The bf and I drove out to Chincoteague Island (off the coast of Virginia and Maryland)last week for their Annual Pony Swim and Auction. It's sister island, Assateague, is a National Wildlife Refuge. Assateague is divided between Maryland and Virginia, with the feral ponies on the Virginia side belonging to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company. Their side of the island can only support 150 horses, so they auction off the babies. Fun Fact: The Maryland side is owned by the National Park Service, and they control their herd with birth control. http://www.chincoteague.com/ We arrived Sunday, July 23. Monday morning was the beach walk, where they drive the northern bands to the southern corral. We got up at 4am and were there by 5. You have to be there early to get a parking spot. The ponies arrived at 6:30, driven by the Saltwater Cowboys. Tuesday was a free day, so we mostly hung around town. Wednesday was the Swim. We got up at 4am again, and caught a shuttle bus (an old school bus!) to Memorial Park. I wanted to go to the marsh for a much better vantage point, but I knew Karl would've had a mental breakdown if his feet touched mud (he has texture issues). I was disappointed with the view, but I managed. After the swim, we walked to Main St, which was about a 1 mile walk, to watch the pony parade to the fairgrounds. Thursday was the Auction. They auctioned about 70 foals this year. The ones too young to wean yet will stay with their mothers on a farm for a few more months, then the'll be shipped to their owners, or the owners can pick them up. Some of the foals are designated beforehand as Buybacks. These foals will still be bought and paid for, but they will then be sent back to Assateague to keep the herds going. The "owners" will get to name the foals and have their pictures taken with them. The foals are also freeze branded on their left hip with the last 2 digits of the year. We left about 2 hours in, because we were getting tired standing there. You have to claim your seat on the bleachers a few days before, which we didn't get around to doing, and we didn't feel like lugging our folding chairs all over the place. We walked around town a bit, then went to see the Misty movie. Misty is the pony who made Chincoteague famous. Google Misty of Chincoteague On Friday, we spent the day at the beach, and we climbed the lighthouse. We left Saturday morning. All the rest of the pics I wanted to upload are too big
Thanks for sharing your trip with us Bip. I learned something new today Was the Misty movie locally made or was it in theatres?
What a wonderful vacation! Lovely scenery, lovely ponies, and I especially liked your photo of the Saltwater Cowboys. Thank you for sharing a unique trip!
Jen your photographs are beautiful. I love the first one of that gorgeous sky. How I would have enjoyed being there with you when you watched the pony parades.
Really interesting, never knew that ponies were traded this way. The light house is really tall and I'll never get up there because my legs get to wobbly too get down unless they have a elevator! Thanks for sharing
Super posting, Bip. I really enjoy seeing pics. You wrote a great commentary as well. Thanks for the foto's.
The lighthouse has 7 flights of stairs, with each flight being 24 steps, plus a landing. We had to stop on each landing to catch our breath haha And here's me And here's my bf
Yay!! YOU pics! <3 Thanks so much honey. You look much like your profile pic, minus the cat Your BF sure looks like he's taking it easy! Was he actually sleeping right there in the middle of the beach?
I wish I could take that vacation all over again. The islands are nice, and only a 20 minute drive to the nearest town on the mainland. If I lived near the ocean, Id go swimming all the time I think the bf actually was taking a catnap hehe The beach we were on had 2 sides, basically. Turn to the right from the parking lot and there's lifeguards. Turn to the left, and there's no lifeguards. We went on the unattended side, and walked pretty far down, so there were no other people near us. We both got attacked by crabs (at different times) We were searching for seashells in the ocean, and while sifting through the sand, we disturbed the crabs who pinched us for our troubles We also saw Mole Crabs, those are freaky lookin! Beautiful scalloped seashells This is a Mole Crab. Harmless, as far as I could tell, but freaky. One time, while I was wading just at the edge of the water, the waves started going out, and I suddenly realized I was smack in the middle of an entire herd of these things! EEEK! I jumped out of there as fast as I could LOL
