Sept 7, Stone Harbor, NJ

Today we left Atlantic City for a 35 mile run outside in the ocean to Cape May, NJ. We were out about 10 minutes and decided that the weather was not nice enough to stay outside, so we turned around and took the inside route through the NJ Intracoastal Waterway.

It is calm inside but the route follows a winding path and will take us seven hours and about 60 miles to go the inside route.

We are following KIDS AGAIN, a 44 foot power boat from Elizabeth City, NC who was berthed next to us at the marina in Ocean City. Tide was high (4-5 feet above low tide) as we left Ocean City and went steadily out as we motored along.

Following KIDS AGAIN through a bridge.

By 1:30 we noticed we were getting into very shallow water even in the middle of the marked channels. By 2 pm we started seeing other boats of our size going aground. By 2:30 we were leaving a muddy trail behind our boat which indicates we are stirring up the bottom as we motor along. By 3 pm there was almost no water in many places in the channel. We were going very slowly and ran aground ourselves, right in the middle of the channel. We backed off and tried again and ran aground again and backed off a second time. After talking to Sea Tow and Boat US, the local boat towing companies, and the deputy on the sheriff's boat, found that this is a common occurance during periods of low tide and the only way to transit the NJ Intracoastal is the four hours before and after high tide and not within two hours before or after low tide especially at times of extraordinary high and low tides as they are having now.

Low tide is apparent by looking at the boats sitting on the bottom.

We decided we could not continue until the tide was up another 1-2 feet, so we found a nearby marina and pulled in for the night. We are staying at the Stone Harbor Marina and had a nice secure spot with power but no internet.