Part of the National Park Service, Assateague Island National Seashore is most famous for its wild horses. While local legend has it that the horses are descendants of shipwreck survivors, the more likely scenario is that farmers brought them to the island to avoid taxes and fencing laws and the once domesticated animals have gone feral over the decades. Whatever their history, they are a unique and amazing sight to behold.
While the horses are often the main draw to the island, there is so much more to explore here. My husband grew up in Ocean City and we visit his family there once or twice a year. We’ve been to Assateague before for hikes and drives and camp fires on the beach, but for this visit we decided to also explore the island by water. My mother-in-law booked us on the Wildlife Discovery Tour with Assateague Outfitters.
We travelled (by car) to several different places this summer and tried to find outdoor, Covid-safe activities at each location. This kayak tour was a great one. Staff (and customers) wore masks at check-in and while distributing gear but masks were not required on the tour, as social distancing was easy to maintain on a kayak. The tour was only 8 people (the 6 of us plus two others) and one guide. We got our gear, chose our kayaks (you had a choice between single and double kayaks), and headed out.
It was fascinating to me that the water was no deeper than 3 feet throughout the bay around the island. When giving us our safety instructions, our guide joked that if we tipped over in the kayak, all we had to do was stand up. Waist-deep at its deepest point, the water was sometimes so shallow that it was actually difficult to paddle. The man way off-shore in the picture below is in water less than knee deep!
We kayaked along the shoreline for a while and then pulled our boats up on shore and started clamming. Our guide taught us how to dig our toes in the sand and feel around for the shells. It was all great fun until two of us got pinched by crabs and then we all got a little gun-shy.
We stayed in this spot for a while, learning about the unique ecosystem of the island and searching for various wildlife (marine, mammal, and bird). Our guide gave us all nets to explore around with and we found things like crabs, sea cucumbers, snails, and jellyfish.
Next our guide took out a seine net and let the boys drag it along shore for more exciting finds. They caught some more fish and crabs, which we collected in a container to view and learn about before letting them go again.
After plenty of time for exploring, we hopped back in our kayaks and headed through a marshy area on our way back. It was especially peaceful, calm and quiet on this stretch. We searched the shore for wild horses but never saw anyway. We did see a few different types of birds (which are surprisingly hard to photograph from a bobbing kayak so not all are included below) and some diamond back turtles.
This was our second guided kayak trip this summer and we loved it. Kayaking in Congaree National Park was a really great experience, but the hands-on exploration of this trip probably gave it a leg up for the kids. They loved getting out of the boat and exploring, catching things and learning about them, and breaking up the actual kayaking into two segments so they didn’t get too tired or bored. It was a unique way to get to explore some nooks and crannies of the island that you can’t see when exploring on foot.
With our wild horse quota unfilled (save for the ones we saw from the car right when we drove over the bridge), we decided to head out in search of some after our kayaking. We didn’t have to go far. Right down the street at one of the campgrounds, a band of horses were roaming around like stray dogs hoping to find some scraps. It was a bizarre sight to see them mere feet away from people’s camp sites. Not quite the beautiful, natural backdrop I had been hoping to capture them in (on the beach or in the marshland) but it would have to do. On the plus side, it allowed us to get really close to them.
After watching the horses for a while, we headed to the Life of the Marsh Nature Trail. The boys balked a little at taking a “hike” after a long day but once we arrived and saw that the trail was just a short boardwalk over the marshland, they were game.
We were thrilled to find a lone horse off in the marsh, eating happily. He was a little shy (or just really hungry) but he finally looked up so we could see his face. We watched him for a while, enjoying this uniquely Assateague experience.
When we finally pulled ourselves away from the watching the horse, there were lots of other things to be spotted from the boardwalk. Tons of crabs zipped along in the shallow waters and we spotted a surprisingly beautiful black and yellow garden spider spinning a zigzag web. Plus the view of the marsh from the boardwalk was amazing.
We had a fantastic day on Assateague Island. Its 37 miles of natural wonders really pack a punch. There are marshes, beaches, dunes, forests, shrubs and grasses, and each different ecosystem is home to unique plant and animal life. We loved learning about it and exploring it by water and by land. It is a must-visit for any nature and outdoor loving family.
