Sunset Kayak

The plink of water as it drips from your paddle and the seawater is thick like the green glass of an old bottle. Beneath the surface, a jellyfish drifts in lace tatters and spins slowly like a pale and distant galaxy.

Overhead the indigo and teal of the sky seep into a smouldering orange that roils at the edge of the world.

The wind is still at the end of the day.
Only the sound of your breath and the surf. However, it is quiet enough, so you might even hear the noise the sun makes as it first slips into the brine:
a faint sizzle
or a distant sigh.

Your First Kayaking Adventure

Location

We guide our 1st time kayakers through shallow, sheltered creeks and marshes where they can relax and enjoy calm waters teeming with wildlife.

Historic Onancock Creek Tour

Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge Tour

Winery Kayak Tour

Kayak Clamming Tour

Duration

The duration of your kayaking trip can be tailored to fit your fitness level. We recommend a 2-hour tour for beginner kayakers.

However, we have lots of options and our trips are highly customizable depending on the group's needs and what they want to see and how far they want to go.

Technique

Proper kayak technique, which is demonstrated by our guides before each tour, utilizes the whole body in order to maximize body efficiency in regards to position, rotation, and usage of the body and provides the most safety, recovery, and ergonomics while paddling.

In other words, you don’t have to have the arm strength of a professional weightlifter to propel yourself through the water. You use your entire upper body, not just your arms.

Myth: Getting Stuck in an Overturned Kayak

First of all, it is unlikely that your boat will turn over: we place our beginners in wide, stable kayaks and take them to sheltered waters.

In the event your kayak is overturned, it would be extraordinarily difficult to remain inside it. You are not trapped or enclosed in the kayak; you're just sitting in it. Gravity will take hold, you'll slip out, and your life jacket will float you to the surface.

However, if you still feel uncomfortable with a sit-in kayak, we also offer sit-on-top kayaks.

Even Your Grandmother Can Do It

Kayaking may call to mind images of extreme sportsmen, bulked-up guys with daredevil grins, high performance waterproof sandals, and raccoon eyes from their sunglass tan lines.

In truth, kayaking can be a leisurely sport for people of all ages and exercise habits. Recently, Southeast Expeditions guide Mary Burnham took an 89 year-old grandmother, her two grandchildren, one of which was a 4 year-old, and the children’s parents on a two hour tour of historic Onancock Creek.

The group traveled in 3 tandems: two with a parent in the back and a child in front, and the grandma sat in the front seat of the third kayak with tour guide Doug MacGarvey. Mary paddled in a single-seater in case anyone needed a little help.

The grandma did great, Mary says. “So, as for age, many people ask us how old is too old? The answer is you're never too old! This lady was not our oldest customer.”

Above: Bernei and Amelie Burgunder 89 and 82 years young with tour guide Bill Burnham

Also, a few summers ago, Connie and Bud Bernton, 82 and 83, of Bethesda, Maryland celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary with Onancock Expeditions. “They'd never been kayaking before, and they loved it!” Mary said.

~Southeast Expeditions at Onancock Wharf~