Shirleys Bay Boat Launch

Very alone if you go more than 100 feet from shore. I like to have other kayakers and paddlers nearby. I don’t want to go into the river out by myself

Beautiful place, very quiet

Too many idiots parked in front of the launching area making it impossible to launch boats with trailer. Parking lot afternoon summer often full. Most people are not using the launch but crowding around it spectating the water.

Boat ramp gets busy. If you can avoid unloading/loading paddle boats there, it's faster but when the beach section is full, it's hectic. Difficult to get cart & kayak to water without using ramp.

It is a great, frustrating, over run place to go. Because of multiple lockdowns and people buying kayaks and stand up paddle boards the popularity of Shirley's Bay has exploded. People getting outside and doing something physical is fantastic but if you are looking for peaceful this is not it. The parking behaviours are atrocious. People make up third rows, park by no parking signs, basically wherever they want. It makes it really hard for boats with trailers to maneuver to the boat launch. We have kayaks, most times we just finding a place to park safely and then carry everything to the water. We are going to avoid this place on weekends. It's frustrating and stressful. It may be better during the week or in the evening but Friday, Saturday and Sunday are just a gongshow. It's a nice place to paddle, watch the wind as it can come out of nowhere. Goodluck!

Specially if you kayak it's an amazing place to go to. Usually not too crowded in the early morning or late afternoon. It's quite a nice and relaxing place.

Beautiful spot to launch car toppers if you can lift your boat into the water. Our boat is on a trailer, and has a 6 inch draft. The grade is not steep enough for us as we backed in until water was at the doors of our vehicle but our boat probably required 2 or 3 more inches of depth to launch.

Nice area for small boat launch and just sit around and enjoy the sunset