Selden Neck: Our #1 Choice for Gunkhole of the Year on the East Coast.

Kayaker stopping to contemplate on Selden Cove

The next day, we decided to move on up the river. We worked our way carefully past Brockway Bar then enjoyed the scenery along Selden Neck. We read in a guidebook that Selden Neck is now an island formed in one of the major storms of this century. The now island has a camp sites and the ruins of a stone quarry that used to supply NYC with pavers in the 19th century. We decided to circumnavigate it by dinghy the following day, but this evening we were up for adventure. First we tried to visit the town of Chester , which the guidebooks hailed as one of the most charming stops along the river. While searching in vain for a town along the Chester Creek, we learned from a passing boater that the town is four miles from the waterfront. As we did not have our bikes that trip, we decided to pass. Then we went to Deep River, the town behind Eustasia Island, and it was closed. Literally, every shop, restaurant, and office was closed. Undaunted, we anchored in the river on the Chester Creek Bar and had a lovely evening with a spectacular sunset. The night was unbelievably peaceful, as every bit of boat traffic ceased after dark. We were the only ones out there and it was mesmerizing to watch the river waters flow past us undisturbed through the evening. I wondered if Mark Twain had ever anchored in this spot.

We awoke to the sound of birds and boats starting up in the morning and decided to become explorers of Selden Cove and Creek. Now THIS is a gunkhole. In fact, it’s one of the ultimate gunkholes we have ever found. The entrance to Selden Cove was iffy with a controlling depth of no more than a foot in places and we were glad we chose the dinghy for the exploratory ride in. But once we got into Selden Creek, the depths ranged from 4 to 13 feet with the southeastern portion more consistently deeper. And, oh my, how spectacularly beautiful and completely unspoiled this place was. It felt like we were deep in the everglades. We passed a couple of canoers, a couple of picnickers, a couple of swimmers, and lots of natural scenery. We lingered and explored, took a swim, and daydreamed. We gunkholed the day away. We vowed to come back and tie up for the night. We actually thought about not writing this summary so we wouldn’t entice more people to visit…but it’s too good not to share.

	Left: A refreshing swim along the Creek. Right: The ideal gunkhole for us would be right here, just inside the SE corner of Selden Neck in 11 feet of water!
	Left: We anchored across on the Chester Creek Bar. Right: We had a remarkably beautiful evening and peaceful night on the River.