Launch Your Kayak into These Warm Waters for Good Birding, Sea Kayaking, Kayak Fishing
Monomoy Island off Chatham, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) is a worthwhile destination for any New England sea kayaking or kayak fishing enthusiast who has strong kayak navigation skills, savvy in fog and quality saltwater fishing gear.
The waters of the islands and nearby Nantucket Sound, off Chatham, are filled with challenges: shifting channels, sandbars, frequent fogs and a prevailing southwesterly wind that kicks up lively chop during the summer.
The area is also home to a large gray seal population and numerous species of migratory sea and shorebirds, making the area a likewise fine area for birdwatching during the spring and fall migrations.
Recently grey seals, some in excess of 550 pounds, have taken up residence on the shores of South Monomoy Island, having abandoned the inner channels of the Southway, at North Monomoy Island, after a late autumn gale shifted the sands of Chatham's South Beach to the southwest. Great white sharks frequent the area, sometimes feeding on the seals.
Monomoy's watery environs are also seasonal feeding grounds for numerous migratory fish: striped bass (stripers), bonito, bluefish, bluefin tuna and other pelagic sport fish that settle in to feed in the area's warm summer waters after arriving via the Gulf Stream.
The Monomoy Islands have a tortuous geomorphic history, like most of Cape Cod, including Billingsgate Island and Shoals, the Peaked Hill Bar off Provincetown and the barrier beaches of Chatham's Nauset Beach.
Once a lengthy spit attached to the mainland, the peninsula split off from the mainland, was broken in half, and two islands, reaching toward Nantucket and close to the Pollock Rip, Stone Horse and Handkerchief Shoals familiar to saltwater fishing enthusiasts.
The two islands have since become three islands: nascent Minimoy Island, forming in the sandflats on the northwestern side of North Monomoy, off Morris Island and Hardings Beach, gains increased viability every year.
It has since been protected by signage and buttressed by snow fencing brought in the National Fish and Wildlife Service unit that overlooks the refuge from the bluffs of nearby Morris Island.
Most recently, South Monomoy Island reattached itself, indirectly to the mainland at Chatham, by way of a land bridge formed by a heavy gale.
One can now walk barrier South Beach from Chatham to South Monomoy. That outlying beach, likewise, attached itself to the mainland about twenty years ago.
To launch a kayak to go sea kayaking or kayak fishing in the area, try the shores of Hardings Beach in the off season. Likewise during offseason you can launch from the boat ramp at the Chatham Harbormaster's shack. Mid-summer visitors in kayaks will do best to launch from Morris Island, where limited parking is available an a hand-carry of about 100 yards is required. Bring plenty of bug repellent if you plan on returning to your car near dusk or after sundown.
Monomoy Island off Chatham, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) is a worthwhile destination for any New England sea kayaking or kayak fishing enthusiast who has strong kayak navigation skills, savvy in fog and quality saltwater fishing gear.
The waters of the islands and nearby Nantucket Sound, off Chatham, are filled with challenges: shifting channels, sandbars, frequent fogs and a prevailing southwesterly wind that kicks up lively chop during the summer.
The area is also home to a large gray seal population and numerous species of migratory sea and shorebirds, making the area a likewise fine area for birdwatching during the spring and fall migrations.
Recently grey seals, some in excess of 550 pounds, have taken up residence on the shores of South Monomoy Island, having abandoned the inner channels of the Southway, at North Monomoy Island, after a late autumn gale shifted the sands of Chatham's South Beach to the southwest. Great white sharks frequent the area, sometimes feeding on the seals.
Monomoy's watery environs are also seasonal feeding grounds for numerous migratory fish: striped bass (stripers), bonito, bluefish, bluefin tuna and other pelagic sport fish that settle in to feed in the area's warm summer waters after arriving via the Gulf Stream.
The Monomoy Islands have a tortuous geomorphic history, like most of Cape Cod, including Billingsgate Island and Shoals, the Peaked Hill Bar off Provincetown and the barrier beaches of Chatham's Nauset Beach.
Once a lengthy spit attached to the mainland, the peninsula split off from the mainland, was broken in half, and two islands, reaching toward Nantucket and close to the Pollock Rip, Stone Horse and Handkerchief Shoals familiar to saltwater fishing enthusiasts.
The two islands have since become three islands: nascent Minimoy Island, forming in the sandflats on the northwestern side of North Monomoy, off Morris Island and Hardings Beach, gains increased viability every year.
It has since been protected by signage and buttressed by snow fencing brought in the National Fish and Wildlife Service unit that overlooks the refuge from the bluffs of nearby Morris Island.
Most recently, South Monomoy Island reattached itself, indirectly to the mainland at Chatham, by way of a land bridge formed by a heavy gale.
One can now walk barrier South Beach from Chatham to South Monomoy. That outlying beach, likewise, attached itself to the mainland about twenty years ago.
To launch a kayak to go sea kayaking or kayak fishing in the area, try the shores of Hardings Beach in the off season. Likewise during offseason you can launch from the boat ramp at the Chatham Harbormaster's shack. Mid-summer visitors in kayaks will do best to launch from Morris Island, where limited parking is available an a hand-carry of about 100 yards is required. Bring plenty of bug repellent if you plan on returning to your car near dusk or after sundown.
