If you don’t do anything else: Take the mail boat lake cruise

“You have to take a trip on the mail boat because not only is it nostalgic, but it gives you an up close and personal view of the lake,” Nix says. “You get to go out to the islands and have kind of a little bit of a picture of what it’s like to be living out on the islands in the summer.

The mail cruise leaves from the dock at Weirs Beach, in the town of Laconia twice daily, at 11 am and 2 pm, rain or shine, every day except Sunday. The two-hour cruise is extremely popular with visitors, so it’s important to purchase tickets ahead of time to make sure that you don’t get left at the dock. The dock is right along the Weirs Beach boardwalk, also where the train leaves, so you can’t miss it. The mail cruise is not the only lake cruise option, but it’s certainly the most distinct. Where else can you ride along with a mail carrier, while taking a ride around a pristine lake?

Passengers board the Sophie C and ride along the delivery route, while taking in the sites of the lake—pontoon boats, massive summer homes, tiny lake cottages, and fish birds soaring overhead. At some stops, they just throw the mail bag off at the dock, but at others, Sophie‘s visit is a social event. Island residents, like Bear Island’s Barabara Laround, often come to the dock to say hello. “You get to meet people on all of the different islands, and it’s just fun,” Nix says. Barbara’s husband likes to stand at the dock and receive a line to help the deckhand out.

During the voyage, passengers are invited to fill out and mail postcards right on board, complete with Sophie’s own unique, collectible cancellation stamp, and purchase shirts and hats. The morning and afternoon routes are different. In the morning, the boat is scheduled to stop at Loon Island, Bear Island, Three Mile Island, and East Bear Island. In the afternoon, Camp Lawrence, Birch Island, Sandy Island, Cow Island, and Jolly Island are scheduled, but some islands are not even inhabited every day. Throughout the route, the Sophie C can be spotted and waved to as it passes by.

Tiny Loon Island only has one house, and the property has been in the same family for six generations. On a pretty day, don’t be surprised to be greeted by the current owner, and he may even dive in the lake as you pull off. “It’s a tradition,” Nix says. “The islanders like to jump into the wake because of the agitation of the water and how it feels against the skin.”

Three Mile Island has a distinct teenage vibe, but in an old-school kind of way. The property, including a lodge and 47 cabins, has been owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club since 1900, and campers can be found lounging on the dock when the sun’s out. “The island kids love to come down to meet Sophie so they can get a nice ice cream treat,” Nix says. When islanders go to town to shop, they have to put everything in freezer bags to keep it cool, so on hot days, it’s difficult to transport even today.

The National Weather Service has started issuing a series of alerts as New Jersey braces for strong gusty winds, heavy downpours, severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes from the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby on Friday.

Forecasters say some of the thunderstorms that develop Friday, especially in the afternoon and at night, could generate 60 mph wind gusts, strong enough to knock down trees and power lines. They also say some of the thunderstorm cells could pack large hail, frequent lightning, heavy bursts of rain and possible tornadoes.

The weather service says the heavy rain could spark rapid flooding on roads and highways, and also could cause some rivers and streams to overflow because many areas of the state are already saturated from this week’s heavy rain and lighter rain that fell last week and last weekend.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, Debby lost some of its wind strength, so it was downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression. The National Hurricane Center said Debby is now moving toward the north-northwest at a speed of about 10 mph.

The storm system’s center was located about 45 miles east of Charlotte, North Carolina and about 95 miles west-southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina.

“A faster northward or north-northeastward motion is expected during the next day or two,” the agency said in its latest public storm advisory. “Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph, with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next couple of days, but Debby is expected to become a post-tropical cyclone on Friday.”

A post-tropical cyclone no longer has tropical characteristics, but it can still pack a big punch with heavy downpours and strong winds.

These are among the weather alerts that the National Weather Service issued for New Jersey as of early Thursday evening. Additional alerts may be issued later tonight or early Friday.

N.J. wind alerts

• Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Monmouth, Ocean, Salem and southeastern Burlington counties are under a wind advisory from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, with southerly winds of 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 50 mph expected.
• Camden, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset and northwestern Burlington counties are under wind advisory from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, with forecasters calling for southerly winds of 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.
• Hudson County is under wind advisory from noon to 11 p.m. Friday, with southerly winds of 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 50 mph expected.
• Sussex and Warren counties are under a wind advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, with southeast winds 15 to 25 mph and occasional gusts of 40 to 50 mph expected.

N.J. flood alerts

• Ocean County is under a coastal flood advisory from 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, with up to 1 foot of inundation above ground level expected in low-lying areas near back bays and tidal waterways.
• Minor coastal flooding is expected along Barnegat Bay, “especially near Mantoloking, where persistent southerly winds will trap high water from draining at high tide,” the advisory says. “High surf may result in sand dune breaching and beach erosion near the times of high tide.”

N.J. rip current alerts

• Beaches in Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean counties face a high risk of dangerous rip currents from Friday morning through Friday evening. The weather service notes that “rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water.”

N.J. surf advisories

• Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth and Ocean counties have high surf advisories in effect from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, with large breaking waves of up to 5 to 6 feet expected in the surf zone.

Current weather radar

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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.