Our Saturday Tour of Delaware Beaches--"Pack your Patience"

The tiny state of Delaware has around 30 miles of Atlantic shore line, and we decided to do something crazy--we explored that stretch of road on a weekend. Hang on to your sun bonnets, because it's a busy Saturday and it's going to be crowded!

Our Boondockers hosts warned us against making this trip. They know all about the summer weekend crowds. They don't go to the beach in the summer any more, because they much prefer the solitude of the spring and fall shore line. But we can't wait around for a less crowded day because we're leaving tomorrow. Their last words of advice for us today were, "Pack your patience." So we got in line with the rest of the state of Delaware and headed towards the ocean. We used some of that patience we packed when we hit the traffic.

Our first stop is the beach in Fenwick Island, Delaware. According to the Delaware tourism brochure entitled "Find Your Beach," it describes Fenwick Island as "Intimate and Easygoing." It's still early on this Saturday morning, so the beach does feel easygoing. We found that if you walk about a half-mile from the entrance of the beach, you could still find a slice of sand with few people.

Plus, it's a little cloudy this morning and wonderfully cool by the water. We have been blessed with nice temperatures so far this summer.

This is the most southern of all Delaware beaches. In fact, the state line is right at the point where we crossed over into the sand.

We found that an interesting thing happens at that state line. The cars on the left are in Delaware, and they must pay a parking fee to go to the beach. The cars on the right are in Maryland, and they can park for free while they are at the beach.

Denisa stood by the Maryland state line sign on the other side of the street. It does feel like Maryland is more welcoming to beach-goers.

We would experience that state line a couple blocks off the water as well. The border between these two states is not determined by a physical landmark like a river or a mountain top. It is determined by this "transpeninsular line." This stone marker was placed here in 1751 as the dividing place between the three southern Pennsylvania counties and the colony of Maryland. Those three southern Pennsylvania counties would later become the state of Delaware, and colonial Maryland would also become a state. So the Fenwick Island Lighthouse behind us is in Delaware, while the photographer was standing in Maryland in this picture.

The photographer was the docent at the lighthouse, and we enjoyed listening to his stories about it. It has been standing at this location since 1858, and its brick walls are 27 inches thick. 

Visitors may go inside to view the little museum, but we were only allowed to go up 4 of the cast-iron stairs leading to the top of its 87-foot height.

Our goal today is to visit several Delaware beaches, and to "experience" the weekend crowds. After leaving Fenwick Island, we drove 6.5 miles north on Highway 1 before our next stop stop at Bethany Beach. As we checked our beach brochure, it's described as "Quiet and Family-Friendly." Because finding a parking place (and paying for it) is a chore, Mark dropped Denisa off at the entry of Bethany Beach while he circled the area and she took a few pictures.

They have a nice entry to the half-mile-long boardwalk that has everything from crabs to crepes. More importantly, the entry is decorated with beautiful over-sized planters that caught Denisa's attention.

When she walked over the dune, she got her first look at the massive crowds on the Delaware beaches on a Saturday. We had read that this was a quieter beach with less crowds, but it looked pretty noisy and crowded this Saturday afternoon.

In the next stretch of Highway 1, we crossed the striking Charles W. Cullen Bridge over the Indian River Bay. The blue cables on the bridge look stunning against a cloudy sky.

It was a 9.5-mile drive to get to our next beach stop--this time on the bay side. Delaware Seashore State Park has beaches on both the Atlantic Ocean and the bay. We stopped to see the kite boarders that were enjoying the winds propelling them along the shore line in the bay.

We went back to Highway 1 and drove another 2.5 miles further before we stopped in at a quiet town beach in Dewey, Delaware. They don't have a fancy entry way or a nice boardwalk. That's probably also why you could still see some sand between the beach umbrellas here at the lesser-known Dewey Beach. Our beach brochure describes this one as "Young and Energetic." Maybe those young people haven't gotten up yet to fill this beach. Parking is also very limited, so Mark again dropped Denisa off during this beach tour day. Just like you, he experienced most of this beach tour via pictures.

It was only another 2.5-mile drive to get to Delaware's most popular sand at Rehoboth Beach. Last night, after exploring Cape Henlopen State Park, we found a parking spot and walked to Rehoboth Beach. We were here for the live music in the pavilion overlooking the ocean. They have performers here on a regular basis, and the chairs and the sidewalks around it were packed with people.

We walked out on the sand to see the ocean last night, when most of the sun-worshipers had left.

This boardwalk and beach are some of the most famous in Delaware, and it still had a nice crowd strolling after sunset. They offer a free beach and a free boardwalk--something we would learn is hard-to-find on the eastern seaboard. Of course the city still makes money on visitors, because parking is $3 per hour.

But on our Saturday afternoon tour of beaches, that same beach was packed! Our travel brochure described Rehoboth Beach as "Sophisticated and Friendly." Denisa didn't hear any friendly "hello" greetings, but we are in the northeast. We're finding that it's a less friendly culture than the midwest.

Rehoboth Beach only allows round umbrellas--no square tents or shades. The round ones can be packed together tighter on the weekends. We saw the back-row beach-goers on this busy weekend, ten rows of umbrellas away from the water. They couldn't see the water or hear the waves from their location so far away from the ocean--but they were at the beach! It was a crazy crowded beach on a summer Saturday afternoon! We hope all of them packed their patience today!

After our frantic tour of beaches, we were ready for some calmer touring. So we headed inland to the charming little town of Lewes, Delaware. We didn't know how to say the name of the town, but we heard some of the locals pronounce it like it was spelled "Lewis."

It is home to the Zwaanendael Museum. No, we have no idea how to pronounce that word either. The building is modeled after the town hall in Hoorn, in the Netherlands. The museum commemorates Delaware's first European settlement by the Dutch in 1631 that had the catchy name of Zwaanendael--the Valley of the Swans. 

Lewes is a charmingly historic town, just far enough away from the ocean to keep the crowds at bay. It was easy to find a parking place and then walk to several other historic places in town. We stopped in at the Ryves Holt House--the oldest house in Delaware still standing on its original location.

Built in 1665, its doorways were not made for the 6-foot-tall bodies that are more common today.

Down by the harbor, we were too late to get a tour of the Overfalls Lightship Maritime Museum.

Since Denisa loves to see light houses, she was of course interested in this lightship. In waters that are too deep to build a structure, the best alternative was a floating lighthouse. This lightship was one of the 179 boats commissioned for that job, and one of the last ones in the country open to the public as a national historic landmark.

It has been a good day of getting our first look at the 30 miles of the Delaware coast. Our Delaware host at our Boondockers Welcome site was certainly right when she said to "pack you patience" with the crowds. But it's obviously a nice place to visit or there wouldn't be so many people enjoying it with us.