Things to do / Travel Guide
Beach Hopping in Eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland
Nearly all of the beaches in eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland are something to write home about. White, wide, soft - they are the clean, sweeping postcard-perfect beaches; so why not hop around a bit? With literally thousands of miles of shoreline, it is difficult to choose, but here are a few suggestions:
On the Delmarva Peninsula, the white, warm sands and swim-able waters of Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Cape Henlopen, and Delaware Seashore State Park, in Delaware, consistently rank among the nation's cleanest and most beautiful. The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association named Rehoboth/Dewey among the “2006 Top Restored Beaches” in the nation. The quiet, uninhabited beaches of Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia also ranked high on the list. Most Delmarva Peninsula beaches are life guarded from Memorial Day-Labor Day, and the majority offer bathhouses, umbrellas, chairs, and rafts for rent.
With miles and miles of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean, coastal tidal tributaries, and Chesapeake Bay, you won't find yourself having to defend your patch of sand in eastern Virginia. Norfolk's Ocean View Beach offers eight miles of top-notch sand along the Chesapeake Bay, and four other city beaches are wide and life guarded in the summer. Listed by Guinness World Records as the longest and largest pleasure beach in the world (35 miles, in fact), Virginia Beach's shores bustle with seaside attractions, festivals, and nightlife. Just south of Virginia Beach, the five-mile Sandbridge Beach is a favorite family summer spot.
Sheltered by sweeping dunes (the tallest on the eastern seaboard, varying between 80-140 feet depending on the shifting sands) and wild, wispy-willowy grasses, the beaches along the North Carolina shore rank up there with the region's best, with more than 70 miles of sandy terrain to choose from. For instance, USA Weekend named Corolla and Carova Beach shorelines (on Bodie Island in the Outer Banks) as among the “10 best undiscovered beaches on the East Coast.”
Drive along the Outer Shore's Beach Road (North Carolina State Road 12) to give yourself a tour before settling on one or more of the popular Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head shores. Ocracoke's beaches made the Top Ten Beach List of Stephen Leatherman (a.k.a Dr. Beach) in 2005. Dr. Stephen announced on The Today Show that the crystalline, white sands of Ocracoke coupled with its relative isolation, make it a “real getaway beach.” Most of the North Carolina shore's beaches also have bathhouses with toilets and picnic shelters.
Boardwalks in Eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland
In the eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland region you can stroll, bike, shop, and party your way along these beloved wooden-planked (and concrete) beach-side boardwalks. On the Delmarva Peninsula, Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk was called the “best of America” by Reader's Digest and The Travel Channel concurred, naming it one of the Best American Boardwalks. Along the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk you will find boutique shopping and after-dark action.
In eastern Virginia, the boardwalk in Virginia Beach is hands-down one of the region's most funky and fun shore hangout spots, as you'll find a wide range of amusement rides, quirky boutiques, and happening nightlife there. Simply put, Virginia Beach Boardwalk is a not-to-be missed shorefront extravaganza. Fish from the 15th Street Pier, attend one of the many summer festivals that take place along the boardwalk, or enjoy a nightly free magic show, concert, or summer street performance.
On the North Carolina shore, puppet shows, boutiques, restaurants, small souvenir shops, and surrey bike rentals give Carolina Beach Boardwalk in Carolina Beach the old-time charm that travelers love.
Seashell Searches in Eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland
Thousands of seashells await you on the region's beaches - from the Scotch Bonnet to the giant 10-inch Queen Helmet, the purple-brown, spiraled Lightening Whelk to the delicate keyhole Sand Dollars. North Carolina shores will easily fill your pockets with sea treasures; your hard earned wages for rising bright and early. Comb the beaches one hour before and one hour after low tide, or brave the sands just after a storm or hurricane and you will have hit the jackpot. Shells litter North Carolina's beaches year-round but early spring is the best shell collecting season. If you want to beat the other shell collectors, head to the more remote beaches. Top Sail Island/Surf City, Wrightsville Beach, Hammocks Beach State Park, Ocean Isle Beach, and in the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Ocracoke Island, Shackleford Banks, Cape Lookout National Seashore, are all good shelling areas.
Horse Spotting in Eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland
In the eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland region you can go see the region's plethora of pretty ponies. Once descendents of Spanish Mustangs, the wild ponies have been isolated and left to roam freely for nearly 400 years; horse and animal lovers will enjoy an outing to paying tribute to these noble beasts.
Grazing along the shoreline of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Virginia end of Assateague Island on the Delmarva Peninsula you can spot the Chincoteague Ponies. A drive through the wildlife refuge is the best way to get close to them. Alternatively, you can always stop in during the last week in July for the Pony Penning Day when the horses swim across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague Island to be auctioned off.
Head to Carova Beach in Corolla on North Carolina's Outer Banks where you can take a wild horse safari jeep or 4x4 vehicle tour to watch Banker Horses graze on the beach. If you still haven't gotten your fill of fine equine species, try a kayaking or pleasure boating trip past Fort Macon State Park to Shackleford Banks on Cape Lookout National Seashore to sit boat-side as a group of about 100 wild Shackleford Horses, black and buckskin stallions among them, graze gracefully near the water's edge.
Follow Blackbeard's Footsteps on the North Carolina Shore
Robbing and thieving, boozing and raiding – the pirate Blackbeard (a.k.a., Edward Teach) used to hassle the good ol' folks on the North Carolina Shore. If this infamous history of pirating has always piqued your interest, you might want to plan a self-guided tour of North Carolina shore's Blackbeard-trodden sites. You can visit the Hammock House, in Beaufort, a restored 18th-century home either built by Blackbeard or used by him to plan pirating raids. You can also take a pleasure boating excursion between Fort Macon State Park and Shackleford Banks to pass by the waters where Blackbeard's “Queen Anne's Revenge” ship is believed to have sunk. If you are up for a dive, slip just 26 feet below the surface for a glimpse of the old girl - you can arrange a dive anytime from mid-September until mid-November through the North Carolina Maritime Museum (the cost of the 30-minute dive and a half-day's archaeological education is about $500). Before your pirate-perusal is through, stop off at Teach's Hole in Ocracoke (in the Outer Banks), where you can look at a small collection of pirating exhibits and take home a pirating souvenir.
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