the call of the ocean

i was born on an island and the sea is my life blood. even so, we rarely manage to make the trek. virginia beach is a 3-4 hour drive from here, not far really, but too far for day trips. my mother is visiting and while dan was on his great journey to the other side of the planet, we made our way for a few days on the coast. this was tristan's first visit to the ocean!

we started out with an overnight at virginia beach.

there were dolphins the next morning. they weren't putting on a show, 

but we saw a line of fins pass by. that alone brought great satisfaction!

and then we headed to chincoteague island! we checked in to our hotel and 

headed straight for the beach on assateague island. it was lovely.

on our way back to the hotel we stopped to see the assateague ponies. they were penned up for the pony swim. the more i learned about the swim, the more disgusted i became. 
i knew that if we watched it i would find myself deeply sad, so we settled on observing 
the sweet animals in their pen. aside from a few feisty foals and over-protective mares, 
 there was so much love and affection on display in that community of wild horses.

 

our second day on chincoteague and assateague was spent fully on the beach. 

it was a beautiful, breezy, sunny day.

we had a tasty fresh seafood dinner that evening, prepared for us at a local fish market. 

and then we observed the fullish moon hanging over the town.

the next morning we departed and sped home to greet dan who had already 

returned from his journey to tibet. the stories and photos from his amazing trip are 

still unfolding as he adjusts to the huge time difference.