The Atlantic Seashore in Maryland, Delaware, and Cape May, New Jersey
Including the Wild Horses of Assateague Island
May 2022
From SE Pennsylvania, we traveled south to camp near Ocean City, Maryland, so we could see the wild horses of Assateague Island. While we were there, the weather was either cool and foggy, or rainy, but that didn’t stop us from spotting several horses. We saw two by the side of the road as soon as we had crossed the bridge to the island.
The horses on the Maryland side of the island roam free on National Park Service land.
We saw a band of two mares, a stallion, and a foal just hanging out in a parking lot near the bay. A park ranger was there to make sure everyone did not get too close to the horses, and she answered our questions about them.
We saw several more horses grazing in a marsh, but they were a little too far away to get good pictures of them.
On another cloudy day, we walked down the Ocean City boardwalk. Unlike the concrete boardwalk at Virginia Beach, this one was made of wood and had many restaurants and attractions alongside it.
From there, we stayed at Delaware Seashore State Park. The campground was basically a big parking lot with no shade, but it did look out onto the Indian River Inlet in front of us and the bridge to our right. We could also see a marsh, and a bay behind that on our left.
We saw some beautiful sunsets. The sky seemed so huge, as the land was flat and we could see in almost all directions. The clouds seemed so low!
A nature preserve was just across the bridge, so we walked a trail there and spotted several birds we had never seen before, including a blue grosbeak. Below is an eastern kingbird. This area is a birding hotspot, especially in the spring and fall.
We also visited the Indian River Life-Saving Station just up the road in the park. It was built in 1876 and was in operation until 1915 as part of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, at which time it merged with another service to become the U.S. Coast Guard. This station was in use until 1962, and was then restored to look the way it did in 1905.
While visiting the life-saving station, we walked up to the dunes to take a peek at the seashore. It was a cool, windy day, so we didn’t go onto the beach.
Late one afternoon, we had a torrential thunderstorm. I don’t know how much rain fell, but a lot of the campground had several inches of water. Our RV was surrounded, and the water had not receded by the next morning, so we requested a different site, as most of the rest of the campground was dry by then. Thankfully, the campground wasn’t full since it was a weekday, and we were able to move.
On another day, we went a short distance up the road to Cape Henlopen State Park. First, we climbed a WWII observation tower, one of 11 built along the Delaware coast to spot German ships.
View from 75 feet up. You can see another observation tower in the background.
Then, after walking a boardwalk trail, we headed to The Point, which is a narrow spit of land that separates Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.
That evening at our campground, we watched the sunset over the inlet.
The next day, we drove our RV onto the Cape May ferry. It took 90 minutes to cross the bay. After setting up camp, we drove to the historic district to see the Victorian houses. Some are private residences still, but many are now B&B’s or vacation rentals. This pink one is a shop.
We also stopped at the Cape May lighthouse. The visitor center was about to close for the day, so we just looked at the lighthouse from the parking lot.
The next day, we hiked a trail at Belleplain State Forest. This area is also known for spring bird migration. We didn’t get too far on one trail, because it was covered in mud from the recent rain. We walked in another direction, and spotted a summer tanager. That was the only interesting bird we saw, although the Merlin ap on my phone identified several others by their song. They were just too high up in the trees, and I didn’t have any binoculars.
We stayed only 2 nights in this area. We were glad, too, because we didn’t like the private campground we were staying at. It cost $3.75 for one washer load of laundry, and $3.50 for the dryer, which was the highest we’ve paid in a year of travel. Plus, the back of our rig was only about 3 feet from the back of someone else’s rig. We were close to two other rigs, besides. Not good, especially when we are paying high prices to stay there. One of the things we like least about camping, is that we never know what kind of site we’re going to end up with, even if the reviews sound ok, and we’ve seen a picture of it when booking the site. We’ve had so many sites that aren’t even close to being level, including at the campground in Cape May.
Oh, well, onward from here to see more of SE Pennsylvania, before spending almost a month in upstate New York.