Life on the water. Shared.
There are places on the Chesapeake most people never experience — quiet creeks, remote beaches, working waterfronts shaped by generations, and stretches of shoreline where the pace of the water still sets the rhythm of the day.
Backwater Expeditions was built to share that side of the Bay through shallow-draft skiff rentals, captained trips, guided ecotours, kayak adventures, and custom experiences designed around authentic access to Virginia’s coastal backwaters.
Whether exploring at your own pace or stepping aboard for a guided experience, every trip is shaped by the water, the weather, and the character of the Chesapeake itself.
Find Your Way Onto the Water
Whether you are looking for a self-guided day aboard a 17’ skiff, delivered kayaks for exploring at your own pace, a private captained trip aboard our 23’ Carolina Skiff, or a guided ecotour by boat or kayak, Backwater Expeditions offers multiple ways to experience the quieter side of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay.
Some experiences are built around fishing, cruising, wildlife, and shoreline exploration. Others are about slowing down long enough to notice the marshes, working waterfronts, history, and hidden corners that make this region special in the first place.
Choose the experience that fits the kind of day you want on the water.
Learn More About Our Services:
Services
17' Skiff Rental
The Skiff
Built for the Backwaters
The 17’ York River Skiff is a locally built shallow-draft boat designed for exploring the creeks, marshes, rivers, beaches, and backwaters that define Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay region.
Simple, stable, and easy to operate, these skiffs are built for relaxed days on the water rather than speed or crowded marina hopping. Their shallow draft allows access to quiet shoreline areas and hidden corners often inaccessible to larger vessels.
Ideal for couples, families, fishermen, photographers, and anyone looking to slow down and experience the water at a different pace.
Perfect For
Fun on the Water
• Exploring marsh creeks and shoreline backwaters
• Fishing and crabbing
• Wildlife viewing and birding
• Remote beaches and sandbars
• Lighthouse and sightseeing trips
• Relaxed family outings
• Photography and sunset cruising
• Slow days on the Chesapeake without a fixed agenda
These boats are best suited for guests looking for a simple and authentic experience on the water rather than high-speed recreation.
Delivery & Access
Convenient Dockside Service
Skiffs are available for pickup or delivery to select waterfront homes, marinas, and launch locations throughout Mathews and surrounding areas.
Delivery options are designed to make getting on the water simple and convenient, especially for guests visiting the region or staying along the shoreline.
Because conditions, tides, ramp access, and travel distances vary throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, delivery availability may differ by location.
If you are unsure whether delivery is available to your rental property or preferred launch location, feel free to reach out before booking.
On The Water
Your Safety First
Every rental includes a walkthrough covering operation of the vessel, local conditions, required safety equipment, and basic navigation considerations before departure.
These boats are intentionally simple and approachable, but guests should still expect changing weather, wind, tides, shallow areas, and typical Chesapeake Bay boating conditions.
Backwater Expeditions is built around relaxed and responsible experiences on the water, with safety, local knowledge, and respect for the waterways remaining part of every trip.
Delivered Kayak Rentals
The Kayaks
Simple Exploration
Backwater Expeditions uses Ocean Kayak Scrambler 11 Series sit-on-top kayaks designed for exploring the quieter and more hidden side of the Chesapeake Bay region.
At 11’6” long, these kayaks offer a stable, approachable, and easy-to-paddle platform ideal for both first-time paddlers and experienced kayakers alike. Their sit-on-top design makes getting on and off simple from shorelines, docks, beaches, and shallow marsh edges while remaining well suited for calm coastal waters, protected creeks, and shoreline exploration.
Perfect for relaxed paddling, wildlife viewing, photography, fishing, family outings, and slow exploration of marsh creeks and backwaters, the Scrambler 11’s are built around comfort, simplicity, and spending meaningful time on the water rather than speed or technical paddling.
Whether launching from a waterfront rental home or slipping quietly through the marsh at sunset, kayaking offers one of the closest connections to the landscape and rhythm of the Chesapeake itself.
Delivery & Access
Easy Access to the Water
Kayaks are available for delivery to waterfront homes, vacation rentals, campgrounds, and select launch locations throughout Mathews and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay region.
Delivery options are designed to make getting on the water simple and convenient, especially for guests visiting the area or staying along the shoreline.
For guests not staying directly on the water, launch and delivery options may vary depending on travel distance, conditions, and access availability.
If you are unsure about delivery to your location, feel free to reach out before booking.
Perfect For
Quiet Chesapeake Adventures
• Exploring marsh creeks and shoreline backwaters
• Wildlife viewing and birding
• Photography and sunset paddles
• Waterfront vacation stays
• Family-friendly outings
• Fishing and crabbing access
• Relaxed solo paddles
• Quiet exploration away from crowds
• Experiencing the Chesapeake at a slower pace
Kayak rentals are best suited for guests looking for a simple, immersive, and authentic experience on the water rather than fast-paced recreation or guided group tours.
On The Water
Relaxed & Approachable
Every rental includes a quick overview covering launching, paddling basics, local conditions, safety equipment, and considerations for tides, weather, and shoreline conditions before departure.
These kayaks are intentionally stable, approachable, and easy to use, but guests should still expect changing Chesapeake Bay conditions including wind, current, shallow areas, boat traffic, and shifting weather.
Backwater Expeditions is built around relaxed and responsible experiences on the water, with safety, local knowledge, and respect for the waterways remaining part of every trip.
Life on the water. Shared.
Guided Ecotour
The Experience
Guided Chesapeake Exploration
Backwater Expeditions offers guided ecotours by kayak or aboard a 23’ Carolina Skiff built around experiencing the wildlife, marsh systems, working waterfronts, shoreline ecology, and hidden details that shape life along Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay.
These experiences are designed for guests who want more than simply getting on the water. They combine exploration, local knowledge, conversation, and authentic connection to the landscape through the perspective of someone who has spent years working throughout the Chesapeake and its coastal communities.
Whether cruising shoreline waters by skiff or paddling quietly through shallow backwaters by kayak, ecotours may focus on wildlife, birding, photography, local history, marsh ecology, oyster grounds, working waterfront culture, or simply slowing down and experiencing the rhythm of the Chesapeake at a different pace.
Every ecotour is intentionally personal, flexible, and shaped around the guests onboard, the conditions that day, and the natural character of the Bay itself rather than a fixed route or scripted attraction.
Trip Style & Access
Flexible & Personalized
Guided ecotours may take place aboard the 23’ Carolina Skiff, by kayak, or through a combination of both depending on the pace, comfort level, interests, and goals of the group.
Skiff-based ecotours allow greater range, comfort, and access to larger stretches of shoreline and Bay waters, while kayak ecotours focus on quiet exploration close to the marsh, shoreline, and shallow backwaters.
Launch locations, trip timing, and routes may vary depending on weather, tides, wildlife activity, and seasonal conditions throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.
Private trips are ideal for couples, families, photographers, birders, first-time Chesapeake visitors, and anyone looking for a more personal and meaningful experience on the water.
Perfect For
Experiences Worth Slowing Down For
• Wildlife viewing and birding
• Marsh ecology exploration
• Working waterfront experiences
• Oyster grounds and shoreline systems
• Lighthouse and sightseeing trips
• Photography and nature observation
• Family-friendly exploration
• Quiet paddles and shoreline cruising
• Learning about the Chesapeake from a local perspective
• Spending meaningful time on the water away from crowds
Some guests want a hands-on experience exploring marshes and shoreline ecosystems, while others simply want to relax, ask questions, and better understand the waterways and culture that continue to shape life along the Chesapeake today.
No two ecotours are exactly alike because no two days on the Chesapeake are exactly alike.
Local Knowledge
Rooted in the Chesapeake
Backwater Expeditions ecotours are shaped by years of professional and personal experience working throughout Virginia’s coastal communities and waterways — from marine emergency response and coastal resilience work to countless hours spent navigating the Chesapeake itself.
Experience & Credentials:
• USCG Licensed Captain
• Virginia Certified Ecotour Guide
• Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional – Shoreline
• Former Coastal Resilience Planner
• Over a decade in maritime emergency response
• Experience working in shoreline systems and coastal resilience
• Years navigating Chesapeake Bay waterways and coastal communities
What is an ecotour?
To me, an ecotour is a relaxing paddle with purpose, or a slow ride in the skiff where the point is to slow down and actually take in what is around you.
Not a scripted tour where someone rattles off facts the whole time. More like taking a break long enough to notice the environment you are moving through and better understand the story behind it.
Why marshes matter. Why some shorelines are disappearing while others build. Why crabbers and watermen know things about the Bay that charts and reports do not always show. How weather, fisheries, boats, history, economics, and communities all connect together out here.
Some trips become hands-on adventures for kids and families — hopping onto a quiet shoreline, dip-netting small crabs from the shallows, handling and identifying what they catch, watching baitfish move through the marsh grass, or learning how oysters and blue crabs connect back to the health of the Chesapeake itself. Those conversations naturally shift depending on the age and interests of the group. For younger kids, it may simply be excitement and discovery. For older kids and adults, it often becomes a deeper conversation about food sources, commercial fishing, ecosystem balance, shoreline change, and the future of coastal communities.
We may talk about Indigenous history, old steamboat routes, working waterfronts, commercial fishing, oyster grounds, erosion, storms, or the way small coastal communities have changed over generations. But it is not a lecture and it is not political.
I am not there to tell people what they should think. I am there to share perspective from someone who has spent years working in and around these environments professionally and personally.
As a former Coastal Resilience Planner, I worked on flooding, shoreline erosion, water quality, and resilience projects tied directly to the future of coastal communities. Before that, I spent over a decade working on the water in marine emergency response and maritime public safety. That included working alongside commercial and recreational fishermen, responding to boating accidents and emergencies, and spending thousands of hours seeing the Chesapeake from the water instead of from behind a desk.
No two ecotours are the same because no two groups are the same. Some people want a peaceful paddle and light conversation. Others want to dive deep into history, fisheries, marsh ecology, or the realities of coastal change. Some guests grew up on the water. Others have never been in a kayak or held a crab before.
Both belong here.
The goal is not to overwhelm people with facts or act like a textbook. It is to help people experience the Chesapeake in a more meaningful way through conversation, observation, and real-world experience.
Life on the water. Shared.
Delivered Kayak Rentals
Backwater Expeditions offers delivered sit-on-top kayak rentals designed around a slower and more personal way to experience the Chesapeake.
These are not crowded river trips or commercial paddle tours. They are opportunities to quietly explore marsh creeks, shoreline backwaters, hidden coves, working waterfronts, and calm stretches of water that are best experienced close to the surface and at your own pace.
For some guests, that means an early morning paddle through the marsh watching osprey and herons work the shoreline. For others, it is a sunset drift through still water with family and friends, letting the pace of the tide and wind shape the experience. Kids often turn every shoreline into an adventure, while photographers and nature lovers find themselves slowing down to notice details larger boats pass right by.
The kayaks are simple, stable, and approachable for both first-time paddlers and experienced explorers alike. Delivered directly to waterfront homes throughout Mathews and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay region, they offer an easy way to step straight from your stay into the landscape that makes this part of Virginia special. For guests not staying on the water, select launch and delivery locations are also available.
Like everything at Backwater Expeditions, the goal is not to rush people from stop to stop. It is to share a more authentic side of life on the water and the quiet corners of the Chesapeake that continue to shape the people who live here.
Life on the water. Shared.