watch some kids jumping off the bridge. Before long, we jumped back in the kayak to make our way to our next stop.
We passed Sapowet Beach again, only this time the water had started to get choppy due to the winds picking up from the west. The shallow waters around the beach were causing the wind driven waves to pull up and we were splashing through some good sized waves while going by the beach.
We made our way to the channel that separates the beach from private property just beyond. We hooked around the corner and pulled in on the backside of the beach where there weren't any people around and were able to have a little swim in the channel. Des was loving that he could get out and swim so much, and it was good cooling him down after sitting in the sun for so long.
After our swim we made our way back to where we had parked. We still had some energy to continue, so we passed the truck and made our way around the point and into the marsh surrounding the bird sanctuary that I used to frequent so often. Seeing it from the water side was great, and we made our way in and explored the area till we decided to head back to the truck.
The tide had dropped quite a bit since we started, but pulling out was still a piece of cake and the truck was still close enough to make for an easy load up after the long trip.
Another spot to check off my bucket list, and I highly recommend it. Try to avoid heavy winds in this area unless you have a better kayak for that type of water. And remember to bring a hat, you'll need it!
CLICK HERE FOR THE TRIP MAP
