Kayaking and Paddleboarding in St. Petersburg, Florida

The main St. Petersburg paddling routes are the city's Blueways, the South Paddling Trail at Weedon Island Preserve and the canoe trail at Fort De Soto Park, with Pinellas County's Blueways Paddling Guide covering launches countywide.

The City of St. Petersburg bills the St. Pete Blueways as Florida's Floating Trails, miles of paddling trails open to canoes, kayaks and standup paddleboards. Each Blueway trail has parking, designated landings and shorelines open to the public, and many add ramps, wash stations and storage racks (City of St. Petersburg, Canoe and Kayak Trails). The city asks Blueways paddlers to respect private property, wildlife and other users, and points them to the Leave No Trace guidelines.

The city page links a downloadable Blueways Guide, and the St. Petersburg Parks Department takes calls at 727-893-7335 to help paddlers find a kayak launch inside a city park.

For trips beyond city limits, the Pinellas County Blueways Paddling Guide splits the county into sections and gives details for each launch point and trail experience, with a PDF and a Google Maps version and a trail log form for launches the guide misses (Pinellas County, Blueways Paddling Guide). The county warns that each Pinellas route has its own distance and difficulty and asks paddlers to plan accordingly.

The South Paddling Trail at Weedon Island Preserve is a four mile loop that starts at the canoe and kayak launch beside the fishing pier at the end of Weedon Drive NE in St. Petersburg.

Pinellas County describes the Weedon Island loop as winding through mangroves and seagrass flats, between the preserve's islands and along the edge of Tampa Bay, with reddish egret, roseate spoonbills and white ibis among the wading birds paddlers should expect (Weedon Island Preserve Paddling Launch). The launch has restrooms and a canoe washing station, and the page says paddlers who rent there can float along the shores of Riviera Bay or on the South Paddling Trail.

Pinellas County's Weedon Island page lists two self guided paddling trails but says the north trail is closed at this time, a notice still posted on October 15, 2026 (Pinellas County, Weedon Island Preserve). The address for directions is 1800 Weedon Drive Northeast, St. Petersburg, Florida 33702.

Weedon Island Preserve opens daily at 7 a.m. and closes at a posted time, about 15 minutes before sunset, and it is closed the day after Thanksgiving and on December 25 (Weedon Island Preserve). The Cultural and Natural History Center keeps shorter hours, Thursday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is closed Monday to Wednesday and on all county holidays; its phone is (727) 453-6500.

Weedon trail rules ban dogs and all other domesticated animals, glass containers, alcohol and smoking, and treat every plant and animal in the preserve as protected. On land the Pinellas County Preserve Ordinance, Chapter 90, applies, while the Waterways Ordinance, Chapter 130, governs activity on the water at Weedon Island.

Two Pinellas County parks list rentals for St. Petersburg area paddlers: ECOmersion at the Weedon Island Preserve launch and the kayak rental concession inside Fort De Soto Park.

At Weedon Island, the county paddling page says ECOmersion rents canoes and kayaks on weekdays and weekends and also offers expert instruction and private tours, and that renters can paddle the South Paddling Trail (Weedon Island Preserve Paddling Launch).

Fort De Soto Park, at 3500 Pinellas Bayway South in Tierra Verde, lists kayak rentals among its concessions, next to the snack bar and beach chair rentals, and the park also lists a 2.25 mile recreational canoe trail (Pinellas County, Fort De Soto Park). Fort De Soto also lists ferry service to Egmont Key and to Shell Key.

The City of St. Petersburg lists nine public boat ramps, including Lake Maggiore Park, Demens Landing Park and Jungle Prada de Narvaez Park, which give paddlers more launch points beyond the Blueways landings.

The city ramp page states two different hours: its general heading gives 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, while each of the nine ramp listings, among them Lake Maggiore Park at 9th St. S. and 40th Ave. S. and Demens Landing Park at Bayshore Dr. and 2nd Ave. S., says the ramp is open 24 hours inside a park that closes at 11 p.m. (City of St. Petersburg, Boat Ramps). Questions about St. Petersburg ramps go to (727) 893-7441.

Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, a 400 acre city preserve in St. Petersburg, connects to Lake Maggiore, which has one of the city ramps (City of St. Petersburg, Boyd Hill Nature Preserve). On the bay side, Demens Landing sits on the point that also holds the St. Pete Municipal Marina, adjacent to the St. Pete Pier on the western side of Tampa Bay, and the marina lists its own public boat launch (City of St. Petersburg, Municipal Marina).

For commercial operators, the city requires operators of commercial vessels to get a permit before using certain designated public wharves, and the St. Petersburg ramp page carries the rules and application for commercial use of city boat ramps.

Under FWC rules, a canoe or kayak without a motor needs no registration in St. Petersburg waters, but it must carry a wearable life jacket for each person and a sound device such as a whistle.

For St. Petersburg paddlers, FWC exempts non motor powered canoes, kayaks, racing shells and rowing sculls from registration regardless of length; a kayak fitted with a motor must be registered through the local Tax Collector's Office (FWC, Boating Regulations). Every vessel must carry a wearable USCG approved personal flotation device for each person, sized to the wearer and within easy reach, and a child under 6 must wear a USCG approved Type I, II or III device while a vessel under 26 feet is underway.

FWC also requires all vessels, kayaks on Tampa Bay included, to carry an efficient sound producing device, such as a referee's whistle. The Weedon Island Preserve packing list adds a hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, drinking water and snacks, binoculars, a cell phone for emergency use, closed toe shoes that can get wet, local tide charts, a personal flotation device and a plan left with a friend or family member (Weedon Island Preserve).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the FWC website and the Pinellas County Weedon Island Preserve website for St. Petersburg paddling rules.

NOAA's St. Petersburg station 8726520 shows a mean tide range of 1.59 feet, and the Weedon Island South Paddling Trail is best paddled at mid to high tide.

NOAA lists the St. Petersburg station as established December 14, 1946, with its present installation dating to March 11, 1991, a mean range of 1.59 feet and a diurnal range of 2.26 feet (NOAA Tides and Currents, station 8726520). The same St. Petersburg station lists enabled wind, air temperature and water temperature sensors, and its page posts observed readings.

For the Weedon Island flats in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County says the Weedon Island South Paddling Trail is best paddled at mid to high tide and warns that many trails are difficult to navigate at low tide, so a local tide chart belongs on every Weedon trip (Weedon Island Preserve Paddling Launch).