Great Bay Wildlife Management Area in New Jersey

Trip Overview

After launching at Little Bear Creek off of Great Bay Blvd off Rte. 9 in Tuckerton we were quickly attacked by greenheads flies, but bug spray with lots of DEET controlled them and they disappeared once we were on the water. We paddled out toward the old fish cannery at Seven Islands, circumnavigated a few of the small Seven Islands and then paddled back to Big Bear Creek where we planned to make the circuit back to our landing site. The return paddle in the open water portion of Great Bay was brutal with high headwinds and opposing currents that brought us to a virtual standstill and made for a very choppy and strenuous return paddle. This portion of the trip turned out to be a fierce workout for all of us. If we stopped paddling for one moment, we were thrust back quite a few feet and VERY quickly, only to find ourselves even farther from our destination! I resorted to my transcendental paddling techniques which allowed me to persevere the fierce elements of mother nature that demand respect and allowed me to make it back to the protected channel and then back to our final landing. It is intense periods of paddling in elements like that which test our strength of body, mind and spirit. All made it back safely. I was pumped up after getting past the rough conditions and have to admit..slept like a baby that night.