The Cape May–Lewes Ferry

The Cape May–Lewes Ferry is the trip that belongs to these houses more than to a hotel in the middle of Cape May. The terminal is in North Cape May, a few minutes from The Delford and Fern. You can leave the house, be on the boat, and be in Lewes, Delaware, without a long approach.

The crossing is about eighty minutes, across the same bay you watch at sunset. The Delaware River and Bay Authority runs it. Cars and foot passengers both go. In summer, and on holiday weekends, reserve. Do not arrive assuming there is space for a car. The schedule moves with the season. Fares move too. Use the ferry’s own site the week you travel. This page will not quote a price that will be wrong by June.

Lewes is a small town with a beach, a main street, and enough for lunch. A clean day trip is an early boat over, a walk, a meal, and a return that still leaves you a bay sunset at home if the timetable allows. Check the last boat before you commit to a long lunch. Missing it means a night in Delaware or a long drive around the top of the bay, which is not a small detour.

You can also walk on and leave the car at the terminal. That is the better version if only two of you want to go and the rest want the pool. Confirm parking at the terminal when you book.

The boat is not a cruise. It is a working ferry. Sit outside if the wind is kind. The bay is wide and usually calm enough, and on a clear day you see the same low shore you see from the beach at the end of the block.

If the crossing is cancelled for weather, stay. The houses are the consolation: a pool at each, a grill, and the beach a short walk away. Read bay beaches for what that walk is like, and rainy days if the weather is the reason the boat did not go.