Lower Carmans River

Trip Overview

I launched at Carmans River Canoe and Kayak, A canoe and kayak rental service. They have a dock that is free to launch from for Town of Brookhaven residents and $10 for non residents. The parking lot was decently full when I arrived around 11:00, which was roughly two hours after low tide. I started by paddling north under Sunrise Highway to the bottom of a small dam and fish ladder. Heading south I paddled back past the launch and then under Montauk Highway. Past the highway the river widened and I had a short straight paddle until I passed simultaneously under the railroad and the bridge for the entrance to Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. From this point onward the river runs through the wildlife refuge. The lack of road noise was awesome. A few fellow paddlers were playing loud music but this was far less annoying than the frequent loud humming of small aircraft above. Soon I came to a large island, both sides of the island are navigable but I had to do a bit of channel searching to find both the west and east passage around. The east passage seemed the less traveled of the two. Once past the island the river followed several wide oxbows and I battled a mild headwind. Indian Landing is located about a mile south of the island on the eastern bank of the river. Indian landing is an area with a very small beach, some interpretive signs (that were a bit hidden in the overgrowth) and a nature trail. I had intended to stop here to rest and eat lunch but was very quickly driven away by mosquitos. I continued my paddle south past a small marina on the west bank, here the river began opening up into the bay and the wind picked up a bit. This was the only portion of my trip where there was motorboat traffic. I continued south past the marina following the east shore past Straddle Point and East Bay and landed on Sandy Point, a remote beach and part of the refuge. Here I ate and rehydrated. I walked on the beach for a short distance and saw a sign that read “No Boat Landings.” Not being sure if this included kayaks, I soon left making sure I had grabbed all my trash. My return trip was the same but I chose to paddle the other side of the island. The closer I got to Carmans River Canoe and Kayak the more fellow paddlers I encountered. The dock was absolutely swamped with people launching and landing, and the previously full parking lot was super crowded when I returned. The total distance round trip was around 7 miles and took about 3 hours.