Chincoteague: Lighthouses, Wild Ponies and Pirates

This is a fantastic program!

A wonderful experience of a rich culture and friendly residents, as well as the ponies, seafood, shorebirds, history and aquaculture lore.

As with so many of the Road Scholar trips, the knowledge and personable nature of the group leader, Beth, herself a native of the island, added to the perspective of all of the presentations.

This was an enjoyable learning experience in a lovely area. I learned many new things and the food was great.

This program exemplifies the Road Scholar mission, offering educational experiences for seniors of all levels of physical abilities provided by knowledgeable, vibrant, passionate presenters who have personal involvement in the topics of the adventures.

Great way to see the beautiful Virginia seashore, with waterfront view accommodations, wild ponies, boat ride, seafood, interesting nautical history. Great for solo travelers.

Everyone from the admin coordinator, Pankey, to our fantastic guide, Beth, to the amazing museum director, Cindy, to the individual experts in their field were so helpful and amazing in their expertise. Beth is a lifelong resident of the island. Her passion for this little island showed in everything that she did. Each expert had a love of Chincoteague that surfaced in their stories, their paintings, or their photos. It was very easy to fall in love with their vision of Chincoteague Island life.

The week on beautiful & historic Chincoteague for me was full of interesting history, fascinating topics, & a well-rounded schedule of activities.

It is a great opportunity to see wild ponies, enjoy island life, experience the Atlantic Ocean & protected passages, view beautiful sunsets and nature, and learn about an intriguing history and traditions.

A fun and entertaining trip. Learned things about the history of the area that interested me.

This was my first Roads Scholar program and it exceeded my expectations. Chincoteague is an Island with a heart and that was evident in each person who contributed to the tour. It opened a new world so close but so very unique and beautiful!

This was a wonderful trip - seeing the wild ponies up close, learning about the shipwrecks along eastern shore of VA, meeting other Road Scholars who are "bird nerds" like me - it was another great Road Scholar experience!

This was an exceptional opportunity to see a beautiful barrier island and we would recommend this trip. April was a good time to go.

This was my first Road Scholar trip, but it won't be my last. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The program was excellent. What impressed me the most about Chincoteague, besides the wild ponies of course, was the passion each presenter showed for their community.

Wonderful Program! Very enjoyable! Great accomadations!

This was a great trip. I met so many new friends, and learned about other Road Scholar programs. Lots of places to see, so little time to do it all.

Assateague is stunningly beautiful and I loved the balance of organized program activity there and the time and ease to explore it on my own.

this program exceeded my expectations...which were moderately high to begin with

Strongly recommend the Chincoteague program. Mix of free time and lectures were just about right and overall found the experience most enjoyable.

The Chincoteague Lighthouses, Wild Ponies and Pirates program is a good way to learn about early American life on a barrier island. Speakers were mostly lifelong residents who were enthusiastic about their little remote community and it's rewards and trials. Good food is available as part of the tour or on your own. Nature and beach walks on your own are available (free with a Senior Park Pass) on Assateague Island. There is apparently a visitor center for the nearby Wallops Island space center. A car will give you the ability to add on a few days in Norfolk's waterfront for a more modern look at coastal Virginia. Keep in mind that Chincoteague is a 2-hour drive from Norfolk when making your flight decisions.

Had a wonderful time on the Road Scholar tour to Chincoteague Island in Virginia. We found all the bands of wild ponies over on Assateague Island during the "Safari" and pontoon boat ride and had great views of the lighthouse from land and sea! The beach was amazing. There was fantastic food daily with local seafood options and there also was a really nice wine tasting paired with small plates! Low energy required for the program but free time gave enough time to hike or beach. Had a great time!

Pony up and get on board with this adventure.

Great trip, fun, entertaining, and educating. Our Hosts Beth and Pankey did a wonderful job.

Unique and interesting insights into the history and traditions of Chincoteague Island. Enjoyable and fun. Peg Urban

This program included nature, history, culture, art, music, and current practices in an entertaining and informative manner!

The staff, instructors, and activities were delightful and engaging and they were very generous with their stories and knowledge. The islands were peaceful and quiet this time of year. Lovely small town charm, and a beautiful, quiet rural setting. I will definitely travel with Road Scholar again-so many interesting people and I made new friends that I hope to travel with again!

Overall very educational. Beautiful area. I learned a lot, such as the lives of wild horses, the truth about pirates, and how to raise clams! Great leader who was very approachable and entertaining. She arranged super guest speakers, most natives like herself. The singers were a blast-good to laugh! Meals were very good. Hotel well located but heat at night a problem. Great views of sunsets and marshes however. Wish we had chosen a later date, however. Still cold end of March and bird migration barely under way. Boat trip was very chilly and windy but they provided blankets. Also many shops not yet opened.

We learned a lot about an area of the country of which we knew little. We only heard about the pony swim, but little else. It was very informative.

The best domestic program I've been on so far! Group leader, Beth, is beyond awesome!

If you like horses and seafood take this program.

This is one of the best programs I have attended. from Resort to program to food - all superior.

This was the best Roadscholar program I've experienced.

Darcy Cole did a great job talking about and describing the wild ponies.

The staff was just great!

Super trip learned so much about area's history. This was my first Road Scholar Trip but it won't be my last.

The lectures were excellent.

Somewhat disappointing. A lot of that was weather related: gale force winds and rain most of the time we were there in early May. Too windy to go near the water. The bus broke down half way through the trip, and never reappeared. Luckily, we all had cars. There was scrambling to rearrange activities when all the above occurred, with limited success, because so many things weren’t open. Understandably, there was no boat trip. The shops in town weren’t open during the week when we were there, and had time on our hands. I would recommend the 3 day trip instead of the 5 day, because there just isn’t that much to do if the weather is bad. A high point was the small plates dinner and wine tasting! I have a shellfish allergy, and that vendor really put an effort into ensuring my plates were just as nice as the rest. The tour on the service road on Assateague to see the ponies was wonderful! My friend and I went back to the island another day and saw many more, along with the foals. This was my 6th Road Scholar trip, and probably my least favorite.

Navigation of the evaluation site is clunky. Almost gave up.

The hotel was beautiful with beautiful views. The ponies and the stories behind them and the annual roundup were very interesting.

It's difficult to leave Chincoteague Island without at least having absorbed even an itty bit of the islanders' passions and love for their environment. In an age of bustle, I found the islanders mentality and their love of their island and its resources quite refreshing. Our speakers were top notch and one could not have asked for a better group leader. I left the island with a nagging sense of that, someday, I'll be back.

Terrible weather – ALL week! Fortunately, everyone endured. Still, Beth did a masterful job working in all the activities on our itinerary. Except the canceled boat trip, which was the only wise choice. A suggestion: Please include in your pre-trip instructions a reminder to bring your National Parks pass, if you have one. It would have been useful to be able to get near the pony area during free time. Favorite thing was the band, 3 sheets - great fun! We also enjoyed both talks by Cindy Faith and the safari. Biggest disappointment was the chicken parmigiana meal at the Village; chicken and sauce seemed like warmed-up institutional food. Yucky canned peas as a veggie for everyone would have been better not included. Also, the loooooong wait for the crab cake meal would have been better with a green salad for the first course like every other meal instead of coleslaw served with the main course. Very awkward. They just didn’t seem to be able to handle our group. Perhaps choose a different restaurant? Accommodations at the Island Resort Inn were good. Very pleased. A microwave in the room would have been nice but not really needed. Breakfast food in the café was adequate, but there was not enough seating inside considering the awful weather. Hopefully that doesn’t happen often. High marks for making special dietary requests a priority. Thanks so much! This was our first trip with Road Scholar. Overall, it was well-organized and interesting. We hope to go again, as health and finances permit.

Great program. Very good blend of field trips and lectures. The highlight was getting to see the ponies, at one point up close as several, including a mare with a foal, came up to the side of the road as we passed. However, it included a nice blend of other presentations (lighthouses, aquaculture, pirates!) that really contributed to a well-rounded look at Chincoteague and Assateague. Definitely recommend.

This Chincotoeague Road Scholar Adventure was just what I needed after two years with COVID restrictions. Being in such a beautiful place, with friendly road scholars, having excellent programming and tour guidess was all uplifting. I learned a lot, was so grateful to be on an island and walk along the ocean and see ponies. I will look for other opportunities such as this one. Thank You Road Scholar and all that made this a joyful experience.

I love Road Scholar. I plan to rely on it for all of my travel experiences.

Chincoteague: Lighthouses, Wild Ponies and Pirates is an outstanding program. It is well-organized and administered. The wealth of speakers and local resources shared their passion for the area and culture. A true gem!!

An easy going program with a nice mix of activities and lectures. The "Teaguers" we met were friendly, welcoming, and very informative. Food was varied and good. Wine pairing dinner was fabulous. Accommodations, though basic and somewhat dated, were clean and hotel waterfront location on the Chincoteague channel was picture perfect. Overall, a very good and inexpensive tour. Highly recommend.

This program was fabulous. We enjoyed the pontoon boat rides with dolphins all around us. The wild ponies were the highlight- traveling with Darcy (who knows the names of all the ponies and told us what they were when we saw them). The ponies, bald eagles, dolphins, egrets, deer, Delmarva squirrels, osprey and many other birds and wildlife were so amazing. The lectures were informative and the presenters were knowledgeable. Our guide (Beth) had contagious energy, and joy. She was great and knows the islands well. The food was very tasty and we even got to go to the Island Creamery to have the best ice cream I have ever had. The hotel was fine with beautiful views from each room. Highly recommend this program!

We were made to feel like residents of Chincoteague. We heard from locals and transplants and came to see why they love the island so much. I want to return on a service project or my own escape from the world that is Chincoteague.

I believe this program should be known in the future as a "favorite". It certainly was one of mine.

Wonderful people, wonderful activities,wonderful time.

Great program, well presented and thought out to provide ample education opportunities as well as learning experiences and outdoor activities for all. Great group leader with ample knowledge of the Island.

We thoroughly enjoyed this informative and relaxing program. All of the instructors were interesting and entertaining, especially Cindy. Our group leader, Beth, handled the program very well from both a organizational and personal standpoint. We had two great opportunities to see the ponies for an extended time. The accommodations were excellent. The meals were very good, especially the small plated dinner. I thought that there might have been a bit too much free time based on the overall length of the program. I found the school bus that was used for transportation to be very uncomfortable and lacking in leg room for a tall person. However, the bus driver, John, was a very personable and a real delight to deal with. The island itself is charming and very relaxing, at least in the off season peak when we visited. The sunsets were magnificent as advertised. This is a place that we may choose to visit again based on our Road Scholar experience.

As a solo traveler, I enjoyed this trip beyond my expectations. I believe Beth, our Instructor and John, our Bus Driver were the best there is. Everything was organized for us and most enjoyable. Fellow travelers were very accepting of everyone else and I believe I have made some friendships that will continue on.

This was my 1st trip and I really enjoyed Virginia. The talks were perfect. People and tour guides were very kind and nice to each other. As a single traveler I felt very safe and taken care of during the this trip. I have signed up for a new trip in November going to Florida for 6 days with 2 other women from this trip. I came back refreshed and educated. Becki Kvitrud

The program provides a wonderful overview of the history and natural environment of Chincoteague and Assateague, as well as the diverse skills and pursuits of those living on the islands through the present day.

A fun, well-rounded introduction to this fascinating area of the Virginia Eastern Seashore. I went primarily to see the ponies, but learned a great deal about other aspects of the ecological viability of Chincoteague and Assateague. Enjoyed every minute! Highly recommend.