Schooner Island - local knowledge

[aquadancer]

I am taking a Labor Day weekend trip to Schooner Island in Wildwood. We have been there a few times and always enjoyed the trip. We will have a rental car to help us get around the shore towns.

My questions is should I bring the dinghy? Are there restaurants / bars with dinghy access or other recommended places to explore by dinghy? Don't really want to carry additional 250 lb up and down the Delaware bay if I don't need to.

Thanks

 

[osd9]

There's the 'Wharf'....I think that's the name....just north on the other side of the 41 bridge. Neat place to dinghy up to for drinks/lunch. There also plenty of neat areas to dinghy around and explore. Sea Ray Mark will be able to chime in with some other spots....I know he dinks all around the area. If you want to dink to dinner, be sure to bring some portable running lights....it's getting darker earlier these days.

 

[gerryb]

Woudn't bring it to Schooners Island. I would bring it to one of the Cape May marinas however.

 

[Sea Ray Mark]

I am taking a Labor Day weekend trip to Schooner Island in Wildwood. We have been there a few times and always enjoyed the trip. We will have a rental car to help us get around the shore towns.

My questions is should I bring the dinghy? Are there restaurants / bars with dinghy access or other recommended places to explore by dinghy? Don't really want to carry additional 250 lb up and down the Delaware bay if I don't need to.

Thanks

If bringing your dinghy is a hassle for you, leave it home. There are 5 waterfront restaurant/bars in the area but you can walk to them just as easily (not as fun). There's plenty of exploring you can do with a dinghy but it depends on how fast and how far you can go. I recently purchased a "super dinghy" so I can quickly run to Cape May or head out to the ocean. I'm a happy boy! Mark

 

[Alex F]

Don't really want to carry additional 250 lb up and down the Delaware bay if I don't need to.

If going to restaurants is the only reason for bringing the dinghy I would leave it home. You better off renting a car for a day or two, which will open your choice of restaurants much more. Enterprise is charging around $45 for economy class and you can get 5% off if you have AAA. But, as with anything it's a matter of preference and of course the size and speed of your dinghy. With dinghy like Mark has it's a lot more fun though :grin:.

 

[Alegria]

Well having just come from there as we were out on the Big Blue Sightseer with the kids dolphin watching as we spent a long weekend in Ocean City and I had to travel back to my boyhood days of weekends out on our 22' cuddy cabin in Wildwood! I second Dom's advice on lights if you choose to take it, but since you will have a car there I would leave it home It will be a busy weekend with lots of traffic out there and I would not really want to dink around there at dusk or at night especially this weekend as the weather may be nice and that would lead to more traffic!

When we were down, there was the $500,000 tournament going on in Cape May and there was a lot of traffic from that event even down in Wildwood which I found odd. The best part was running out the rock pile at Cape May and having the Big Blue Sightseer sitting perpendicular to the inlet entrance and the Dredger from the Corp of Army engineers running up and down the port side of the inlet. Leaving a VERY narrow channel to get in the inlet. I am sure the captains of those 55'+ battle wagons were THRILLED with the situation. It was fun watching them run by at speed and having that big blue boat rock while watching the dolphins... Darn dolphins don't they know better then to hang out at the inlet entrance???? Anyway I enjoyed the trip it was nice and educational and cheaper then the Cape May trip. Tell them you saw the ad int he brochure and you'll get money off the evening cruise. I think for 2 adults and 2 kids (one was free) it was $68, which included pizza and hot dogs and a better view for the kids from the bow of the boat.

 

[aquadancer]

Thanks for the advice. One of the other boats coming with us decided to bring their 18' jetboat so local water transportation will be taken care of and my dink is staying home.

If anyone cares to stop by for a cocktail, we'll be at the C dock - Nauti Boys III (me), Musicman, and Red Sky