28-May-23
Delaware City DE - South Jersey Marina, Cape May NJ

• Start 7:53 AM
• End 2:10 PM
• Underway 5:40
• Distance 53 Miles
• Total Miles on Trip 115
• Avg Speed 9.4 Knots
• Weather - Cloudy, 57 Degrees, Wind 7 knots - ENE

We were the first boat off the dock with the group that left Delaware City Marina at 8:00am. At this marina you dock parallel to the dock, and it is easiest to peel of the dock in the order you are docked. There was a group that left at 7:30am, but we passed them in the bay very early in the trip.

The Delaware Bay was a little sloppier than I like to see, but it was still a very easy day. By the time we were in the middle of the bay the seas were 2 footers, with an occasional 3 footer for fun. The waves were hitting us on our port bow (front left) at about 45 degrees. While it still made for an easy ride, it was a wet messy one. By the time we arrived in Cape May the boat was covered in salt.

The good news is our bikes made it without getting wet at all. When we were on the Great Loop, our bikes were strapped to the bow rails, and even with the bike covers, the spray got under the covers, and pretty much destroyed the bikes. Now we keep them in storage totes, bolted in the center of the bow, with much better covers.

Other than Loopers there were not many pleasure boats on the bay, but we did pass a US Coast Guard Cutter heading north. As we got close to Cape May there were a couple fisherman but no one else.

About three miles from the Cape May Canal, it appeared that we would arrive at the mouth of the canal right at 1:00pm, the same time as the Cape May - Lewes ferry would be departing. The ferry terminal is right at the mouth of the canal. Both Matt (Inconseavable) and I decided it to increase our speed to avoid the ferry. We did find out that running at 15 knots instead of 10 knots made the ride a lot smoother, but it was not worth the increase fuel to do that.

Before heading to our marina, we stopped at a nearby marina for fuel. On our way down the bay, we called several marinas to find the best price for fuel. We ended up at Canyon Club Marina, where diesel was $4.16 a gallon. The prices ranged from that up to $5.00 per gallon, at 100 gallons it pays to shop around.

South Jersey Marina, is a well maintained marina located right next to the Lobster House Restaurant and the commercial docks. We shared a T-Head dock with Inconseavable. T-Head docks are our favorite type of docks, They are the easiest to get to, and more importantly the easiest to get off when we depart.

Around 3:30pm another looper, Beach Breeze (Greg & Lisa) dock next to us. Once they were tied up, we asked how their trip went, and Greg responded "not so well". They have only been traveling nine days, in their new to them boat, and Greg forgot to tie down their dinghy before they left Delaware City. When they arrived at the Cape May Canal the discovered that somewhere in the last 50 miles they lost the dinghy. He was very upset and we had them over for a few cocktails to take his mind off it. Hopefully it will be found and returned.

We did not do very much while we were in Cape May. At 4:30pm we had a Captains meeting with about 10 boats. The main topic for the meeting was who was heading north and when. From Cape May to Manasquan Inlet there are two routes we can take. We can head out Cape May inlet and travel in the ocean (Outside Route), or we can travel the New Jersey Intercostal Water Way (The Inside Route).

After the Captains meeting Angel & I got pizza, and headed back to the boat for an early night. Tomorrow we will be departing at 8:30am