Long Island to Chesapeake over holiday weekend

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mengel60

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It's looking like an unfortunate lining up of circumstances may necessitate bringing the new boat from Long Island to the Bohemia River over the Memorial Day weekend. Hoping to get some input on best places to put in for fuel, repairs if necessary, or to run and hide from the weather, and how the holiday may affect our options. Looking to leave at first light on that Friday morning, taking probably an hour to exit at Jones Inlet, running open ocean from there down the coast. Uncle has shore house about half way between Cape May and C&D canal, which was hoping to get to the first day if everything goes perfectly, and we all know how that can go. Boat is a 36ft express, 300 gals fuel, 16-20 mph cruise depending on lots of things, burning 25-30 gph.
 
How much does she draft? On the plus side, you can run from the weather down the ICW in Jersey -- but entrance points can be shallow. You might want to keep Belmar on your short list for repairs, and I can highly recommend Stone Harbor (about 10 miles north of Cape May).
 
Thanks for the info. She has prop pockets, draft listed at 2.7ft, which should be pretty close. We're hoping for good weather to run outside with, figuring it would be faster that way.
 
I would recommend running outside – ICW is way shallow. Seaview Harbor Marina in Longport is convenient for gas. Be careful coming in to this marina though – there is a sand bar in front of the entrance (well charted), go way around. Be careful entering when on the incoming tide due to sea wall setting up currents. This is also the place for repairs (call Graefs in Somers Point for repairs) and there is a West Marine nearby. Next stop for gas – Utsch’s Marina at Cape May harbor with a good restaurant next door. Take the Cape May Canal down to Delaware River (watch for big ferries pushing mud). On the C&D, Summit North is a good place for gas (and restaurant) – should be couple hours to Bohemia from there.
 
MikeeH took the same trip about 3 years ago after buying a 351 Silverton. Maybe you can find his post- as I recall it was one of the longest threads in BE history.

#1 item that needs to be on your list- go thru all the mechanicals before shoving off! I ran my (newly purchased) 20 year old Silverton over 450 miles to get her home, and the preparations paid off with no mechanical issues at all.
 
Yep, been there, done that, got a lot more than the Tee shirt!!

OK, here's my advice based on my experience May/June 2005....

First, Since your departure is south shore or north shore LI make certain you have someone with local knowledge of the waters show you the charts for your route to the ocean. There is a lot of skinny water in the area and the NavAids do a switch on direction in places.

Keep careful watch when crossing the shipping channels into NY Harbor. Forget about The Rules of the Road because the big guys are not stopping or changing course for you. Your best tactic is to just stay clear of them.

I strongly recommend that you run outside from LI until Cape May if at all possible. Running inside the ICW in NJ will add days to the trip and you will risk groundings in many areas if you are not familiar. If bridges are an issue for your boat then you'll find plenty to deal with on the ICW.

Plan escape routes in case of weather, mechanical failures, etc. We had a mechanical failure when we were about 11 miles off the coast of Long Branch (North Jersey) and we were not able to raise help on the VHF. Fortunately we limped within cell phone range and got TowBoatUS Pt. Pleasant on the phone. We didn't need a tow but we did need a plce for haul-out and repairs. Captain Tom of TowBoatUS was super, gave us directions and even made sure the boatyard was ready and waiting for us! I also will recommend that you just follow the NJ shoreline all the way down, staying 3-5 miles offshore.

Watch the inlets in NJ. Some are really nasty and other are pretty tame. Based on the recommendation of TowBoatUS Pt. Pleasant we found our way into the Mannasquan River Inlet pretty easily. Brielle Boat Basin on the Mannasquan River is a full service boatyard with good fuel prices. Thanks to a blown tranny they became our home for a month and I can't say enough good things about them. They are on the north side of the river immediately after the RR bridge about 1 mile in from the inlet. The current near the RR bridge can run pretty hard at times be we managed it with 1 tranny out of service on a 38' twin engine convertible so its not a big issue. BTW, if you should want to stay overnight at Brielle Boat Basin you'll find some decent resturants and watering holes within a stone's throw of the boat yard.

You can get into Atlantic City pretty easily but fuel and slips there will be more expensive than other places. But then, AC has some other activities that may interest you!

Our next stop after leaving Brielle was Cape May. We chose South Jersey Marina because it was convenient to the Cape May Channel and (most importantly) within walking distance of The Lobster House. Clean marina, excellent staff and good fuel prices.

Fill-up the fuel tanks before you leave Cape May because you have a 60+ mile run before your next fuel opportunity in the C&D Canal (where is your Uncle's place???). Leave Cape may early in the AM so you beat any afternoon storms on the Delaware Bay. The Delaware Bay has no convenient services and only 2 moods... pleasant and nasty. If the wind is coming out of the north at anything over 15 knts on an incoming tide you could be in for a ass whooping!

Once in the C&D you're home free. Where are you headed too?
 
Thanks Mike, I am going ot be taking hte reverse route in 2 weeks or so, so thi sis very useful info.
 
Thanks for the info Mike. My uncle's house is at Seabreeze, I believe a couple of miles from the Cohansey River entrance, and maybe 10 or 12 miles downstream from Artificial Island. I'd love to make it to his house the first day, but I think it's unlikely. More likely, we'd be fortunate to make it to Cape May. We're ultimately headed to Bohemia Vista Yacht Basin on the Bohemia River.
 
The run from Jones Inlet to Cape May in a day is doable in your boat if equipment and weather cooperate. Figure a long 10 hour run dock to dock including and a fuel stop.
 
You can run inside the ICW from Pt. Pleasant to AC if necessary. Good charts and a good chartplotter will keep you out of trouble.

Do not run the ICW south of AC. You can easily make AC to Bohemia in 1 day, but Cape May would be the prefered stop. South Jersey Marina or The Cnayon Club are the better marinas down there.
 
Thanks all. We leave for New York tomorrow afternoon, then leave the dock Friday morning. Weather so far looks okay. Should be a good trip.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. Completed the trip with no mechanical issues at all, the boat performed well. The ocean was pretty rough, considering it was a nice day. Had to use a bit more engine rpm than anticipated, along with the higher fuel usage, but had no mechanical or fuel issues, so I was happy with the trip. Mike, you were right on about the time. Took about 10 hours to reach Cape May, where we stayed at Utsch's Marina, where they were very friendly and helpful, and we were very appreciative of that, being some very tired boys. The second day on the Delaware, we were blessed with pretty flat water almost the whole way home to the Bohemia. Second day only about 6 hours, and still no issues. Thanks again guys, and see you out there!
 
Wonderful! Its really a neat trip.... well, when all goes well!
 
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