psneeld: I've never really read anything about the places to see along the Jersey ICW. If you know the road, maybe you could make some suggestions for those of us who might dare to do it. My boat is 3'2", and I'm patient.
The NJ intracoastal takes you along a combo of densely populated resort Barrier Islands and wildlife refuges that are barren for miles....in between is sparsly to medium density residential shore towns with small shopping stretches (I mean just a few blocks) and packed with decent (although touristy expensive) restaurants. I would put up many of the seafood restaurants with any that I ate at along the way to Florida last winter...my seafood palate is spoiled and I don't think many restaurants under 4 stars do it justice but the Jersey ones are as good or better than many).
Things along the way that some people might enjoy and other may hate...
Cape May - which usually is a stop even if people don't use the NJ ICW...are the "national register" blocks and blocks of Victorian homes/hotels, the USCG boot camp.
Wildwood has a Coney Island stretch of boardwalk
Avalon/Stone Harbor/Sea Isle are upscale towns with quaint shopping areas and better restaurants...Stone Harbor gets the nod for it's town center.
Ocean City/Somers Point (on the bay side) - Nice coastal towns, OC is a dry town and very family oriented with a nice friendly boardwalk and not too commercialized. A run up the Great Egg River is a nice hide hole for storms...It's where I rode out Sandy at the bulkhead and it was one of the first "wild/scenic rivers" though people who have travelled a lot will giggle at the comparison with most of those rivers).
Atlantic City is what it is.
Brigantine wildlife sanctuary is maybe 100 square miles of undeveloped march just north of Atlantic City...you can sit there in solitude yet see the casinos on the horizon....not paradise but and interesting mix to some.
On top of Great Bay and the back water is Tuckerton where they are putting together a waterman's museum...haven't been there and not sure what Sandy did to it but it would be a mini-Mystic or similar to the one in St Michaels, Md.
The rest of the ICW is a larger open bay called Barnegat and I know this area was harder hit by Sandy but much has been restored. Thogh getting from the back bay to Barnegat Inlet I hear is difficult as the hannel definitely changed/fill in with Sandy. The southern part of the bay is less densely populated and the farther north you go the more it is...to give a flavor of what is around the marinas. Active Captain or a google overflight will show what types of towns things to do there are.
The NJ ICW is sort like the whole ICW from Norfolk to FLA crammed into about 60 miles or so. Everything from quiet remote creeks (in the summer you may have to wait till after dark till the jet skis disappear during the Summer)...to Atalantic City and other fairy developed towns. Travelling in the fall/spring you won't see much besides a few fishermen and as the season rolls on the restaurants start to only be open weekends then not at all....but some are open all year as even the shore towns are becoming all year round residence towns.
There are a few wineries inland that have tours..it's no Napa Valley though.
So all in all..if you are truly cruising and like to see things and not in a rush...not a bad stretch to see and enjoy. If you are trying to make time and are a nervous Nellie about bumping bottom....then you may want to pass.