Putting the "Tour" in Tourism

Southern Delaware expands visitors’ horizons by offering new tours

BY TINA COLEMAN

EVERY YEAR BRINGS lots of new restaurants, activities, and events to Southern Delaware. 2022 is no exception. Of all the fabulous new happenings this year, several exciting tours are real standouts.

The growth of our inland bays’ aquaculture, for instance, is the catalyst behind tours offered by Delaware Cultured Seafood and Cape Water Tours & Taxi. Delaware Cultured Seafood is offering three tours. For landlubbers, the Cultured Pearl Tour starts and ends at the nursery where they raise oysters from the size of a grain of sand until they are ready for their journey to their oyster farm. Participants learn what’s involved in raising oysters, observe the grow out equipment and their process for creating a deep, cultured oyster. The Seed to Supper tour takes participants through the entire lifespan of an oyster raised at Delaware Cultured Seafood, starting with a trip through the nursery, where they raise oysters from larvae to seed. Then climb aboard the boat where you’ll learn more about oysters as you ride out to their oyster farm where you can watch them bring up a couple of shuckers from below the boat. Group tours are also offered.

Cape Water Tours & Taxi offers Inland Bays Oyster Experience tours, which feature a visit to one of the open-water shellfish lease areas. Participants will have a chance to learn about the process of growing these tasty bivalves from seed to market. A former Delaware Sea Grant aquaculture specialist will explain some of the ecological services provided by a robust aquaculture industry and share information about where the public can purchase local oysters for their own enjoyment.

Leah Green and Dubi Mejia at Arrowhead Point Oysters farm in Rehoboth Bay.

Photo courtesy of Cape Water Tours & Taxi

Delmarva Discovery Tours has added a Wine, Lavender, and Baby Lambs tour to its extensive lineup which also includes farm tours, brewery tours, and kayak and stand-up paddleboard eco tours, among others. The Wine, Lavender, and Baby Lambs tour includes stops at Good Earth Market and Organic Farms for a wine and cheese sampling, a private tour of Brittingham Farms—a fourth-generation farm located in Millsboro specializing in grain, Heritage Breed Leicester Longwool Sheep, baby lambs and lavender—followed by a wine flight at Salted Vines Winery.

Photo courtesy of Brittingham Farms

Additionally, Jolly Trolley offers a Lavender Fields Private Tour and Tea. Explore the pristine Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, then enter the world of lavender fields, coupled with European tea in the garden’s tearoom. They’re also offering “Books on the Bus,” a scenic Southern Delaware tour with a local author. Recent tours feature author of The Dreamcatcher, Ed Moran. Tour participants step into the pages of the book while local author and history buff Moran takes them on a journey throughout Southern Delaware to visit scenic and historic locations from his book, including the Nanticoke Indian Museum.

The Lewes Historical Society has added a new walking tour to its 2022 lineup, Finding Their Voices: African American History & Legacy of Lewes. Participants tour the area surrounding their historic complex and learn about the surviving landmarks in Lewes’ history and the preserved stories of this diverse community over the centuries.

Of course, these are all in addition to the numerous and fascinating walking, cycling, paddling, and driving tours offered throughout the county that have been entertaining and educating visitors and residents alike for years. For more info on tours in Southern Delaware, visit visitsoutherdelaware.come/toursside-trips.

Tina Coleman is the communications manager at Southern Delaware Tourism.