Visiting Chincoteague Island for a day--any tips?

[Carpe Diem]

Hello! I haven't been here is quite sometime and wanted to find out about a day trip to Chincoteague Island. It occurred to me to visit my old hive mind!

Any tips for a day trip there one of the days in either June 3-5th?

We are also doing Colonial Williamsburg one of those days as well.

Thanks!!!

[jen3kids]

I'm going this week with my daughter!   I found this article online when doing research about it https://sightdoing.net/one-day-chincoteague-va/  We are staying 2 nights, arriving late afternoon on Tuesday and leaving Thursday, so we basically have Wednesday to fill with a boat tour (hopefully) and a hike/walk, and time at the beach.

I'm not sure if everything will be open for us this week because it seems most things open for Memorial Day weekend, but I'll update after we get back on Thursday or Friday.

 

 

[Elizabeth86]

Following as it is in my list of places to visit, but I’ve never been.

[jen3kids]

So, we're back!!!!  

We arrived at Chincoteague Island about 4pm on Tuesday afternoon and checked into our hotel and went for a walk to find supper.

Hotel - we stayed at The Island Resort Motel, which is just after the bridge and overlooks the water.  It's an older place and the rooms show it, but it looked clean and was sufficient for 2 nights since we didn't plan to spend much time in there.  Unfortunately, DD found sand in her bed (ewww - she has the worse luck with hotel beds!) and when I called to the front desk the guy (owner?) said all the housekeeping had gone home for the night and he wasn't sure what to do.  Then he figured he could ask the maintenance guy to drop clean bedding off to us after he had finished closing the pool, but we'd have to change the sheets ourselves.  So that's what we did - just a little weird, but it's a family run place and the off-season, so maybe they didn't have anyone else around.    Sleeping was a bit difficult with the loudness of the AC; we could have opened the sliding door instead of using the AC, but I wondered if there would be any little bugs (no see-ums) so we dealt with the AC.

Dinner - We walked down Main St. and found a restaurant called Ropewalk that had live music, so we ate there.  DD had salmon and I had scallops; both were too peppery for our tastes, but not inedible.  We both cleaned our plates and shared a piece of flourless chocolate torte - very tasty.    

Morning - I got up early and walked out Maddox Rd. to the entrance to Wildlife Refuge and then back to the motel.  It was about 4 miles roundtrip and an easy walk.  Because it's before Memorial Day, a lot of things were still closed.  And, I don't know if it's due to COVID, but most of the town and shops look run down.    Anyway, back at the motel, I grabbed DD and we got breakfast at the Beach Road Round Up (good bacon and eggs breakfast, but they also had waffles and pancakes) and then stopped at Amarin Coffee for bubble tea (delicious) and then it was time to go to the beach.  

Afternoon - It was overcast and windy, but not crowded - perfect beach weather for me!  Too perfect, since we both got sun-burned 😞  We headed home about 2pm from the beach and stopped for ice cream from The Island Creamery (yummy!).  We ended up using the same restaurant for dinner because things close early on the Island!  We got burger and fries - too much pepper again, but otherwise adequate.

Today - we were supposed to go on a Boat Tour to see the ponies, but neither one of us were in any shape to spend 2+ hours on the water (sunburns), so we cancelled it and headed home a few hours early.  There are many Boat Tour companies to choose from with varying departure times, length of tours, and cost.  I think they're all pretty much the same though.

OVERALL - we are planning to go back next May before Memorial Day again because we prefer the cooler weather and no crowds.  We likely won't stay at the same motel or eat at the Ropewalk again, but we'll definitely hit the coffee shop (Amarin), breakfast place (Beach Road Round Up), and ice cream (Island Creamery) again.    We'll do the island cruise to see the ponies, do more walking (dd had brought new shoes that bruised her feet) and maybe even try the kayaks.   It's definitely more low key than other beach places, but I prefer that.  There was also mini-golf and a little water park near the KOA campground.   Honestly - it's totally doable in a day, especially if you just want to see the ponies and hit the beach, but we had a 3.5 hour drive, so 2 nights was good for us.

Oh, and if you have any dietary restrictions, it was hit or miss.  DD is gluten-free (and sometimes DF) and when I asked for a GF bun at the restaurant the woman had no idea what I was asking for.  The coffee place did have oat milk, but it wasn't advertised, and the ice-cream place had 3 flavors of vegan (coconut milk based) ice cream.   No one answered the phone when I tried to call ahead to see what restaurants had for GF options, and I called at least 5-6 places, but they may not have been open for the season yet.  

[Carpe Diem]

Hi Jen3kids!

Thanks so much for your update. So sorry it didn't sound like the best trip with the lodging and the sunburns. Ouch!

Not sure if we should make a boat reservation in advance. What do you think?

[jen3kids]

We saw 3 boat companies offering 'pony tours', so I think you should be fine if you book a day or 2 in advance.  I called Captain Dan's on Tuesday and they were  fully booked on Wednesday so we scheduled for Thursday, but they only offered 1 'regular' boat tour/day.   Their other 2 time slots were for private tours for a lot more $$.   Since DD and I are both fully vaccinated, we were comfortable signing up for the regular tour.  I probably should have called around to the other companies to compare prices and times, but I had read good things about the company so I went with them.  

The other companies have great reviews too; I just hadn't done much research.  I know that Daisey's does online bookings, so you can see what's available on your days with them at least.  

 

Have a great time.  I'll be interested to hear what the town is like next week - if it's more open/busy/vibrant.  I'm curious....