Chincoteague Island and Snow Hill, Md

Talk about needing to get away for a weekend, we needed it. It's almost as if we took this weekend for ourselves because for the next three weeks we have stuff going on all weekend. So we decided to escape for a weekend to our favorite B& B in Snow Hill, Md called the Mansion House http://www.mansionhousebnb.com/. Its actually in a bay side 'town' called Public Landing. Not only is it on the bay, but its right on the bay, so you get a fabulous breeze and a beautiful view across the water. George is the innkeeper and a great guy who will make a fantastic breakfast to keep you going until dinner.





So on Saturday we went to the Chincoteague Bay for some kayaking and it was well worth it. We were barley out of the channel where we launched the kayaks and there was a family of otters playing in the water. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Lontra_canadensis.html


We spied each other about the same time, and I think they were as curious about what we were doing as we were to see them. There were about six of them playing in the water. As we approached them, they would duck under the water and then pop up about 5 feet away, all while keeping an eye on us. As we passed them, we could hear them coming up for air and taking breaths. This was such an incredible experience and I feel so fortunate to have seen them so close and in person.





THEN we saw ponies with babies, who was sleeping. The guide told us that the ponies hang in groups called bands which generally consist of a stallion and a few mares. They were eating at the waters edge with one stallion, three mares and one baby. We continued to paddle around the bay to see what was there to see. There were people fishing, crabbing and a lot on pontoon boats that took the lazy tourists around. As opposed to kayaking.

When we were done with the kayaking, we went to a bar for some lunch and laughed at some guy that was busy getting hammered at 11:30 in the morning. Pretty funny because he was in a bar that had a pretty equal mix of tourists and locals and he was griping, among other things, about 'these freeking tourists...' He also was commenting that when he was in the Navy he said that he liked to, when he went to the bar '...go ugly early...' He said he wanted to get a girl that wasn't so great looking in the beginning of the night because she was going to be the prettiest girl. He said he wanted to avoid the rush. Yeah, funny! We learned a lot of stuff about that strange guy, and thankfully we were able to leave and stop learning about him. There is a God!

We actually made it onto Chincoteague Island; two dollars well spent, and walked our pins off before we even made it to the beach. We learned at the visitors center that there was a walking path that led to a viewing area for the ponies. As we approached the loop path parking area, we went from walking in the sun to walking under trees. I'm incredibly grateful that George thought ahead and gave us some heavy duty bug repellent that was in a cream form. I'm not sure who made the stuff, but it really worked. As we walked under the shaded area, we were ATTACKED by giant flying mosquito bombers. Oh mu gawd, they were huge and really bold. We were swarmed by about a few dozen of them. It was a scramble to get the backpack off, dig out the repellent and smear it on our exposed skin all while swatting the mosquitoes that were landing on our exposed skin.

After we battled the mosquitoes, we continued to walk towards the parking area to path. We herd the very distinct sound of horses naying and snorting. I looked at Tommy and we both silently agreed that we should follow the noise. We looked for a footpath, that I think we were not really allowed to be on, and came to a high tensile fence and a clearing. There was about 50 - 75 ponies all clustered together, eating and checking us out. It was really a great experience to know that we were not really allowed to be there and we found the ponies, en masse. When we were walking towards the ponies, the ground seemed to be moving and squeaking. I looked down at my feet and saw dozens, hundreds - I may say, toads! I couldn't grab ANY of them because I had highly toxic insect repellent on them. Total bummer and I would have smuggled one home for the garden. There were small ones, as small as a quarter and big ones as large as a bottom of a highball glass. They were all warning themselves on the sunny path. Very cute.

I think going back to Chincoteague is definitely on the agenda.

Next post: Reality shows... Where do they find these people??