In May 2019 I went from
Annapolis to northern
New Jersey. The
draft of the
boat I was on was 5 feet. We touched bottom multiple times. Going through the
ICW in NJ is narrow and shallow. Fortunately, it is soft mud bottom.
About the only way to avoid plowing through the mud would be to move 2 hours either side of high tide. Rather time consuming.
Good luck.