Looking for kids friendly, not so overcrowded, beaches one can drive to from DC mid August
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Anonymous
No they're not - NC beaches are surfers heaven, not so in SC...really different water masses for activity |
Anonymous
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We go to Chincoteague, house rentals are cheaper there and they have a great playground at Memorial Park. The beach is a national seashore, if at the parking lot you started walking north you'd be the only ones on the beach! There is a lighthouse, pony ride center, good fishing, no amusement park but they do have a bouncy house bumper boat arcade place. Town is small and quaint, the one grocery store is a bit of a throwback. Recommend Sea Star for GREAT sandwiches and fruit salad, Gary Howard's for seafood to cook at home, Etta's Channelside or The Village for kid friendly dinner, there is a McDonalds and a BBQ shack near the national seashore drive entrance. Mueller's is a Victorian ice cream place.
Mosquitoes can be fierce in town, bring bug spray. Go for a weekend and check it out. |
Anonymous
| hmm...no mention of horses...^... |
Anonymous
| PP 17:47 Whoops already responded here! I don't know why I recommend things on DCUM, then everybody books it and the prices go up, then I can't go when I want to ! I just hate for people to think they can't do a beach vacation when Chincoteague is so close and so much less $$ than Rehoboth or Bethany. |
Anonymous
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The wild ponies are all over Assateague Island, so you can see them on the north end at the state or national seashore, or the south end, same national park different access point. It's 37 miles long. We hiked in to one of the north "primitive" camps once (in early spring before the mozzies hatched) and the ponies were all over the place. Other times you don't see them because they are off in the marshes or woods.
Pick up a copy of "Misty of Chincoteague" as a bedtime book. You can actually stay at the same inn the writer stayed in, Miss Molly's B&B is centrally located and welcomes kids. |
Anonymous
Not true unless you pick a rough day, which all beaches have. Waves were great for my 3 year old yesterday. On rough days, you can go to the sound which never has waves. People drown everywhere, not just on OBX. |
Anonymous
Sure... The beach is composed of coarse sand and pea-sized gravel that is reddish in color. The coarse sand translates to a steeply grading beach into deeper water so that waves can come close to shore before breaking. I recommend that families with children visit these shores early in the summer when the waves are relatively small. During the late summer, especially August and September, the Atlantic Ocean really becomes stoked by tropical storms and hurricanes in the tropical latitudes. Big swell waves can travel for thousands of miles without losing their energy until they break upon the beach. In these cases, dangerous surf can be produced as well as the life-threatening rip currents. A number of people have been drowned on the Outer Banks in recent years because they do not understand or recognize these powerful offshore-flowing rip currents. The most instrumented beach in the world is at Duck—the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility. Touring this facility, which was formerly a bombing range during World War II, you will discover how coastal scientists and engineers make measurements of waves and currents as well as record changes in the beach and nearshore areas. A high-resolution videocamera has been installed in the tower overlooking the beach. This beachcam provides streaming video of the surf zone, which can be used to analyze the changing position of the underwater bars (by inference of the breaking wave patterns) and possible presence of rip currents. Rip currents at Duck persist for weeks or even months at the same places, moving through underwater channels or breaks in the inner bars. Only a particularly large winter storm (e.g., nor’easter) or hurricane moves and/or destroys these channels—conduits for the seaward-flowing currents. Some rip currents lasted from May until September according to Dr. Robert Dean, a colleague at the University of Florida. This finding contradicts the prevailing view of rip currents as spontaneous and short-lived events. While they may exist at the same position for months, they only become strong (and hence noticeable and dangerous) with the approach of large swell waves producing plunging breakers. Certain sections of the shoreline appear to be more prone to rip currents than others, but no systematic studies have been undertaken. http://www.ripcurrents.com/ripcurrents101.html |
Anonymous
I agree that Chincoteague is a special place. Be aware for next year that the park service is threatening to close the parking lots by the beach and move to a shuttle service based inland. Over the winter the parking lot was wiped out by Sandy and they feel all the people / cars are wearing down the park like atmosphere of the island. Also they won't be rebuilding the beaches like bethany and rehoboth. |
Anonymous
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Bummer about the parking lot, but I'm not worried about the beach sand quality, seemed to me the last few visits that the sand quality is always better than northern beaches - I think they get all the naturally migrating sand down there!
The sand at Assateague Island also has a few advantages over some other East Coast beaches I've visited like St. Simon's and Amelia, which is there is no large river outlet nearby carrying tannin water that makes the ocean brownish. And the quality for sand castle digging is good, no thin hard shelly layers. I sorta wish somebody would build a true top quality resort with a landscaped waterslide palm tree pool in Chincoteague - are you listening Marriott? |
Anonymous
One thing to consider for Chincoteague is that the nearest hospital is 45 min to an hour away. I was quite worried about that when we went to visit with my peanut allergic child. We ended up eating very safely (if not very healthy). We only ate mcdonalds and pizza the whole time we were there for the weekend. We stayed in a hotel, so we couldn't cook which would definitely be a good option if you have a food allergy. Partly due to the hospital issue, we are staying in VA Beach this summer. |
Anonymous
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Oak Island, NC
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Anonymous
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Cape May Point. NJ
Ride the ferry over from Lewes DE. |
Anonymous
I also recommend Cape May and the ferry. There is also a free zoo there, which has lots of shade and a playground. You can drive up the Jersey shore to check out other beaches to get a sense of what you like. Wildwood is a dry town, very kid-friendly. Lucy the Elephant is in Margate. She is a historic landmark 
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Anonymous
| We just watched an old Mr. Rogers where he visited Lucy the Elephant, and now I am dying to go! |
Anonymous
| Cape May is very nice. But the beach is crowded. We also prefer not taking the ferry. Taking the ferry requires taking the Bay Bridge. Less traffic the other way on a summer weekend day. |