Our last night in Philly was a windy one. I kept waking up from the boat being bounced about a bit. Tuesday we made our way back down the Delaware River to Delaware City, DE. Which is the jumping off point to get down to Cape May, NJ. Along the way we continued our passing tour of NFL stadiums. We hadn’t noticed it on the way up, but on the way down we had a clear view of the Philadelphia Eagles stadium.

At the bottom of Delaware Bay, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, it can get pretty rough, so we’d have to wait for a good weather window. When we arrived at the Delaware City Marina we fueled up and then they helped us get turned around onto the dock.

The marina is in a narrow channel off the main canal. There is a super low fixed bridge (even too low for us) just past the marina, so it’s one way in and out. The current is also particularly strong through here and there is just one big long dock that everyone lines up on. So to get you facing back out in the right direction to leave, they use a line off your bow and pivot you around like a slow moving tetherball. The dock hands were very practiced at this.

By the end of the day the entire dock was full, with every last one being a Looper 😄.

The dock master here gives a nightly briefing of information to get you down to Cape May. He talked us through getting out of the canal with the current and what markers to follow out in Delaware Bay. He also pulled up the weather and reviewed the next few days forecast for wind and waves.

It looked like tomorrow was going to be the day to go, so we all coordinated when we’d be pulling off the dock. There were many boats here we knew so we chatted with them and discussed our next bit of travel plans.

This is also where our friends on ‘Tug Bussle’ started their Loop and crossed their wake. So that evening Russ and Janet came down and met us for dinner. We walked over to Kathy’s Crab House, which did have very good crab cakes! They were Maryland style with more meat, less filler. We came back to the boat and all hung out a little longer before they headed back home. It was nice to see them again and chat about their completion of the Loop.

Wednesday morning the whole line of boats were up somewhat early. One by one, the fleet made it’s way out of the canal and headed down Delaware Bay. Most of the way was perfectly pleasant, nice relatively calm water. The last 15 or so miles was a different story. Once we got closer to the bottom the waves picked up, coming from the side of course, and rocked us around a bit.  It wasn’t the most fun but we made it into the Cape May canal.

As we came into the Cape May Bay, we passed by the US Coast Guard Training Center, where Don came for basic training.

Not initially knowing when we would be coming down here we hadn’t made reservations anywhere. I had done the research and picked the top places we wanted to go to based on location and dock type. Floating docks taking priority, especially with our injured fluff (though she is doing better).

The whole way down I was trying to call different marinas to see if anyone had availability, knowing there was a whole gaggle of us heading to the same general area. We ended up going a little further up the New Jersey ICW to Schooner Island Marina. On the way there the wind was just howling and even the ICW was a little choppy in the more open areas. The marina was tucked behind a couple islands though and was much calmer, so we were happy with our choice.

The marina did have a pool but it was too cool out to want to go in, which was for the best since it was closed anyway. Although there were a few rebels who didn’t care.

The New Jersey ICW is notorious for not being well maintained. With extreme shallow sections that haven’t been dredged and sections where the channel markers aren’t accurate because the current has moved things around. Because of this, many people choose to go out on the Atlantic up the coast and come back in at various inlets for the night. The only problem with that is, ocean big, us small. And with the wind having been constantly blowing for many days now, the reports were showing 7ft waves ocean side. No thank you!

So Don went through our route in the ICW on the Waterway Guide website and made a list of any reported trouble spots. Also because of these issues it is recommended that if you choose the ICW route, you leave on a rising tide about an hour after low tide. Unfortunately that meant not leaving until almost 2:00pm. A much later start than usual.

Even though we were at a marina, I showered and washed my hair on the boat. Hoping to use up some water and lighten our load. Thursday afternoon before we left we got a waste water pump out to help with that as well. So at 1:45 we started up the ICW. Trying to make it all the way to Atlantic City was a race against the sun. There were soooo many ‘No Wake Zones’ that we had to idle through. Checking off the noted trouble spots as we passed them we’d go slow in those areas too. Luckily we didn’t end up having any problems.

Though it was a slow, winding path, we made it to Atlantic City a little after 8 o’clock, just before sunset. There was a Looper boat docked two spots over that we went and said hello to, and then just because we were where we were, we went up to the casino to check things out. The marina we were at was actually part of the Golden Nugget Casino.

Things were pretty quiet on a Thursday night. We saw on Nebo that ‘Never Home’ and ‘Yes Dear’ were here as well just a few docks over from us. After breezing through the casino we went to find them and say hello. We found them together on ‘Never Home’, they invited us aboard and we hung out for a little while.

Arriving so late today we decided to try it the other way around tomorrow. We planned to leave very early in the morning close to high tide. The next section of the ICW didn’t have as many problem spots to worry about.

So Friday morning we were up a little after sunrise and headed out. We were met with heavy fog and it was incredibly difficult to see the channel markers. The chart plotter shows them on the screen, so Don knew the general area we should be in and as we came up on each marker we could spot them.

After a little while the sun burned the fog off and we could see clearly again. All in all this was a much easier section to get through, and the last really. We came to Trader’s Cove, just south of the Point Pleasant cut that brings you to the last inlet for the Atlantic. From here there is no more ICW, you have to go out into the Atlantic to get to NYC.

So from here we will watch the weather and wait for a good day to make the jump. Saturday was certainly not it, it was a crazy windy day! The waves were just blowing right in at us, bring this foam with it. It would collect along the side of the boat, stick to the fenders and lines, and blow all over the dock. It was gross. Don kept rinsing it off but more just kept coming 🫤.

I took a walk to the local convenience store to get some extra supplies to make enchiladas and Don did laundry. The staff here is super helpful and even got us more quarters from the bank.

The weather forecast has been back and forth so we are still undecided on when to leave. In the meantime, the marina has a very nice lounge area with cable tv. Don was interested in watching the NHL finals game, so we hung out in there for the evening.

Sunday was much calmer. We took the fluff for a walk in the morning. She has been getting a little better each day and today she actually ran around in the grass 😃. Though she still favors her back leg when jumping in and out of the boat. The rest of the day we just hung out and did trip researched past NYC.

Having been debating whether to leave either this morning or Tuesday morning. The conditions on the Atlantic looked okay for today, but Tuesday looks even better so we made the call to wait until tomorrow.

Today the wave reports showed around 2.5ft swell height with a 5.9 second period. Whereas on Tuesday it is supposed to lessen to 1.9ft swells with a 7 second period.

Basically, the longer the time period is between the swells means wider smooth waves rather than steep sharp ones, more rolly, less bumpy.

So since we were sticking around today the fluff and I took a walk. She found just the best patch of grass ever apparently and was very excited about it.

We plotted out where to stop between NYC and the start of the Erie Canal and made a few marina reservations. From there it’s more or less a straight shot home 😄. The timing did work out to put us up the Hudson River at a certain marina that hosts a special event each year that I’m excited we will be there for. It’s supposed to be one of the Looping highlights. You’ll just have to stay tuned to hear all about it.

So here’s hoping our last major water crossing goes as smoothly as possible! 🤞