Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, Florida, United States
4.0 (20 reviews) Spent Ranking #4 in Ruskin Bodies of Water • Nature & Wildlife Areas
My favorite place to kayak.
I love kayaking at Cockroach Bay. If you want to stay on the marked trails, you can, but there are a lot of islands that you can leave the trail and explore. You can drive right up to the water to unload your kayak or boat. If you go on a day that is not windy it is calm and shallow, usually 2 to 4 feet deep for a good part of the area around the mangroves. There are tunnels to go through and if you go to the right from the launch to marker number 10, turn to the right and go around the sand bars to the bouys to the channels that lead to the bird watching area. There are no markers though so you have to remember how you got there. Lots of fish jumping and birds to see. If you go to the left from the launch there is another marked trail that I found is best at high tide. All in all, a great place to kayak, especially if you are willing to go slow and watch the water for things like crabs and rays.
Address
Hillsborough County, Ruskin, Florida, United States.
Website
https://floridadep.gov/rcp/aquatic-preserve/locations/cockroach-bay-aquatic-preserve
Current local date and time now
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 22:52
User Ratings
4.0 based on (20 reviews)
Reviews
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5Karen S 5:00 PM Feb 18, 2016
My favorite place to kayak.
I love kayaking at Cockroach Bay. If you want to stay on the marked trails, you can, but there are a lot of islands that you can leave the trail and explore. You can drive right up to the water to unload your kayak or boat. If you go on a day that is not windy it is calm and shallow, usually 2 to 4 feet deep for a good part of the area around the mangroves. There are tunnels to go through and if you go to the right from the launch to marker number 10, turn to the right and go around the sand bars to the bouys to the channels that lead to the bird watching area. There are no markers though so you have to remember how you got there. Lots of fish jumping and birds to see. If you go to the left from the launch there is another marked trail that I found is best at high tide. All in all, a great place to kayak, especially if you are willing to go slow and watch the water for things like crabs and rays.
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4Pnemiller 5:00 PM Mar 14, 2016
Beautiful sunsets, fishing, wildlife
We were driving thru the area and were intrigued by the name of this place, so got off the Tamiami Trail (Route 41), south of Ruskin and headed west on Cockroach Bay Road toward Tampa Bay. At the end of the road there were inlets, beautiful birds, fisherman and a great sunset. Nothing commercial. No stores, restaurants, etc. Just a lovely, out of the way spot. One of the fisherman even gave us some shrimp to throw to the birds.
