I’m pretty darn close to finishing my 600 miles around the peninsula! I’m hoping the weather works out that I can paddle the last stretch to end at Libbey’s Coastal Kitchen on Kent Island and have a few friends and family join me to celebrate soon.

Last Tuesday, while on vacation with Brian, I paddled from Matapeake Pier to Libbey’s. I’ve known other sea kayakers that have paddled to Libbey’s for lunch and I even called the restaurant in advance to make sure it was okay to land my kayak on the tiny beach on their property – all good.

Brian dropped me off at Matapeake pier and I started the short journey north. Winds were so calm and it was a gorgeous day to be on the water. I’d say the most interesting thing I saw on this trip were four aircraft that took off from the small airport near the bridge. They were like motorized hang gliders that had inflatable rafts on the bottom of them!

As I approached the restaurant, I realized the beach was smaller than I expected, but still enough room to get out. I pulled up on the beach but wasn’t quite sure if there was space to walk from the beach to the restaurant itself, because there was a ton of brush and bushes. Luckily, there was a small cut-through so I walked up onto the lawn and called Brian. He was in the parking lot, but there was a fence and a locked gate separating the lawn and the parking lot and nowhere to pull my kayak out and get it to the car! Brian advised me to get back in my kayak and paddle around to the marina and get out at a floating dock.

As I rounded one of the docks, I took a photo of the massive boats around me. But I guess I looked super out of place in my 14′ kayak, taking photos of the boats, because one of the guys that worked at the marina asked me if he could help me with anything. I explained that I couldn’t get out at the beach. He was like, “the beach isn’t there anymore?” I said it was, but the fence was locked and there was nowhere to carry my kayak out. I clearly wasn’t supposed to be in the marina or using their floating dock, but at that point, I didn’t have much choice. Brian swiftly grabbed my kayak and carried it out to the parking lot. “Why did you talk to that guy?! You’re not supposed to be here!” he said. “Because he talked to me first! What was I supposed to do, ignore him? That would be even sketchier!”

Looking back, I guess when I called the restaurant to ask if I could arrive by kayak, I should have clarified that I also wasn’t planning on kayaking back to where I came from! I think the person I spoke to assumed I was paddling to lunch, then paddling back – oops!

At this point, I have 1.4 miles left (out of 600!), starting at Terrapin Nature Park and ending at Libbey’s again. Not sure if I should call the restaurant again to clarify what I want to do and ask if they can unlock the gate so I can load my kayak when I’m done? Or maybe I should not call again at all, because it’s easier to get forgiven than permission?

Ugh, I’ll try not to get on my soap box again about public access to waterways, but this is yet another example of how difficult it is to access the water where I need to!