Point Judith Pond with RICKA - July 26, 2025

Paddling by the osprey nest

This year my annual Point Judith Pond trip for RICKA coincided with the Blessing of the Fleet in Galilee. This is usually a flatwater trip, but since there was no sea kayak trip on the calendar, I posted in the sea kayak board as well.

Point Judith Pond, or the Great Salt Pond, is located along the border of Narragansett and South Kingstown, and is the second largest of the Rhode Island’s South County salt ponds. It is a shallow, four-mile long pond located behind the barrier beaches and sand dunes that form Point Judith. The pond is 20 miles around with many pretty islands and coves to explore.

Group picture form the cottage

We met in Marina Park at the hand-carried boat ramp next to the Point Judith Yacht Club at 10:00, and were on the water by 10:30. We had 7 boats – all kayaks, and a nice mix of flatwater and sea kayak paddlers. Winds were from the north, but switched to the east later in the day

We headed out into the Upper Pond from Marina Park, paddled through the Narrows and out into Point Judith Pond. We checked out the osprey nest at Billington Cove and explored the islands and coves in the upper Point Judith Pond before heading to down to Gardner Island where we crossed the boat channel.

View from the top of the Breachway

We paddled past Beach Island and across the top of Ram Island before paddling down the east side of Ram Island to Great Island. Michelle came out and snapped a few pictures before we headed to the east side of Great Island to Galilee.

It was a little after 12:00 when we paddled into Galilee. We stayed out the boat channel and paddled down to the last red buoys above the Breachway. With the tide going out, the current kept pulling us down into the Breachway. We saw the fire boat come through and then got shooed away. We headed up to Dog Beach for lunch.

Approaching Pine Tree Point

After lunch, we crossed the boat channel and paddled up the west side of Great Island. This area is shallow at low tide, but there was enough water that the boats could use this area to zip up and down the pond and avoid the speed restrictions in the boat channel. I was glad when we could cross over to Harbor Island to get out of the traffic.

Between the wind and the boat traffic there was a lot of choppy water as we paddled along Harbor Island. We rounded Pine Tree Point, paddled through the Narrows and back down the Upper Pond. It was another great day.

Links:

My Pictures

Tony's Video

Marina Park from Rhode Island Blueways

Galilee Boat Ramp from Rhode Island Blueways