Why the Ferry is a Reliable Year‑Round Travel Option
It took an historic snow cyclone on the Mid-Atlantic East Coast to close the Cape May- Lewes ferry for six days in January 2018, the longest time on record the Ferry has stayed in dock. Normally, the Ferry sails 365 days a year, only stopped by the worst hurricanes, wind storms, and now its first encountered snow cyclone. Once the announcement went out on CMLF.com that the ferry was resuming sailing on January 10, passengers started to show up. Here’s a cross-sampling of the first few to drive through the tolls, each happy to just be on the move again.
First to drive through the tolls was Arliss Orem of Travis Specialized Transports. He was easy to spot in his bright red truck. Working for Great Lakes Dredging, he travels on the ferry 6-7 times a month, but had to drive around this morning to get to a work event. He noted that one accident on the 95/295 intersection this morning caused him a two hour delay. “Traffic is much more unpredictable than the ferry,” he stated adding that he takes the ferry because he is time sensitive.
David Kelton and Terri Bassler were on their way to an annual Waterman Trade Show for commercial fishing in Ocean City, MD and had all their event gear loaded in a truck and SUV. Due to the weight of the truck loaded with trade show exhibit material, Kelton would only take the ferry and was waiting for the first sailing since the ice storm.
Kris Bosela was also willing to wait it out as he was visiting his grandparents in Cape May Court House before beginning an 8-week physical therapy internship in North Carolina. His van was home reconfigured inside to be his home away from home if needed complete with sleeping gear, clothes and everything a young man getting started out in life might need.
Aubrey Hooker was headed home to Virginia Beach. He, like Orem, was working a Dredge job in New Jersey and would have had to drive around to get home tonight. “I hate the three-hour drive to Maryland,” he said and was glad to be able to catch the boat.
Equally happy for the ride was Adam Carson, a sales representative for Novo Nordisk’s diabetes services division. Carson’s territory was recently expanded to include Atlantic City in addition to his Vineland, Cherry Hill, and Wilmington, DE areas. He was already on his computer while waiting for the Ferry and was looking forward to moving forward while being off the road and out of the driver’s seat. Other passengers included a marine enthusiast taking his boat to warmer Florida waters for winter sailing as well as late snow birds in an RV and many other standard vehicle passengers happy to just be getting back to normal after the historic weather event.
