National Geographic Places Smith & Tangier Island in 2016 Best of the World List

Lancer RehobothBeach (Tripadvisor)

On Thursday, Nov. 19 National Geographic Traveler magazine announced its annual Best of the World list, placing a destination near and dear to many of Delmarva’s hearts on the list.

Tangier and Smith Island, located right on the Chesapeake Bay, were recognized on a list of 20 must-see places to visit in 2016, as chosen by the Traveler editors. Tangier and Smith Island were destinations chosen out of 34,000 submissions, placing the islands in a league with Bermuda, Greenland and the Philippines.

“This year’s Best of the World list truly represents travel’s superlatives,” said Maggie Zackowitz, National Geographic Traveler editor in chief. “Also we are thrilled to be the first major magazine to publish a reader photo as our cover image, especially one shot by an amateur photographer who bought his first camera just a year ago.”

National Geographic Travel creates authentic, meaningful and engaging travel experiences through their many magazines, producing eight issues per year and being one of the world’s most widely read travel magazine with 15 international editions.

Photo: National Geographic Traveler Magazine

Located just 12 miles west of Onancock Virginia on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Tangier Island is different from most of Delmarva. The residents on this island have no vehicles to travels around in; the transportation consists of golf carts and bikes for these folks. Small aircrafts can land on the air-strip on Tangier Island and access is available daily by passenger boat from Onancock, Va. and Crisfield, Md.

Tangier Island boasts natural beauty and offers eco tours, sunset cruises, and more.

Lancer RehobothBeach (Tripadvisor)

Smith Island is an island on the Chesapeake Bay, on the border of Maryland and Virginia boasting fresh soft crabs, the world’s best crab cake, striped bass fishing and homemade eight layer Smith Island cake.

Many may not know this but the island has been shrinking in size for centuries, due to a combination of its low elevation and storm erosion. In the last 150 years, Smith Island has lost over 3,300 acres of wetlands due to erosion andpost-glacial subsidence into the Chesapeake Bay.

Smith Island has no airport and no bridges to the mainland; it can only be accessed by boat. Passenger-only ferries connect Smith Island at Ewell to Solomons, Maryland, on the Western shore of the Chesapeake Bay and from Crisfield, Maryland on its Eastern Shore. Smith Island has been recognized as One of 5 great spots for “Dropping off the grid,” according to CNN.