e x p l o r e n a n t u c k e t
KAYAKING TO SHIMMO CREEK
with Peter B. Brace
Stuck inside a museum all day is not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday.

Lost in the beauty of the harbor on a perfect Indian Summer afternoon, and gazing out to Coatue from the viewing deck of the Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum, I realized my tour could end quickly by bounding back down the stairs to the lobby and dashing home to get my kayak.

I think I made it from the viewing deck to harbor in about 27 minutes. By that time, the northeast wind was starting to lay down and the horsetails in the sky were swirling around ever wilder as the sky got bluer and bluer. I hadn't been out in my kayak since paddling around the islands just off Vinalhaven, Maine two weeks ago and had been working through several perfect pre-autumnal days. So here I was with no special section or freelance deadlines bearing down on me with a whole afternoon to play with.

Having been out on the harbor dozens of times, you would think I would have paddled all of it, but there are actually a few spots that I have missed. Two of these are Shimmo Creek and the little creek on the east side of Abram's Point.

They're both easy to miss if you don't know where to look. Not open to the harbor by large, wide deltas, the mouths to these creeks are narrow affairs with tiny openings, usually just wide enough to let the tides flow in and out. And thankfully, deep enough for kayaks to get into while keeping larger boats out because of their deep drafts.

You're not going to see anything new in terms of birds and plants and other wildlife in these two creeks, but you will get to experience the island from another view, see more of it than you otherwise would speeding by in a powerboat. For me, this is the essence of why I paddle and hike.

You'll probably want to launch from the beach at the end of Washington Street Extension, and you'll definitely want to go within an hour before high tide because the creeks can be tough to get in and out of at low water, or even half-tide. Once on the water, paddle up-harbor, staying as close to the Monomoy Shore as you like depending on weather conditions. For Saturday's trip, the wind was hitting me head-on, but was gradually dying, which is great for paddling in general because you're not fighting a crosswind and you're doing the hard work, if you can call it that, on the first part of your trip.

Hug the shore and keep your eyes open for a house sitting up on land bolstered by a green pressure-treated bulkhead after you pass the last of the houses along the shore on Monomoy. After this monstrosity, you'll find the shore denting inward to a small inlet and the mouth of the creek.

During high water, you can get a little ways into this creek, but it narrows up pretty quickly. The inlet is really what you want to see. It's where most of the birds are and it's out of the wind and has a small barrier beach to pull up on for a picnic or to stretch your legs. The creek you can get into at highest tide is the one on the other side of Abram's Point, the next nub nosing out into the harbor just east of Shimmo Creek.

Once you're out on the harbor again, paddle along the shore toward an aluminum pier with several boats moored in front of it. On the other side of this point tucked below a low bank is a small opening. As I had arrived here about an hour or so before high tide, I only got part of the way into this creek leading back to a small pond, but I could see how at high water, paddling in would be a breeze. Still, the scenery is beautiful and there are plenty of shorebirds around like greater yellowlegs, laughing gulls, sanderlings, common and least terns and ruddy turnstones to see.

Cormorants flying out of Shimmo Creek

If you do make it back into the pond, watch the tide so you won't get trapped in there and have to get out of your boat and haul it over the sandbar. When you're done with this creek, you have plenty of options. You can continue on up this shoreline and paddle up to the opening of Folger's Marsh to explore that creek or you can go up to Polpis Harbor, which you can always get into no matter what the tide.

I chose to paddle over to Coatue between Second and Third Point and land near a cottage on the beach. Next to this cottage, if you can find it, is an overgrown trail with a narrow boardwalk that runs up to a one-room shack. Walk across its deck to find a sand driveway leading to the inside road leading out to Coatue Point. If you walk just a little way, you'll find a few planks leading through the dunes on your right going out to the beach overlooking Nantucket Sound. I hung out here for about an hour watching the sanderlings peck for food at water's edge while the sun went down.

To get back to the beach you originally launched from, walk back the way you came over the dunes to the inside beach. Once on the water, paddle back across the harbor and follow the shore until you can see the large boatyard buildings on the beach.

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