To avoid hurricane season this year, we decided to head up the east coast (again) but with the goal of seeing the Statue of Liberty before heading back south for the winter. Once we made it to Cape May, NJ we had the option of continuing north "outside" via the Atlantic or going up through the NJ ICW.
When we got to Cape May the weather window for the Atlantic was non-existent for us - 6+ft waves and 10-15+mph wind for a week or more which would mean sitting around in Sunset Lake for a week or more waiting. Cape May is nice, but we've "done" that area before so we decided to do the ICW.
Everything we read and the youtube videos we watched were not very encouraging but with proper planning it seemed doable. We belong to SeaTow so I contacted all the captains along the route (Claude in Cape May, Sandy in Atlantic City, Walt in Barnegat Bay and Tim in Manasquan) for the local info, and planned to only travel on a mid-tide rising and stopping on or before the mid-tide falling.
The first day we made it to Ventnor City anchorage, day two was to Barnegat Inlet anchorage and day three was to Manasquan. Lots of no-wake zones so it kept the speed down, but we typically only travel 7-8mph so it wasn't a big deal to us.
Overall - it was a great trip! We never saw less than 6ft of water and that was rare. Mostly 7ft minimum and up. I will add that we were using Navionics and Aquamaps - and for this run the clear winner was Aquamaps. The relief shading and charted depths for the NJ ICW were spot-on! Also, be very careful using the Autoroute option in Navionics. It will put you on the wrong side of bouys and take you out of the charted ICW route in several areas. We followed the bouys, which matched perfectly with Aquamaps, and had zero issues. Not even any close calls!
One final note, there was a pretty consistent easterly/north eastern wind the entire trip which the SeaTow captains said was helping to push water into the ICW, and that a westerly wind would tend to push water out and cause lower levels. Just something to keep in mind.
Would we do it again? In a heartbeat! Lots to do and see along the way and places to dinghy to shore to provision and sight-see! Plus - NO 6+ft waves beaming us for hours!!
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