CHINCOTEAGUE, VA.

Friday & Saturday March 27th & 28th a two day stay on this Island. Chincoteaque is located on a peninsula on the coast of Virgina known as Delmarva named after the three states that are on the peninsula. The wildlife refuge is located on the next door island of Assateague 14,000 acres in Delmarva. Acres of beach, sand dunes, marsh and maritime forest. The refuge is located on the Atlantic waterfowl flyway. A modern visitor center explains life on the island. Good roads and hiking trails are available. We were a little late to see the migrating birds going North. We did see several hundred snow geese feeding & resting in the marsh.

Chincoteaque is known for it's wild ponies that have been here a few hundred years. Not sure where they originated.
Could have survived from a sunken Spanish ship. Or early settlers may have turned them loose because at times they didn't have feed. There are 150 wild ponies on Assateque that belong to the local volunteer fire department. They have an agreement with the Refuge to graze the ponies on the Island. At the end of each July they gather the herd & swim them to the Island of Chincoteague where the mares are separated from their foals. A selected group are auctioned off and their proceeds are used to support the fire department. The remaining herd is swam back to Assateaque for another year. The pictures show 4 mares grazing. Had a short hike to view them. Told they average 14 hands in height. We saw approximately 25 out of 50 in this pasture. Many tourists frequent the park.

The Island of Chincoteaque is an old fishing village that has become a tourist area with motels, shops & restaurants.
Maddox Family RV Park is where we stayed...an OK park .



This is about as far as you can drive out to the beach on the Atlantic Coast. We had it to ourselves. You can walk for miles. A couple of surfers were there. Water temperature was 44 degrees. The weather ranged while here from a low of 48 to a high of 60 degrees. Cloudy in the day & rain at night.

I saved the best for last. Where is the best seafood restaurant in town? Locals said go to The Village. We did...the best we have had on the trip. Shared the seafood platter for one...$28.95. The platter included: a small lobster tail, a crab cake, flounder, shrimp, scallops, clam strips, oysters with a potato & salad. There was left overs for lunch the next day. "No more pigging out".

Will be making a short move North Sunday into the State of Delaware. Until next time wish you were here. Roger & Pat