Ocean City , NJ ?

[Beausoleil]

Anyone familiar with Ocean City, NJ as far as cruising is concerned? My sister's renting a house there at the same time we'll be passing by on our trip from Boston to Annapolis. Any reasonable anchoring grounds there, or in Atlantic City? Anchoring in Cape May might be a problem for a 51' Formosa, but is OC any better?

[Vasco]

Lots of room to anchor in Cape May up to about 6 1/2' draft.

[JCDuffy]

Access into bay is limited by bridge - about 65 ft clearance. Inlet is tricky. If these work for you there is anchorage space off Somers Point and fine restaurants nearby. Be careful crossing bay, center area is shallow, low tides I stay close to shore bordering OC, then turn right lined up with hospital. Local knowledge.... Beautiful place.

[Cruiser2B]

No personal experience, But met a guy on transient dock who stayed there. Got stuck with 9ft draft somewhere in the inlet. And said that Large Sportfishing boats were very inconsiderate and threw very big wakes while he was anchored. Like i said this is second hand info but he recommended against it. Good Luck on your trip!

[Mike Vogdes]

There's a nice little hidey hole just inside the Absecon inlet (Atlantic City) on the north side of the inlet that lots of cruising boats take advantage of...

Rum Point Atlantic City NY - YouTube

Then at the Great Egg inlet (Ocean City) there is a really nice resort marina Seaview Harbor Marina just inside the inlet. Plenty of water and will accommodate your boat nicely, Seaview Harbor is only a few minutes from Ocean City and would be a good spot to entertain your family, nice pool with jacuzzi, private beach, gourmet Italian restaurant, good spot..

If you can clear the Ocean City bridge I see cruising boats anchored just off Rainbow channel in the Somers Point area once in a while, the weekend traffic will be annoying though.

[chef2sail]

I lived in Ocean City, NJ for 18 years in the Gardens area overlooking the inlet and saw many sailboats each summer and fall ground in the inlet. A few lost their boats.The inlet is trecherous at best with moveable ball buoys which change on a daily / weekly basis so thy are not charted. It has shoals on either side of this wide inlet extending al out 1/2 mile out into the ocean. In the afternoon with the predominate onshore SE breeze the swells break and roll across the inlets in good size breakers on most days. An outgoing tide makes it twice as bad. The shifting winding channel is located on the southern side of the inlet. I have sailed in and out many times on a hobie cat and gotten stuck on the sandbars. I would not transit this in a 50 foot sailboat with a deep keel.with no local knowledge.

As far as anchoring, the Rainbow Channel is fraught with shoals also. This marshy area is also home to the NJState Bird the carnivorous greenhead fly. Lots of Mosquitos here

The Absecon Inlet Atlantic City anchorage area across the inlet from Clam Creek which is used by transmuting boats has a dredge pipeline across it last time iawas there and is not available although that is a good anchorage area. You can anchor east of the bridge, but be warned it has a 4knot current.

Cape Msy has a great anchorage off of the Coast Gaurd station. You will be up early in the AM as the sport Fishers and the canyon boats head out.

We take a trip from the Chesapeake to the LISound every year (we are leaving August 16) . The only three safe NJ inlets are Cape Msy, Absecon (Atlantic City) ,and Manesquan. We do go in Barnegat which is dangerous also, but have good local knowledge. We NEVER go in Great Egg as its way to dangerous.

Feel free to PM me for more info.

Dave

[LiamOliver]

As a child, I learned how to sail in the Great Harbor Bay and Inlet in a Hobie Cat. One of the first things you figured out is how to efficiently move from one place to another depending on the tides. I could only imagine the difficulty in navigating a larger vessel in the area around the inlet.