When we were in Florida last summer, we visited several beaches. At one of them, Bahia Honda, someone spied my "Ocean City, Maryland" hat, and we got into a discussion comparing various beaches. Soon we were joined by people from France, Germany, Great Britain, UAE, a couple of South American countries, and a bunch of other places I didn't keep track of, who wanted our input on where to visit next.
The fellow who started the conversation was from New York City, and interestingly enough we both came to the same conclusion about the best overall beach experience in the U.S.: Assateague Island State Park, in Maryland.
Now you have to take into consideration that both of us were travelers who didn't mind roughing it a bit if it led to great experiences, and Assateague Island State Park is a campground. However, it has these things going for it:
1. Lots of beautiful sand. While Bahia Honda is probably one of the most picturesque beaches in the world, one quickly learns that those lumps of green stuff that look like piles of soft seaweed are in fact hard pieces of coral. Also, Bahia Honda is only a couple hundred yards long. One can walk for over 20 miles on Assateague and find nothing except pristine, perfect beaches (but watch out for the nudists in the more remote places).
2. Access. Although getting reservations can be a challenge, once you are in your campsite at Assateague the beach is just a few yards away over a small barrier dune.
3. Comfortable atmosphere. There's plenty of room and campers (in the U.S., anyway) tend to be great people, helpful and friendly. Access to the park is tightly controlled and crime is almost non-existent.
4. Wild ponies. The islands of Assateague and Chincoteague are home to the world-famous wild pony roundup that takes place each summer. One of the coolest things in the world is being on the beach and seeing a small heard of wild ponies running up the beach and frolicking in the water. (For the downside of that, see below).
5. Civilization is just a few minutes away. Less than 20 minutes up the road is Ocean City, Maryland, with all the amusements and shops and thrill rides you could hope for, as well as great restaurants.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR 1. The damned ponies. While the little horses are quite used to people and real confrontations are rare, after a few days the ponies stop being "cute" and start being "pesky." They will chew through a tent to get to a bag of chips or a loaf of bread. Other than that, you can shoo them off pretty easily, as long as you don't get too excited. I am perfectly comfortable hanging out within a few feet of a pod of ponies, I just make sure I watch my lunch carefully.
2. Pony poop. You eventually get used to it.
3. Black flies. If the wind is blowing and the weather is nice, it will be one of the greatest sensual experiences of your life. If the wind is not blowing make sure you bring plenty of bug repellent. Fortunately, the weather is nice and the wind blows with a pleasant briskness most of the time.
4. Thunderstorms. Don't bring a cheap tent. Once every week or two a thunderstorm blows in from the west and knocks down a couple of tents. It's happened to me twice, but it was my fault for getting a tall, off-brand tent. If you rent an RV (I think the Limey's call it a caravan), you'll be quite OK.
Note that there are two parks there that offer camping, the state park and a national park. They are right next to each other, but the national park is more primitive and does NOT have hot showers (just cold ones). The state park also features a day use area.
Two of the foreign visitors that I met at Bahia Honda decided to visit Assateague, and they said it was exactly as the man from New York and I had described it. The British couple said that their sons didn't stop talking about camping with the wild ponies for a good six months.
I have one other experience that I'll put in another post. -Bill C.
