Paddling Long Island and New York City. Kevin Stiegelmaier

       OVERVIEW Find Shelter Island on any map or nautical chart, and you can’t miss the large body of water in its northeast corner, named Coecles Harbor. With Little Ram and Big Ram islands forming its northern boundary and the shores of the amazingly pristine Mashomack Preserve to its south, Coecles Harbor is not only Shelter Island’s biggest harbor but also its most protected. Considering the amount of sheltered waters within its confines, you would expect the harbor to be quite popular among the yachting crowd … and you’d be absolutely correct. Yet the features that attract an incredible number of large boats during the spring and summer months—namely, the quiet water and scenic shores—also make Coecles Harbor an ideal location for a paddling trail.

      Water trails are a hot trend in the sea-kayaking world, popping up all over the country on a variety of waters. The reason for their appeal is best stated by the Water Trails Locator website (watertrailslocator.com): “Water trails will give you access to the wilderness with a unique point of view from the water. As you travel through a water trail you will find that the beauty of the area will suddenly capture you, perhaps for the rest of your life.” This summary perfectly describes the Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail, created in 2001 by the local Shelter Island government in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and Shelter Island Kayak Tours (kayaksi.com).

      The trail’s creators carefully researched and planned a route that brings you effortlessly into the beauty of Coecles Harbor. Paddle its 5-mile length, and you’ll float past some modern development and a bit of local history while you also become deeply immersed in the marine environment. Expect to see turtles, fish, waterfowl, and various shorebirds along the trail and throughout the harbor. You’ll also witness the beauty of the pristine, protected salt marshes of The Nature Conservancy’s Mashomack Preserve firsthand. You’ll likely take dozens of pictures, gaze in awe at your surroundings, and probably learn a thing or two along the way. In short, paddling the Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail will be some of the most fun you’ve had in your boat in a long time.

      Thankfully, Coecles Harbor is quite easy to access by kayak. More than a few launch sites dot both the north and south shores, although the official start of the trail is at the eastern end of Burns Road. There you’ll find plenty of parking, a small launching ramp, and a kiosk with signs and maps detailing the route. So grab a map, throw your kayak in the water, and head for the first white buoy along the route. There are few better ways to spend a day.

      USGS Quadrangles

       GREENPORT (NY)

      Burns Road to Harbor Inlet and Back

      4 DESCRIPTION To reach the first stop along the Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail, head southeast from the Burns Road put-in and hug the shore for a few hundred feet until you reach a small white buoy with a green oak leaf—The Nature Conservancy’s logo—painted on top. Like the trail’s other buoys, this one floats just 20 feet offshore, making it quite easy to find amid the harbor’s dark-green waters. Paddlers may find this buoy’s location a bit odd at first, considering its proximity to a well-developed shoreline. Nevertheless, the trail’s interpretive map identifies this spot as an excellent place to view an example of a shoreline built up with peat mounds and ribbed mussel banks. A quick view to the right (south), especially at low tide, easily confirms this.

      By the time you reach the second stop, just 0.5 mile away, almost all the development along the shoreline will be gone, leaving you in an unspoiled environment. From this point, known as Foxen Point, the next buoy is directly across the protected stretch of water called Congdon Creek. Instead of making a beeline for the buoy, though, you may want to head west and explore a bit more of Congdon Creek first. A shoreline of spartina grass, marsh elder, and bayberry bushes set off by oak and cedar trees hugs the creek’s northern edge, while its southern branch is a great spot for checking out the small fleet of fishing boats that call its water home. Though only about 0.3 mile long, this portion of the creek can provide a welcome addition to the marine trail if time allows.

      Four smaller white buoys forming a square will greet you as you head east out of Congdon Creek and back toward the trail. These other buoys mark the location of one of The Nature Conservancy’s shellfish-restoration areas. Such sites have been set up across the entire East End of Long Island in an effort to bring back the clams, oysters, and scallops that once were plentiful in these parts. According to the conservancy, “These protected, no-take zones have concentrated numbers of shellfish, which lead to higher reproductive rates, and more shellfish for the entire area.” There’s little to see of the operation from the seat of a kayak, but it is encouraging to know that such efforts are under way.

      The trail’s next two stops lie just a few hundred feet down another small arm of water known as Foxen Creek. More cove than creek, it runs south into the Mashomack Preserve for a short stretch before dead-ending at a wall of vegetation. The trail then leads back out into Coecles Harbor, curving to the northeast toward a unique piece of land called Taylor’s Island. Why, you may be asking yourself, is it called an island when it’s attached to land? Paddle here during high tide and you may just get your answer, as the sandbar that connects Taylor’s Island to Shelter Island is likely to be completely submerged.

      As if the “island” designation weren’t enough to cause some confusion, Taylor’s original name, Cedar Island, may conjure a bit more. Why was it called Cedar Island if there are only a few straggly trees growing on it? Truth be told, an abundance of the species once grew here, although little sits here today but a small log cabin that once belonged to the land’s current namesake, S. Gregory Taylor. The cabin is now a registered historic place and Taylor’s Island is a town park, open to all paddlers seeking a place to explore, stretch their legs, or enjoy a picnic.