Qualla: Cape May-Lewes Ferry

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0. The ships that launched the Cape May-Lewes Ferry in 1964 were somebody else's discards. Five vessels -- four steamships and a converted World War II landing ship -- bought from Virginia's defunct Little Creek-Cape Charles Ferry, which had been killed by the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel that same year. One state's obsolete fleet became another state's brand-new transit link. For more than sixty years now, those ships and their successors have been making the 85-minute crossing of Delaware Bay, connecting North Cape May, New Jersey, with Lewes, Delaware -- the final crossing of the Delaware River-Delaware Bay waterway before it meets the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, the ferry transformed from utilitarian transport into a floating tourist destination, complete with a vessel once described as a miniature cruise ship.

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Image: Acroterion | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: Virginia's Leftovers

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PointsofNoReturn, CC BY-SA 4.0. The idea of a ferry across Delaware Bay surfaced as early as 1926, when planners proposed using a World War I military ship to carry passengers and cars. That scheme died within months. It took the Delaware River and Bay Authority until October 17, 1962, to conduct a trial run, b...

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Image: PointsofNoReturn | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: Three Lighthouses in Eighty-Five Minutes

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Smallbones, CC0. The crossing itself is the attraction. Eighty-five minutes across the widest part of Delaware Bay, where the river system finally meets the Atlantic. Each vessel carries up to 100 vehicles and 800 passengers, their shallow-displacement hulls sitting almost barge-like on the water...

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Image: Smallbones | CC0

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: The Miniature Cruise Ship

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PointsofNoReturn, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the 1990s, the fleet underwent ambitious renovations that attempted to turn utilitarian ferries into attractions. The MV Twin Capes received a $27 million overhaul between 1994 and 1996 that replaced everything above the second deck with four new decks, multiple lounges, a new...

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Image: PointsofNoReturn | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: Weathering the Bay

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0. Delaware Bay has tested the ferry service repeatedly. On December 10, 2009, the New Jersey ran aground on a sandbar near the mouth of the Cape May Canal during an unusually low tide, freed only by the rising water. On March 30, 2019, a vessel lost power with 143 passengers aboard...

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Image: Giorgio Galeotti | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cape May-Lewes Ferry: More Than a Ride

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PointsofNoReturn, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today the Cape May-Lewes Ferry operates three vessels -- the MV Delaware, MV New Jersey, and MV Cape Henlopen -- running daily service between terminals that both feature distinctive glass-enclosed towers and elevated walkways. Shuttle buses on both sides connect the ferry to des...

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Image: PointsofNoReturn | CC BY-SA 4.0