Unexpected Military Operation Shocks Cape May Beachgoers

If you were sitting on Cape May Beach or near the Cape May Ferry terminal, you may have noticed something very strange on August 7th.

Around 2:45 PM, multiple military helicopters were seen swarming the terminal as they headed toward one of the Cape May ferries crossing the Delaware Bay.

Beachgoers were speechless as these helicopters flew low over the ferry, while four small speedboats quickly approached and followed it.

Teresa Patrick, who was at Higbee Beach, said, “A ferry rolled in from Delaware, and they came back again, circling and taking turns hovering over the boat. Then four dark little speedboats showed up, following and surrounding the ferry boat (which looked more like a yacht to me). The boat would drift and then turn away from the little boats.”

For those unaware of what was happening, it looked like the military was trying to board a runaway ferry.

Josh Allison, who was on one of the Cape May ferries, said crews announced that these training exercises were going to take place so that “passengers would not be concerned that something was wrong.”

However, this didn’t ease the concerns of beachgoers, many of whom took to social media to upload photos and videos of the operation.

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Patrick added, “This went on for hours, with the speedboats surrounding and trailing the big boat while the Blackhawks hovered super low, almost touching the boat, and keeping watch. They finally made the boat turn around and, escorted by the little boats and helicopters, head back out towards Delaware, where it came from.”

The Wildwood Video Archive tried to reach out to the rumored government organizations involved to find out more, but as of now, no one has responded to our request.

This isn’t the first time a military training exercise has taken place on the Delaware River. Back in 2019, the FBI conducted a massive operation on the Cape May Whale Watcher.

During that exercise, helicopters flew right over the ship, and agents rappelled down on ropes. It turns out they were practicing a hostage extraction mission.

Many believe this week’s activity on the Cape May Ferry was a similar training exercise.

A special thank you to Heather Albert Scavo for providing the photos for this article. From her account, it seems the military operation started at the terminal as a staging area.

Below is a video from when the operation took place back in 2019. Before you watch please consider subscribing as we try to hit 100,000 subscribers)