THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407080252
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS
STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OCRACOKE LENGTH: Long : 234 lines
THE BLOND GUY in the gold shorts that matched his gold tennis socks was still in a New Jersey state of mind.
Why else, outbound on a ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke, would he lock the door of his Buick?
The Buick that matched the socks, the shorts, the color of his hair, and the gold Thermos from which he poured a short shot of iced tea.
He glanced both ways, key-locked the Buick with the Jersey plates and turned to peer out over the Pamlico Sound. Does he really think somebody is going to loot his car on the 2 p.m. Ocracoke ferry? While he's standing beside it?
Big-city survival instincts die slowly. Maybe half an hour on the boat will loosen him up a bit. If not, a couple of days on the island will do it for certain.
The Jerseyite was out of sync with most of his fellow travelers. Generally, it's the ferry-riders leaving Ocracoke who are guarded, even sullen. Those headed for the island tend to grin like hyenas. Especially if they've been there before.
There is a distinct, subtle flavor to each of North Carolina's seven coastal ferry routes. It can vary greatly with location, time of day and direction of travel, all of which combine to define the makeup and mood of the passengers. It shows in the waxing and waning of smiles on the faces in the incoming and outgoing lanes at the Ocracoke ferry docks.
Even as the blond guy was keeping an eye cocked to his Buick, fearful of marauders, the tattooed woman was taking her ferret for a walk. She didn't lock her Indiana rental car, but drifted easily along the rails of the island-bound ferry, showing off her pet and the bright body art that snaked up from under her right arm, out over the shoulder, then dove sensually into the decolletage of a wind-tossed sun dress. Even her ankles were tattooed.
Tourists of every shape and stripe, on a free boat to paradise.
Year 'round, 22 car-carrying flattop boats churn the inlets and sounds of coastal North Carolina: Knotts Island to the mainland, Hatteras to Ocracoke, Ocracoke to Swan Quarter, Ocracoke to Cedar Island, and, down south near Cape Fear, from Fort Fisher to Southport.
Inland, two shorter routes cross major rivers that feed the Pamlico, connecting Bayview to Aurora and Minnesott Beach to Cherry Branch.
Three of the seven routes pass through Ocracoke, making the island something of a ferry-boat hub.
Fifteen to 20 years ago, Ocracoke was a more secret place, destination to hard-core fishermen, campers, and stubborn nudists who tried to erase the tan lines from their tushes while watching out for the rangers who defend the decorum. Liquor by the drink was illegal. Scallop trawlers outnumbered motel rooms.
These days the island is awash in coconut oil and Banana Republic beach togs. Little traffic jams tie up the village lanes. Sunseekers unload from the ferries 19 hours a day, from 5 a.m. to midnight in the high season.
The oceanside ferries - those connecting Hatteras to Ocracoke and Ocracoke to Cedar Island - are part of the charm for the hordes who pour over the Outer Banks in summer. For the locals, they're part of the price one pays for physical and psychological separation from the banalities of mainland life.
``It really drives me nuts,'' said Johnny O'Neal, a year-round inhabitant, ``when you get up there and you're the 34th car in line and the ferry holds 33.
``My wife left to catch the 6:30 a.m. ferry to go to Southern Shores for some dental work. Here it is, nearly 3:30, and she's not got back yet. And she's gonna be good 'n' riled when she does.''
Two 40-minute ferry rides and five hours of driving, all told, for the privilege of getting some teeth drilled. It's a reality that tourists like the blond guy and the tattooed lady don't take into account as they bask in the breeze of an island-bound boat.
Still, that 40-minute ferry is just a shake in time compared to the 2.5-hour run the Ocracokers endure if they have business with the Hyde County government over in Swan Quarter. The distance is one of the driving forces in a secessionist movement on Ocracoke, to break from Hyde County and join up with the Outer Banks government of Dare County.
Outbound on the 6:30 a.m. Swan Quarter ferry one weekday morning, there were just 9 vehicles on the deck of a ship that can hold nearly 30, depending on how many Winnebagos or dump trucks file aboard.
Only three of the cars carried certified, camera-clutching tourists. The rest were locals accustomed to ferry travel as a daily rite of doing business. A delivery-truck driver read a morning newspaper. A Hyde County deputy sheriff snoozed in a Jeep Cherokee.
Veterans of the dawn ferry know to bring their own coffee. There's none available at the boarding ramps, or in the boat's lounge, which was overrun by two dozen gangly bicyclists from Northern Virginia who were pouring skim milk over their granola, each of them exuding that snappy morning perkiness of the devoted physical culturist.
The Swan Quarter ferry is a sea voyage across the Pamlico, the boat out of sight of land for most of the journey. Even locals whose lives are captive to the rhythm of its churning crankshaft admit that it's a decent way to start the day. Cooling breezes, a low-hanging sun and a couple of hours to clear the head.
A sun-tortured tourist seeking a break from the beaches can make a one-day loop of the central Carolina coast - four ferry rides in all - by peeling left out of Swan Quarter, west on the ``T.G. `Sonny Boy' Joyner Highway,'' which masquerades as U.S. 264 on the map.
`Sonny Boy's' highway is a cooling pine-forest-and-farmland run. Drift south to Belhaven, then State Route 99, and in an hour you'll be at Bayview, which is little more than a dead-end dock at the Pamlico River.
That's where ``Red'' Maxwell suddenly rolled up behind the only car in line for the 11 a.m. boat to Aurora.
Maxwell looked to be 6-foot-5, 290 pounds of sweating meaty menace, a monstrous rear-view-mirror apparition on a thundering, full-blown Harley-Davidson. Wild tendrils of red hair poured from his black helmet. A full, curly red beard cascaded to the chrome-stippled collar of his black-leather biker jacket. He looked like an extra from ``The Road Warrior.''
Dismounted, he disproved the stereotype.
``Red'' Maxwell turned out to be a garrulous, friendly wanderer from the Midwest plains. He'd set out from some far-inland Carolina farm town that morning with the thought of catching a lung full of salt air. The sea spray and the gulls had him whacked out before the sun hit noon.
``Been through 19 states on this bike,'' he said, idly gesturing to a chrome map welded to his gas tank, a polished black bead cemented onto each state he'd crossed. A red bead marked his home, somewhere in central Kansas. ``But it's never been on a ferry boat.''
Halfway through the short ride to Aurora, he was sure he wanted more. His beefy index finger was tracing the lines on a tourist brochure, plotting a land-and-ferry loop through Minnesott Beach, Cherry Branch, Cedar Island, Ocracoke and Hatteras, then up the Outer Banks by evening.
``Maybe I'll just run up and dip across the border into Virginia,'' he said. ``Never been there. Add 'nother jewel to the map.''
Jewels on the map. An apt piece of traveler's poetry from a Jayhawker on a Harley.
With a tailwind and little luck, maybe he'd catch the 3 o'clock boat out of Cedar Island, make Ocracoke by 5:30. Unless, of course he got distracted somewhere in crossing the marshlands of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.
In which case there's another boat at 6, and one more after that, at 8:30.
Failing that, there's always tomorrow.
The longer one rambles the Outer Banks, the less a necessity it seems to get someplace in a hurry. ILLUSTRATION: Cover and inside photographs by Drew C. Wilson.
Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
The ferry Chicamacomico arrives at Hatteras Island ready to disgorge
its load of cars and passengers. The crossing from Ocracoke takes 40
minutes. The ferries make 29 trips daily.
Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Passengers aboard the ferry Ocracoke watch from the bow as a
motorboat speeds by during one of the daily crossings.
Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Two ferries pass one another on Hatteras Inlet while making the run
between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Each ferry can carry 30
autos.
FERRY TIPS
On the long-haul runs of two or more hours, it's best to arrive
20 minutes early or you might lose your reservation to a latecomer.
Ferries leave on time, so the large-capacity boats begin to load 15
minutes before departure.
Ferries on the long runs have a lounge with soda and snack
machines, but no coffee or tea. On an early-morning run, pack a
Thermos.
All ferries have restrooms, and special smoking areas. No smoking
is allowed elsewhere on the boats.
Be alert at the stern (rear) of the boat. Many tourists drop food
for the seagulls there. Many seagulls, in return, drop things for
the tourists.
Ask questions. When the crews are not busy loading and offloading
vehicles, they're happy to explain sights, give sightseeing advice.
FERRY FACTS
General Information: 1-800-293-3779 (1-800-BY-FERRY)
Reservations: 1-800-345-1665
Cedar Island - Ocracoke
Crossing time: 2 hours
Crossings, summer: 8 daily each way, from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Capacity: 50 cars
Fares: Pedestrians, $1; Bicyclists, $2; Cars, motorcycles, up to
20 feet, $10; Vehicles/trailers over 20 feet to maximum of 55 feet,
$20-30
Reservations recommended
Ocracoke - Swan Quarter
Crossing time: 2.5 hours
Crossings, summer: 2 daily each way. Leaves Ocracoke 6:30 a.m.
and 12:30 p.m.; Leaves Swan Quarter 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Capacity: 28 cars
Fares: Same as Cedar Island Ferry
Reservations recommended
Hatteras - Ocracoke
Crossing time: 40 minutes
Crossings, summer: 29 departures daily each way, from 5 a.m. to
midnight from Hatteras, 5 a.m. to 11 p.m from Ocracoke.
Capacity: 30 cars
Fares: Free
Currituck - Knotts Island
Crossing time: 40 minutes
Crossings, year round: 6 departures daily from Currituck, 6 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m.; 6 departures daily from Knotts Island, 7 a.m. to 6:30
p.m.
Capacity: 18 cars
Fares: Free
Aurora - Bayview (Pamlico River)
Crossing time: 30 minutes
Crossings, year round: 10 per day each way. 6:15 a.m. to 12:30
a.m. from Aurora, 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Bayview.
Capacity: 18 cars
Fares: Free
Cherry Branch - Minnesott (Neuse River)
Crossing time: 20 minutes
Crossing, year round: At least 25 per day from each dock,
beginning at 5:45 a.m. Last ferry leaves Cherry Branch at 12:45
a.m., Minnesott at 1:15 a.m. From 5:45-7:45 a.m., 4:15-6:15 p.m.,
runs every 20 minutes.
Capacity: 30 cars
Fares: Free
Southport - Fort Fisher (Corncake Inlet)
Crossing time: 30 minutes
Crossings, summer: 13 daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Southport,
8:50 a.m. to 6:50 p.m. from Fort Fisher.
Capacity: 38 cars
Fares: Pedestrians, 50 cents; Bicyclists, $1; Motorcycles and
vehicles under 20', $3; Longer, up to 55', $6.
General Information: 1-800-293-3779 (1-800-BY-FERRY)
Reservations: 1-800-345-1665
by CNB