Assateague Island National Seashore - South Beach

Berlin, Maryland
Managed by Assateague Coastkeeper

This is a public swimming beach located within the Assateague Island National Seashore, a remote beautiful barrier island off Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore. This beach has parking and limited ADA access by boardwalk. There is a cold outside shower and two bathrooms. It is located at the end of Bayberry Drive adjacent to the ORV access.

The park is a fee based National Park with public swimming beaches, campground sites, walk-in primitive camping sites, and limited off-road vehicle access. It is well known for great summer surfing, kite-boarding, and amazing surf fishing and is just a few miles south of Ocean City, MD

There is a kayak launch area at the end of Ferry Landing Road, and many educational walking trails on the bayside and in the dunes.

Assateague Island was once targeted for major development (4,000+ development lots!) and a citizen group The Committee To Preserve Assateague Island was founded by Judith Johnson and others to advocate for the preservation of the island as a National Seashore. Obviously they succeeded and today the Committee is known as 'Assateague Coastal Trust.' ACT hosts the local Waterkeeper program - the Assateague Coastkeeper. Learn more at www.ActForBays.org

At this beach location, be sure to take the "Life Of The Dunes" nature trail. A short walk along the path will bring you to the partial remnants of the old Coastal Highway tarmac. During the "Ocean Beach" pre-development stage for the island this roadway was built down to the VA line, with named streets intersecting it. There is still one street sign left to remind us of what might have happened to this beautiful natural barrier island had it been developed!

Find out more for Assateague Island National Seashore here: http://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm

This beach is monitored for bacteria by the NPS, and reported by Worcester County:
http://www.co.worcester.md.us/Envpgms/bathingbeaches.aspx

WATER QUALITY
  • No data available
  • Current Status
  • This status is based on the latest sample, taken on June 16th, 2019. Assateague Coastkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at
For water quality icon legend, click:   
CURRENT WEATHER
28°C
Mostly clear
  • Report Pollution
MONITORING FREQUENCY

Assateague Island National Seashore - South Beach is sampled weekly from May 20th to September 15th

SOURCE INFORMATION

Assateague Coastkeeper samples watersport recreation locations in Isle of Wight Bay, St. Martin River, Turville Creek and Herring Creek every Wednesday from the week before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Samples results are generally reported on Thursdays and Swim Guide is updated as soon as possible to reflect the latest results.

Our samples are measured for Entroccoci bacteria, which serve as an indicator bacteria for pathogens in the water. Analysis is performed by Coastkeeper Staff using the Enterolert Quanti-Tray 2000 system. The Environmental Protection Agency has set a threshold of 104 colony forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/100ml) as the single test limit for weekly testing. Samples recording less than 104 cfu/100ml are therefore considered "safe levels." Samples recording 104 cfu/100ml or greater are considered "unsafe" due to the increased risk of illness.

Worcester County Environmental Programs samples bathing beaches in Worcester County weekly during the bathing beach season. Samples are collected every Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and are tested for enterococcus bacteria. Results are available on Tuesday and Wednesday at the website: http://www.co.worcester.md.us/departments/env/beaches
A running geometric mean of each site, using a minimum of 5 samples taken over a 30-day period, is calculated. For enterococcus, the geometric mean should not exceed 35 organisms per 100 ml (35 MPN), with no single sample exceeding 104 organisms per 100 ml. Enterococcus serves as the sole indicator for evaluating water quality and determining beach advisories. An advisory is issued for a sampling site, if bacterial levels exceed the above state standards.

Coastkeeper cautions that bayside water sport recreationalists and swimmers should adopt a no swimming/no direct water contact plan for 48 hours on any bayside beaches or bayside water recreation spots that are adjacent to developed areas, due to the possibility of elevated bacteria levels from rainwater runoff and increased health risks.

Swimmers on the oceanside beaches of Ocean City and Assateague Island should check Swim Guide for bathing beach advisories after a heavy rainfall.

WATER QUALITY GRAPH

Assateague Island National Seashore - South Beach

Berlin, Maryland
Managed by Assateague Coastkeeper
WATER QUALITY
  • No data available
  • Current Status
  • This status is based on the latest sample, taken on June 16th, 2019. Assateague Coastkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at
For water quality icon legend, click:   
CURRENT WEATHER
28°C
Mostly clear

This is a public swimming beach located within the Assateague Island National Seashore, a remote beautiful barrier island off Maryland and Virginia's Eastern Shore. This beach has parking and limited ADA access by boardwalk. There is a cold outside shower and two bathrooms. It is located at the end of Bayberry Drive adjacent to the ORV access.

The park is a fee based National Park with public swimming beaches, campground sites, walk-in primitive camping sites, and limited off-road vehicle access. It is well known for great summer surfing, kite-boarding, and amazing surf fishing and is just a few miles south of Ocean City, MD

There is a kayak launch area at the end of Ferry Landing Road, and many educational walking trails on the bayside and in the dunes.

Assateague Island was once targeted for major development (4,000+ development lots!) and a citizen group The Committee To Preserve Assateague Island was founded by Judith Johnson and others to advocate for the preservation of the island as a National Seashore. Obviously they succeeded and today the Committee is known as 'Assateague Coastal Trust.' ACT hosts the local Waterkeeper program - the Assateague Coastkeeper. Learn more at www.ActForBays.org

At this beach location, be sure to take the "Life Of The Dunes" nature trail. A short walk along the path will bring you to the partial remnants of the old Coastal Highway tarmac. During the "Ocean Beach" pre-development stage for the island this roadway was built down to the VA line, with named streets intersecting it. There is still one street sign left to remind us of what might have happened to this beautiful natural barrier island had it been developed!

Find out more for Assateague Island National Seashore here: http://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm

This beach is monitored for bacteria by the NPS, and reported by Worcester County:
http://www.co.worcester.md.us/Envpgms/bathingbeaches.aspx

  • Report Pollution
MONITORING FREQUENCY

Assateague Island National Seashore - South Beach is sampled weekly from May 20th to September 15th

SOURCE INFORMATION

Assateague Coastkeeper samples watersport recreation locations in Isle of Wight Bay, St. Martin River, Turville Creek and Herring Creek every Wednesday from the week before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Samples results are generally reported on Thursdays and Swim Guide is updated as soon as possible to reflect the latest results.

Our samples are measured for Entroccoci bacteria, which serve as an indicator bacteria for pathogens in the water. Analysis is performed by Coastkeeper Staff using the Enterolert Quanti-Tray 2000 system. The Environmental Protection Agency has set a threshold of 104 colony forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/100ml) as the single test limit for weekly testing. Samples recording less than 104 cfu/100ml are therefore considered "safe levels." Samples recording 104 cfu/100ml or greater are considered "unsafe" due to the increased risk of illness.

Worcester County Environmental Programs samples bathing beaches in Worcester County weekly during the bathing beach season. Samples are collected every Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and are tested for enterococcus bacteria. Results are available on Tuesday and Wednesday at the website: http://www.co.worcester.md.us/departments/env/beaches
A running geometric mean of each site, using a minimum of 5 samples taken over a 30-day period, is calculated. For enterococcus, the geometric mean should not exceed 35 organisms per 100 ml (35 MPN), with no single sample exceeding 104 organisms per 100 ml. Enterococcus serves as the sole indicator for evaluating water quality and determining beach advisories. An advisory is issued for a sampling site, if bacterial levels exceed the above state standards.

Coastkeeper cautions that bayside water sport recreationalists and swimmers should adopt a no swimming/no direct water contact plan for 48 hours on any bayside beaches or bayside water recreation spots that are adjacent to developed areas, due to the possibility of elevated bacteria levels from rainwater runoff and increased health risks.

Swimmers on the oceanside beaches of Ocean City and Assateague Island should check Swim Guide for bathing beach advisories after a heavy rainfall.

WATER QUALITY GRAPH



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