The Cape May Canal was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the second world war as a protected route to avoid German submarines operating off Cape May Point and to become part of the Intracoastal Waterway System (ICW). The canal extends about three miles from Cape May Harbor to the Delaware Bay. There are three bridges across the canal: the link from the Garden State Parkway into Cape May, the crossing of Seashore Road into West Cape May, and the railroad bridge of the Cape May Seashore Lines. During the warmer months of the year, the canal is filled with recreational boat traffic. The left picture below is taken from the West Cape May bridge to the west toward the Delaware Bay. The picture on the right shows the Cape May-Lewes Ferry slips near the Delaware Bay mouth of the canal.

The current in the canal flows the opposite way that it would if the canal were a river emptying into the bay. When the tide is moving from low to high (flood tide), the canal current is flowing toward the Delaware Bay. The left picture below shows Douglass Memorial Park from across the canal in one of the Higbee Beach's parking lots. The right picture shows anglers on the Cape May Canal jetty at the northern end of Higbee Beach.