Floating the Deleware in Frenchtown

Photo Credit: Jessica Pirela

What: Delaware River Tubing Trip
Length: Approx 4.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Family Friendly: Yes
Pet Friendly: No

This past Sunday we decided to take a day trip down the Delaware. Tubing is a lot of fun, and even with the ridiculously cool weather that we've had this summer, the water was still a warm 75 degrees.

After some time looking around for a place that left somewhere out of central jersey, we found Delaware River Tubing (http://www.delawarerivertubing.com). The first thing that I have to say is that the music on every page of the website is enough to drive one psychotic. Beyond that, the website is fairly easy to navigate around and get the information that you need.

What was really nice about this particular trip was the fact that it came with a mid-point lunch. I think it came to something like $25 per person for single tubes per person after tax, etc. Discounts are available for groups of 18 or more. The kicker was the $6/car parking fee. They do mention this on the website, but not in a particularly loud manner. I figure at $25/adult for what is essentially a tube rental and a 6 mile van ride, I think they can let me leave my car in the grass on the house.

After you get shaken down for your $6, it's a fairly quick process of getting paid and signing your life away (wavers). Were I to do this out of here again, I would certainly fill out the waivers ahead of time (available here). It will never cease to amaze me how some people (generally read: Mothers from east jersey) will stand in the middle of a line filling out a form preventing everyone else from accessing the forms, just so they don't lose their place in a two person long line. Turn in your waivers, grab a tube and get on the bus. The bus is only going to take you back to the bottom of the hill on Rt 29 to the boat launch and let you off. The 6 mile drive is at the other end of the trip.

Photo Credit: Jessica Pirela

You may or may not have noticed that the website offers "snuggle tubes" which are those Siamese Twin tubes. We didn't take one out, but after watching several miserable couples all day, I learned that one should never use one of these unless you and the person you are riding with are the exact same height and weight and plan on entering and exiting the tube simultaneously. There were several instances of flips, but the most amusing were the couples where the smaller of the two in the tube would be riding almost completely out of the water while the tube listed heavily towards the heavier of the pair. Hysterical, but not, I imagine, if you are in the tube.

Almost as soon as we got out on the water, the whole river was buzzed at an altitude of approximately 8-10 feet off the water by a single seat, prop driven airplane. All I could picture was McWatt cutting Kid Sampson in half in Catch-22. Not pretty. But, I digress.

The ride itself is more or less what you would expect from a tubing trip. Lots of lying about in the sun and relaxing. The water seemed to be moving at about 1.5 mph which is a guess based on the fact that the trees were passing slower for me than they would on foot. (My average foot speed on the trail is approx 2.5mph, so I am making a guess here.) When I got out of my tube for a swim, I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth the bottom of the river was. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because you won't be stubbing toes or cutting your feet on sharp rocks. It's a bad thing because the bottom is slippery with a thin layer of algae and other miscellaneous slime making it almost impossible to hold yourself still on the river by standing up, although it makes for an incredible snowboarding simulator.

About halfway into the trip, you're going to start seeing signs for the Delaware River Hot Dog Man. This is where you will have your lunch for the day (I think it's the blue wristband). The price you paid for the trip includes 2 Hot Dogs or a Cheeseburger, a drink and a bag of chips or frozen candy bar. The stop also has things that you may have lost or forgotten to bring in the first place. A fine example would be my sunglasses which are residing somewhere on the bottom of the river at this very moment.

Beyond Adventure Island (where the Hot Dog Man is), the river slows down considerably and just coasts down towards the offloading area. When you start to see 6 or so bridge pylons ahead in the river without a bridge on top of them, you and your party will need to start paddling over to the left hand side of the river where you will get out of the water for your bus ride back to your car. fin.

What to bring:

• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses (and croakies). The croakies are incredibly important since my last pair of sunglasses lasted approx 30 minutes on the river before becoming part of the river bed.
• River shoes of some type. I don't recommend flip-flops since they are not firmly affixed to your feet. Personally I prefer my six year old pair of Tevas, because they have the back strap keeping them on your feet tightly, yet still leave the top of your feet open. Other people seem to prefer actual water shoes that cover the foot completely, but I find these uncomfortable and they take longer to dry out.
• A watertight box like this. This is probably the most important item you will bring with you. Ever so necessary for holding cameras, cell phones and your wallet, etc.
• Some type of bag to attach to your tube. As ridiculous as it looks, this waist pack works remarkably well for strapping around the side of the tube, giving you immediate access to your gear.
• Water. It's all well and good to know that Delaware River Tubing doesn't want you to bring food or beverages on the trip, but it's absolutely asinine to insist that you ride on the river in sweltering heat without anything to drink until you get to the Hot Dog Man.
• Beer. Also technically a no-no, and Delaware River Tubing insists that it is illegal on the river. This is simply not true. I believe that the limits are 3 beers per person on the river. If they're going to give you a hard time about it, and you are traveling in multiple cars, simply leave your car with the cooler in the parking area at the boat launch across the street from the driveway to Delaware River Tubing. They're going to drive you right to it after you pay anyway.

How to get there:

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