Fire Island Inlet was an occasional (one or two times per year) paddling spot for me, a place to easily reach some “friendly” deeper water breaking waves to surf in my sea kayak. This required a fast sprint across the boat channel, so it was not without some trepidation even in my Halcyon Days. In order to maximize the time I could spend in the waves, I’d put in at this small ad hoc parking area off Oak Beach Road which may have a name, but is unmarked – see Photo 1. It had room for a few cars and was frequented by fishermen, picnickers and once I saw a scuba diver there. But recently the State “improved” the shoreline here with stone riprap which would now make it a challenge to launch a sea kayak. So, an alternative launch spot is not far away to the east – Oak Beach Park (Photo 2). It has tons of parking but requires an additional 2 miles of paddling round trip to the inlet. Nevertheless, it is a nice place to launch a kayak from and there’s always something fun to see, a bit of current to play in as you paddle by Sore Thumb Beach (to west) and some ocean swell once you reach Overlook Beach (a bit further west), neither of which requires crossing the busy motor boat freeway going in and out of the inlet.
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| Photo 1: Former Launch Site... |
Oak Beach Park has two sandy areas you can launch a kayak from – shown in Photo 2. Sometimes the parking lot hosts classic-car events in summer, but usually it's mostly empty off-season or mid-week. Be mindful of sand bars at low tide in the bay (Photo 3).
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| Photo 2: Oak Beach Park - parking lot |
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| Photo 3: sandbars |
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| Photo 4: Big cloud |
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| Photo 5: kayak surfable waves off Democrat Point |
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