Take a class or a guided tour, or just rent your own: Our Cape canoe and kayak picks

Paddling in kayaks and canoes or on paddleboards on the ponds, marshes and coastal waters across Cape Cod has become popular for residents and visitors alike.

Thanks to several companies across the peninsula, you don’t have to have the equipment to enjoy these activities.

Several private companies as well as the Cape Cod National Seashore and Mass Audubon offer a variety of rentals and tours for all levels, from young children to experienced paddlers. Family groups are welcome. Some offer instruction, children's camps, private parties and home delivery. Most are open mid-May through September. Most will book online.

Here is a roundup of the options and details from Upper to Outer Cape:

Cape Cod Kayak, Bourne

Cape Cod Kayak, 802 McArthur Blvd. (Route 28) in Bourne offers both rentals and tours with kayaks and paddleboards that launch out of 15 locations, mostly along Buzzards Bay. The company that has been operating for 29 years also has special events, private parties, paddleboard classes and a children’s camp, owner Kimberly Fernandes said. It is open year-round, but people who want to kayak in the winter need to wear wetsuits or drysuits.

• A special event on June 11 has been a scavenger hunt for 25 years with kayaks and paddleboards as a benefit fundraiser for bone marrow disorders research in memory of Fernandes’ brother. The winner receives a kayak. Entrance fee: $200 in pledges.

• Kayak rental rates are $39 and up for five hours, extra $10 for overnight. Kayak deliveries to your door for rentals of a week or more.

• Restrictions: Children need to know how to swim to use the equipment.

• Capecodkayak.com for rates, hours and details. Phone 508-563-9377. Email: cckayakim@aol.com.

Rideaway Adventures, Sandwich and Mashpee

Rideaway Adventures. The flagship store is on the Cape Cod Canal at 68 Tupper Road, Sandwich, and a Mashpee site is at 259 Shore Drive. See the website for all locations. Offers kayak and paddleboard rentals and tours and bike rentals.

• Multiple locations for paddling, including Scorton Creek Sandwich, Poponessett Bay, Mashpee, and Lawrence Pond at YMCA Camp Lyndon, Sandwich.

• Tours throughout the day, 9 a.m. to a sunset kayak tour in Mashpee.

• Rentals from $26 for one hour to $205 for a week. Tour rates vary; $75 for most tours, depending on length.

• No restrictions on children if with parents, Troy Leonard, director of bike operations, said. Can use single or tandem kayaks.

• Deliver kayaks in several towns from Wareham and Plymouth to Provincetown for 24-hour or more rentals.

• children’s camp for kayaking and paddleboarding adventures.

• Rideawayadventures.com. Phone: 508-247-0827. Email hello@rideawayadventures.com

Cape Cod Waterways, Dennis Port

Cape Cod Waterways, 16 Main St. (Route 28), Dennis Port. The company offers rentals of kayaks, canoes, standup paddleboards, pedal boats, and mini-kayaks for children for one- to two-hour Swan River outings. The company will also take equipment to Bass River in Yarmouth if requested, owner Dan Pogorelc said.

• Open from mid-May, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in mid-summer. Weekends from mid-September to Columbus Day.

• Rates from $25 an hour for adult single kayak to $52 for one hour for two adults, two toddlers. Two-person canoe rates start at $42 for one hour.

• No age restriction for children, but adult needs to be in vicinity.

• Capecodwaterways.com for more information. Phone 508-398-0080. Email office@capecodwaterways.com.

Chatham Kayak Company, Chatham

Chatham Kayak Company, 391 Barn Hill Road, Chatham. This company offers rentals and tours with kayaks and paddleboards. Book hourly rentals online at chathamkayak.com. Call for daily or weekly rentals 508-241-5389. Could not be reached for more information.

Great Marsh Kayak Tours, Eastham and West Yarmouth

Great Marsh Kayak Tours offers tours (no rentals) in Eastham off Hemenway Landing through Nauset Marsh in the Cape Cod National Seashore and West Yarmouth on Parker’s River. Owner and principal guide Jeff Lambert said the Eastham tour “is really awesome going through pristine sites and seeing lots of seals.” Kayakers can get out and walk across the barrier beaches to the open ocean. The Parker’s River tour goes to Seagull Beach and features seabirds.

• Tours are for eight to 10 people, three hours long twice a day based on tide times May through September.

• Rates are $75 for adults, $55 for children. Single and tandem kayaks.

• Young children can go, but Lambert recommends going on calm days.

• Greatmarshkayaktours.com. Phone 508-470-4971. Email greatmarshkayak@gmail.com

Cape Cod National Seashore, multiple locations

Cape Cod National Seashore at the Salt Pond Visitors Center, 50 Nauset Road, Eastham. Kayak tours are free and guided by park rangers for experienced kayakers only, 16 years or older. Tours are two to three hours, and up to three miles to explore the diverse aquatic ecosystems and rich human history of the seashore.

• Locations: Great Island, Wellfleet; Nauset Marsh, Eastham; Pleasant Bay, Orleans. See Visitors Center calendar for dates through the summer. Check the calendar online for kayak tour dates and other activities at https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/calendar.htm. Set the calendar to "month" for easiest browsing.

• All equipment provided. Reservations are required and may be made up to one week in advance by calling Salt Pond Visitor Center at 508 255-3421, ext. 9. Rangers advise booking ahead as they fill up fast through August.

• For the most current information on park operations, go to www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/conditions.htm. Social media: @CapeCodNPS.

Mass Audubon Cape Cod, multiple locations

Mass Audubon Cape Cod sites in Barnstable and Wellfleet provide kayaking trips from several sites: Barnstable Harbor and Sandy Neck, Great Pond, Eastham, Pleasant Bay, Orleans, and Great Island, Wellfleet, from June through September.

• Adults only with kayak paddling experience. Special full moon tours June 1, July 31, Aug. 29.

• Two-hour trips with a guide or on your own. Jenette Kerr of Mass Audubon recommends a guided tour with a naturalist “for a total experience.”

• Two-hour rates are $80 for Audubon members, $90 for nonmembers.

• Call 508-349-2615 to register. No online registration for these tours.

• A field school for adults on coastal ecology by kayak will be held in three sessions starting Sept. 29 at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, South Wellfleet.

• For a complete schedule go to www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog.

Coyote Kayaks, Provincetown

Coyote Kayaks, 333R Commercial St. Unit 1, Provincetown. This newly formed company that shares space and activities with The Yoga Joint offers “an all-inclusive experience,” with kayak and paddleboard rentals and tours on the Bayside of Provincetown and in the salt marsh and paddleboard yoga, new owner and CEO Chase Hiffernan said.

• Rentals for half day, start at $40 or full day, $60.

• Salt marsh tour from the west end is 2 ½ hours, $85 a person.

• Kayak and paddleboard deliveries for 24 hours are from 7:30 to 10 a.m.

• Tours daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Flow and Float pass at $325 for unlimited use of all yoga and paddling experiences, May through September.

• Coyotekayaks.com. Phone 508-413-9563. Email info@coyotekayaks.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding on Cape Cod: 8 places to try