Captain Dans Around the Island Tours

08/04/2026

Capt. Dan’s 2027
Pony Swim Time
Prediction:
10-11am
On a low tide

07/31/2026

📷 Professional baby photographs.

I’m sure everyone on my page already knows, but DSC has such a high standard for their photography, every picture you get will be amazing.

I know for a fact, Darcy and Steve have on multiple occasions, hiked 100+ miles, just to get better pictures of a foal because “it was a little dirty in the pictures” they had already.

When you see an amazing picture, that’s what it took to get it.

Attention new foal owners!

Each year after the auction we offer new owners a deal on their foal’s baby pictures. Rather than the normal $10 - $30 per image we’ll offer you a very substantial bulk discount to purchase all the images we have of your new baby.

This falls under our “Personal Use License” which basically means you can do whatever you like with the images as long as it is for your personal use.

This is the only time of year we make this offer, because we think everyone should have their foal's baby pictures!

Please PM us if you are interested!

07/30/2026

Last minute Return Swim Availability:

I've got 6 seats available for the 2026 Pony Return Swim tomorrow morning on our 6 passenger boat.

- We leave at 5am
- Swim scheduled for 6am
- We watch the southern herd "diffuse" back into their neigh-borhood
- Then we cruise around the north end to see if any northern herd ponies are out.
- Plan to be back by 9am +/-
- $200 per seat.

Click the bookeo link to reserve:

07/30/2026

2026 Chincoteague Pony Auction Results:

Greater minds than mine will crunch these numbers, and I may have missed something, but from what I saw…..prices are back to “normal”, or 2024 average.

80 foals sold at auction:

73 “take home” foals totaled $394,600

Low was $3,000 high was $10,500
14 were online bids totaling $66,100
59 were in person bids $328,500

So the average price to purchase a foal and take it home was: $4,871……call it $5k

—————————-

7 “buy backs” that stay in the herd (buyer purchases the naming rights)

7 “Buybacks” for a total of $237,200
Low $20,000 high $60,000
1 was an online bid for $26,000
6 were in person bids for $211,200
So average price to buy one and name it: $34,000

————————-

Total for all 80 ponies sold: $631,800 with $92,100 of that in online transactions.

I didn’t include “non-pony sales”. And my numbers could very well be off. I just totaled them from the auction website, and I’ve got fat fingers 😂

Carry on.

07/29/2026

Pony Swim 2026 was a success!!

The wx was great, and it seemed like the process was fairly smooth. Our charter guests seemed happy, and I think our pony swim pontoon rentals were too.

Hoping the auction, and return swim go just as easy. 🤞

07/21/2026

Some photos of the past few days.

Raven’s fresh foal (born 7/18), a few eagles, and….. I don’t typically get excited about royal terns, but I was telling my “banded oyster catcher” story, and noticed 5 banded royal terns on the oyster rock.

I’ve not tried to look up the bands yet, but it looked like they all had an aluminum band on one leg, and easier to read band on the other.

I like the non-typical creature sightings, keeps things interesting for me.

Carry on!

CaptainDansTours.com

07/20/2026

Capt. Doug saw “a white dolphin” or something similar this morning. One of Doug’s guests got this photo.

Doesn’t look like what we had last year. 🤷‍♂️

CaptainDansTours.com

07/20/2026

Northern herd round up trip seats are now available for Sunday 7/26

* $100 a person (cash/credit, adult/child same price)

* We leave at 8am sharp and stay out til they are all in, or noon, whatever comes first.

* Trip is rain or shine, but we can't leave the dock with lightning in the area

* If the CVFC changes the date or time of the round up, we may have to cancel. If so, there is no charge (we collect our fee after the trip).

* More details in the booking link below, click that link to reserve.

07/17/2026

I broke a long standing record of mine Tuesday night. For years, the most eagles I’ve seen on a single trip was either 7 or 8 (I think it was 7, but needed 8 to break it).

Tuesday night, we saw 9 eagles on the 5pm trip. 2 at the start across from the Fairfield Inn (adult and juvenile), 4 by the lighthouse where Wildest Dreams had her foal that morning (2 adults / 2 juveniles), 2 in the trees just north of the Assateague Bridge (2 adults), and 1 adult in a tree in Cherry Hill Bay.

I have also become aware that my bald eagle sightings are out weighing my osprey sightings about 20 to 1. Osprey population looks like it could be in decline, or at least I’m not seeing them like I normally do.

Carry on!

CaptainDansTours.com

07/11/2026

**2026 Pony Swim Seats**

7/13 10am update: all charter seats are sold out.

We still have 3 rental boats available for the swim. I will add more details to that later today, but the basic info is already here.

We are also sending out 3 rental boats for the swim as well.

*Charter Details:
- Seats are $300 per person

- After they reopen the swim lane, we try to get a view/photos of the ponies/cowboys on the marsh before they leave for the parade (we will not see the parade).

*Rental Details:

- Rental boats are $1900 for the swim.

- Rental boats depart at the same time as the charters, and follow us to the swim lane. We will assist in anchoring the rentals on “the far side” of the swim lane.

- We leave at 5am (I predict a swim time between 9:30 and 10:30am).

- The event is rain or shine, and all the waiting is rain or shine.

- We anchor on “the far side”

- The swim itself lasts less than 10 mins.

- We place restrictions on where the rental boats can anchor up/be. Maneuvering around anchored boats, and anchor lines with the tide running is difficult. Our plan is to anchor the rental agent boat in a wide open area, and have the rentals come along side and tie off to either side of that.

- Max capacity of 8 adults and 2 children. Not to exceed 1600lbs total weight (ppl and your gear).

- Our rental agent/agents will be available to lead you to the swim lane (lead you, not drive the boat for you) assist with getting you anchored/tied up, and be available to assist if you get in a jam.

***If you want to book a rental SEND ME PRIVATE FB MESSAGE HERE, i’ll check messages when I get in at night and message you back. I’ll eventually need:

- Name, number and email
- number of ppl in your group

If this seems inexpensive, it is. I don’t take all I can get, I just ask for what I need. You are welcome to pay me more if you’d like to.

I will edit/remove this post as availability changes.

Carry on.