Oakwood Beach and Salem River Entrance

If you are into ship spotting, Oakwood Beach is an excellent place. You would be all set with a lawn chair and a camera with a 70 to 350mm zoom. The entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware is directly opposite, the Delaware River channel is not too far off, and the channel into the port of Salem is closer. Hence, there are ship and tug pictures in this gallery.
The public beach portion of Oakwood Beach is not easy to find at the end of the Salem Elfsborg Road; I only did this by asking some locals for advice on a launch point, but once found, it is an ideal gravel and sand beach. Parking might be an issue on the weekend, but there is hardly anyone there during the week.
The paddle down to the Salem River follows a beach lined with small homes. One must believe sea level rise will inundate this community sooner or later, which is sad, but the houses are so near the current sea level. The Salem River beach gives way to a marsh, the markers into the town of Salem provide Osprey homes, and the phragmites are full of red-wing blackbirds. I only got to explore the mouth of the river because there were thunderstorms up and downstream. They passed by, relieving the heat with light rain, but it did not seem like a good idea to press my luck and ruin a superb little excursion with lightning.

July, 2023