Imagine sitting in your cockpit in a glass-calm anchorage, other sailboats lazily returning to harbor while the sun goes down. Sky is painted in the most brilliant colors of the sunset, the western horizon in particular, in various colors as the light reflects off of the clouds. In the nearby Coat Guard recruiting station, someone is playing Taps on the bugle. The brass color of the instrument matches the sky. Such is the anchorage at Cape May, a town that surprised me in almost every way.
I sailed to Cape May during my solo DelMarVa Circumnavigation – the DelMarVa Peninsula is the large peninsula that makes up the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. To its north is the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and to its east is the Delaware river. Both a challenging prospect, having to time the tide and current to safely make it to the Cape May inlets.
Cape May isn’t only beautiful, but it is full of attractions. The beach is typical New Jersey coast, but its isolated from the ‘Jersey Shore’ scenes further north. It is appropriately quiet. The restaurants and bars here are remarkable, and the bar live music, something I’m not a personally a huge fan of, is actually quite good. The food is great, and the people are real but hospitable. You can spend a whole week just bar-hopping, and it’d be worth it.
Some of my favorite attractions nearby include the NAS Wildwood museum. This is an aviation museum that is at an executive airport, which in turn has an interesting history as a World War Two training airbase. Unlike most aviation museums, this one is packed full of local history. A lot of tales from the relatively unsung heroes from that got their wings from this town, and some very cool exhibits that span from a century before to the cold war.
The Washington Street Mall has a very cool old town(e) vibe. Despite it being ‘touristy,’ I really enjoyed it. Everything in Cape May seems a bit more authentic than other tourist towns. Art galleries, ice cream stores, trinket stores were just a bit cooler. They host cool mini music festivals here, though I didn’t get to see any.
You can get here by car, but it is also a fine destination cruise. Although it is a popular stop for boat deliveries along the US East Coast, I highly recommend spending a few days here. I hope one day my business grows large enough to offer a long cruise to New Jersey!