Whether you’re kayaking or paddleboarding, adventure is just down the street in SoBo.
(This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of the South Baltimore Peninsula Post.)
By Miranda Mowrey
Let’s face it, summer in Baltimore can be a challenge. The sticky air and sizzling temperatures swallow the city whole, spawning dreams of cool waters and breezes or actual plans of getting out of town.
Lucky for us SoBohemians, escape from summer swelter is not far away; in fact, it’s literally all around us. Baltimore proudly boasts about 61 miles of shoreline, including the Patapsco River which surrounds the South Baltimore peninsula. If you walk straight in almost any direction, you have a good chance of finding water and some way of paddling out into it.
This past summer, I was eager to find my sea legs and explore the opportunities available to SoBo residents looking for a new perspective and a break from the heat. I spent the summer paddling the peninsula and recording my experiences. Whether I embarked on the spa-like paddleboard retreat on the Inner Harbor, the camaraderie-filled kayak excursion with a neighborhood paddling group, or an informational kayak tour led by the City, each event offered a rewarding and refreshing new look at life in Baltimore.
The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore’s “Baltimore Blueway” initiative to promote greater access to the waterfront was a helpful source for the aspiring “urban paddler.” The project’s website provides a ton of information about the waterfront to help push people offshore, including outlines of eight water trails around the city available for exploration. I discovered a handful of access points and rental places along peninsula shores that offer paddleboard and kayak rentals and tours, sunrise and sunset paddling sessions, and other creative aquatic activities.
Paddleboarding with B’more SUP
I first broke into the water in August at B’more SUP, a stand-up paddleboarding company located in the Inner Harbor Marina, by Rusty Scupper restaurant off Key Highway. Its prime real estate allows for the picturesque Baltimore skyline to serve as the backdrop for all classes, day or night. Skimming the class schedule, I was surprised by the many creative ways to experience the waterfront: nighttime “glow in the dark” paddle sessions, full moon and summer solstice paddles, and yoga and social paddle events, to name a few.
When I set off from the dock to start the Paddle & Flow Yoga Class at 6am, the city was still asleep except for the determined morning joggers running along the promenade. Shawn, our jovial instructor, directed our group of seven women out into the harbor until I felt like a TicTac floating in a vast ocean.
Minus the lap of my paddle skimming the water and the gentle hum of the Domino Sugar factory, a peaceful quiet fell over the group. We each enjoyed this inside-out perspective, this opportunity to digest the surrounding city in one bite-sized piece. At our feet, twisting schools of fish splashed the glassy surface and birds overhead responded by swooping low in the air, looking for breakfast. Observing all of this while rocking along with the current made the familiar landmarks dotting the waterfront seem like an entirely different world.
We paddled until the Domino Sugar sign towered above us, its fuzzy red glow peeking through the morning fog. The second half of the class took place back at the dock, where Shawn directed a 45-minute yoga flow to further quiet our already soothed souls. If you’re looking to treat yourself to a unique adventure, B’more SUP is the place to visit.
Riding with the Riverside River Rats
A group of residents that goes by the name “The Riverside River Rats” regularly explores the water flanking both sides of SoBo. Their Facebook group “Riverside River Rats Baltimore, MD” launched this summer and in just one month has grown to over 60 members looking to “discover hidden gems, share adventures, and enjoy the beauty of our city’s waterways.”
I was invited out on an expedition with the River Rats and was delighted to discover a like-minded community equally as passionate about getting out on the water. Launching at an access point by Rye Street Tavern in the up-and-coming Baltimore Peninsula, the River Rats and I set off on what turned into a 5-mile kayak tour.
The troop navigated starboard (right) toward Nick’s Fish House, mouths agape as we watched a Goliath-sized ship docking at the port (talk about feeling like a TicTac!). Sean, the leader of the River Rats, was an encyclopedia of knowledge, supplementing the tour with interesting facts about the historic waterway. As we paddled beneath the Hanover Street Bridge, Sean told us that debris from the 1904 Great Baltimore Fire was dumped in the water beneath us.
After some time, the group encountered a dystopian web of concrete bridges overhead that could only be Interstate 95. Beneath the highway was a thriving oasis of bending cattails, puffs of lemongrass, and wildlife, too, including a particularly active school of fish that followed our crew (a fellow kayaker liked to point toward them and exclaim, “dolphins!”). I felt a tinge of sadness as we paddled through, noting that this natural beauty goes unrecognized when we sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the road overhead, unaware of the pulsing ecosystem below. In true Baltimore fashion, there was the occasional abandoned shopping cart poking through the surface and a disappointing amount of trash lying around, but overall, the trail was beautiful.
After we reached Top Golf’s ball-ridden lawn positioned in front of M&T Bank Stadium at the end of the peninsula, we headed back. Arms heavy from two hours of rowing, I said goodbye to my new friends with a full heart and slightly damp bottom, taking with me a newfound appreciation for this great city and the community that inhabits it.
For this excursion, I borrowed a kayak, but rentals are available at Eastern Watersports, located on the access beach in the Baltimore Peninsula where the River Rats launched. The Canton Kayak Club also keeps a rack of kayaks here for member use. Rentals from Eastern Watersports, along with a variety of group tours and experiences, are available here throughout the summer months before they close up shop in the fall (as do most of the other rental and tour places on the peninsula).
Kayaking the Inner Harbor
For my final paddle session, I found myself back at the Inner Harbor for a kayak tour organized by Baltimore City Recreation and Parks. Tours were held every Sunday morning from May until October and were only $15.
Our group of five meandered from the promenade by the Maryland Science Center over to the aquarium side of the harbor. We even crossed paths with B’more SUP-ers emerging from the Inner Harbor Marina in a full-circle moment for me.
Our tour guide, Lou, a relaxed local whose bare feet hung over the sides of his kayak, kept a leisurely pace and took time to get to know everyone on the tour. He ushered us by the historic ships docked along the waterfront and squeezed us between Pier 3 and 4, where new floating wetlands thick with vegetation and marine organisms flourish. We then crossed the harbor, hugging the shore past the Baltimore Museum of Industry and Harborview Marina before returning to the launch site and concluding the tour.
Touring the popular waterfront via kayak was a great way to spend a Sunday. I was surprised that more people didn’t opt in for such an inexpensive, interesting excursion highlighting our city’s main attraction, the Inner Harbor. I recommend this tour to anyone with a few free hours and interest in learning more about their city.
Honoring Our Waterways
All totaled, I paddled over 10 miles of our peninsula’s waterfront this summer, dipping my toes into the wide array of aquatic activities for SoBo residents to enjoy. Bobbing along the water’s edge and consuming the familiar sites that make SoBo SoBo was like holding a microscope to ordinary, everyday objects and realizing how intricate and grand even the most familiar things really are. Through this closer look at the city’s rich offerings, deep history, and wildlife, I felt like I was given access to a secret world.
Now that the nippy air and crunchy leaves of fall have set in, opportunities for paddling the peninsula have grown slim. But it won’t be long until chilly winter and early spring temperatures give way to sticky summer air once again in Baltimore. Adventure awaits us in the springtime, along with the secret beauty of our city’s fantastic waterways.
South Baltimore Peninsula Post 