The first time we went to the beach (just visited, no camping) we were able to kayak into the ocean and fish. The second time the waves were way too intense. We still enjoyed our time overall though. We got there early and picked a spot. The park ranger told us that wherever the tide was at 11am, that is where it would be at 1am. We placed our tent accordingly. There was a weird swarm of gnats that showed up both times we were there. Just gnats though.
We walked along the beach and watched the beautiful sunset. We sat in our chairs as it got dark and just took it all in. Big. Mistake. I felt tingling on my legs and stated that the gnats were back. I turned on my phone light to see how many there were and to my horror my legs were covered in... mosquitos. I'm not exaggerating. My legs were absolutely covered. This of course led to a freak out session in which we frantically tried to put everything away and get into the tent. I dove into the tent and zipped it closed, only to discover they were still on my legs. I slapped and slapped and by the end my legs were covered in mosquito bodies and blood. We managed to kill most of the ones that followed us inside and then we watched as our tent was covered from the outside in a thin layer of them. It was at this point that I realized I needed to pee but we just tried to go to sleep. (The next day we realized that I had 150+ mosquito bites...)
Fast forward to about 1am. Boyfriend wakes up because the rain flap has come unstaked and is flapping in the wind. He tells me he will get it so I roll over to go back to sleep. He steps outside of the tent (the mosquitos are long gone) and firmly tells me to get up... now. Annoyed by this, I ask why. The panic in his voice as he urges me to get up, right now, is enough to urge me to get up and see what is going on. I step outside and see the waves gently hitting our tent. Our kayaks are one wave away from being carried away, the back tires of my truck are in a thin layer of water, our grill is submerged and the bathroom tent is flooded. We work together and get everything moved a safe distance away. Remember that park ranger and her advice? Yeah, don't listen to them. Put your tent and gear as far back as you can.
Even with all of this we still mostly like this campground. You just need to be aware of the tide and the mosquito swarm that will come right at dark. Be in your tent before then and you will be fine. We enjoyed fishing and crabbing and just relaxing. It is cool that you can go from marsh to ocean in 5 minutes all within the same park. There are definitely better beaches out there though.
Traveler
