The next phase of improving access on the Bayou Teche seems to be underway after the New Iberia City Council approved a company to install self-serving kayak docks in the city. 

Reed Rudasill, the co-owner of Wanderlust Rentals, appeared at Tuesday’s council meeting after several weeks of work to expand his kayak rental business from Lafayette to New Iberia. 

The company currently operates in three locations in Lafayette along Bayou Vermilion, where residents can rent a kayak through a self-service machine. 

The business started last July, but Rudasill said the plan was always to expand the business into the Bayou Teche. 

“We always planned to move on to the Bayou Teche,” he said at the meeting. “We’ve been in contact with towns and landowners from Arnaudville to St. Martinville and New Iberia.”

The idea comes at a perfect time due to the Teche Project, a local non-profit organization dedicated to benefitting the Bayou Teche. The organization has spent a decade installing floating kayak docks in every major town and city along the Bayou Teche. 

With the help of grants pursued by Teche Project, docks in New Iberia, Loreauville, Jeanerette, Franklin and St. Martinville are just a few of the many that are now present on the Teche. 

Rudasill said he hopes to make use of that infrastructure by installing his self-service kayak rentals next to the docks.

The company has no staff that will present near the rentals, but Rudasill said staff will occasionally come to clean the kayaks and check on things. 

“Any small investments we let other companies make enhances our quality of life around here,” Mayor Pro Tem Ricky Gonsoulin said. “I’ve been waiting for someone to offer something to do to utilize that dock, so I’m excited.”

Rudasill said work to install the new Wanderlust location should be observable in two to three weeks, with signage work and waiting for the kayaks to come as the next steps. 

“This is something new to the community,” Councilman David Merrill said. “I think it’ll work well.”