Other than a few quick visits, we have not spent much time in Chincoteague, Virginia, since my mom decided to sell the camper at Tom’s Cove Campground after my dad died in 1999. It was heartbreaking that we decided not to buy the site from her, but we only made the trip a couple of times the prior year because the kids had so many activities. We just did not have the time to enjoy all that Chincoteague had to offer. Life changed drastically for us when we no longer had J48 at Tom’s Cove.
At the time we had several smaller boats, including my dad’s 20′ Mako, so we sold everything and bought a larger boat that we kept at Podickory Point Yacht and Beach Club. An hour drive to the boat near the Bay Bridge was much easier to make for a weekend, or even a day, instead of the four and a half hour drive to Chincoteague. Boating instead of camping took most of our free time for quite a few years; especially when we upgraded to Liberty, our 41′ Silverton. It wasn’t until we decided to buy The Dirt Yacht to use once we retired that life changed again. With my hearing loss and cochlear implant surgery, vertigo made any long-term boating impossible for me. While i can still enjoy short fishing or boating trips, I can no longer spend hours or days on a boat.
When Kat bought her Tiffin Motorhome last year, she asked us to go on a shake down run with her to make sure she was comfortable handling her new-to-her motorhome. She asked to go to Chincoteague. I was reluctant because it was supposed to be a cool, wet weekend, but I am glad we decided to go. Tom’s Cove has not changed at all, except the campers have gotten older. J48 is still there, but it looks nothing like we remember. Our old travel trailer and the room Randy built onto it are no longer there. Its one of the few that have been upgraded. The town itself still has most of the older homes we remember, but there are more new stilt homes along Main Street. Randy’s favorite “little pink house” is gone! The most notable change we just happened to notice while driving around is that Inlet View Campground was leveled to make room for Sun Outdoors – Chincoteague Bay. Captain Bob’s Marina is now BluFin Bungalows & Marina. And these new businesses look nothing like the originals. No more falling down campers and old docks. We were excited when we found that Sun Outdoors was brand new and still had seasonal sites available for the 2024 season. We again made some drastic changes and cancelled our trip West with Fantasy RV Tours and booked the summer at Sun Outdoors and a seasonal boat slip at BluFin.
