Hey everyone, John here to let you know about one of Maryland’s best kept secrets: Assateague Island. We absolutely love this long thin sand island just south of Ocean City, Maryland and better yet it is a National Seashore. Did I mention the wild horses? They are all over the island and will get into your camp stuff if you are not careful (this time we were careful).
We stayed here three years ago, on our last trip, expecting to stay one night and ended up staying almost a week. I loved the great fishing, camping on the beach and some fun surf, although it was a bit small.
This time around I wanted to see what the beach looked like with more swell. With a low pressure system blowing in from the south, it seemed like a good bet… and boy was I right.
We pulled into the campground Monday afternoon and a quick check of the ocean showed small blown out surf, at about 1-2′, not exactly what I was hoping for. On the horizon, you could see a the storm starting to blow in so we battoned down our hatches and tucked in for the night.
The storm raged all night with pounding rain and wind that shook the van back and forth, making it hard to sleep.
I got maybe 5-6 hours of sleep in fits and spurts. As dawn broke, I could see the surf out the back window of the van: 4-6′ waves braking on the beach. We made coffee and went out for a look. It was still pretty stormy out, but the wind was starting to shift offshore. The air temperature was around 45 degrees and the water temp was hovering just below 60 degrees. 
I thought to myself ‘This might be as good as it gets so I better get on it…’ I suited up and paddled out. It was like trying to surf in a washing machine. The swell period was so short, whenever you went under a wave there was only enough time to get two or three paddle strokes in before the next one pushed you back to where you started.
Panting and exhausted I finally made it out beyond the braking waves. Looking back at shore, I had drifted about 50 yards from where I set off and on a completely different sand bar than the one I had intended to paddle to.
Taking off on my first wave of the session, the bottom of the wave dropped out from under me and sent me flying with the lip, straight underwater. Needless to say I needed to change my strategy. So, drifting with the current, I would pick off waves as they appeared, getting in early and committing to the steep drop. This worked with fantastic success. A few waves later and about a mile down the beach, I came in and jogged back up the beach to the campground for lunch.
After lunch, the wind now howling offshore, Emma and I went out to the beach to check the surf and look at some of the interesting seashells that had washed up with the storm surf.
The swell had spaced out enough that the waves were now coming in sets, instead of all at once and were even cleaner than before! This was as good as it gets, magazine perfect barrels, up and down the beach. 
I hopped into my cold wet wetsuit and ran up current from the campground giggling. Getting tube ride after tube ride, I surfed until my arms were noodles and my legs could not support another cutback.
The next morning, after another stormy night with little sleep, the surf was back to being 1-2′ and blown out, showing how fickle this spot really is. I feel so blessed to have been there at the right place at the right time and to have gotten it all to myself.
Emma and John by Van 