9.30- Fishing the ditch

Fishing in the ICW at the Hobucken Bridge
(click image to enlarge)

This couple was fishing from a dock at the R.E. Mayo & Co. fish-house, just across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from the community of Hobucken (see map below)

The bridge on the left side of the photo crosses the ICW from the Pamlico County "mainland" to Goose Creek Island (also in Pamlico County)

This modern bridge was completed about eleven years ago, replacing an old 1920's vintage steel truss swing-span bridge... you can see the old swing-bridge abutment on the other side of the ICW, also with a couple of fishers on it.

The new Hobucken fixed-span bridge was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and was completed under-budget and ahead of schedule.

In order to avoid interfering with the heavy traffic on the ICW (or having the traffic interfere with it), the bridge was designed to span the ICW with no piers in the water, resulting in the longest bridge span in North Carolina.

Here is a USACE photo of the bridge nearing completion (you can see the Mayo docks, lower right of the bridge, and the U.S. Coast Guard Hobucken Station in the clearing to the left of the bridge... click image to enlarge), followed by a map of the location:

(Click image to enlarge)

Hobucken bridge over ICW, and R.E. Mayo & Co. fish-house locations:

View R.E. Mayo & Co. fish house, Hobucken NC in a larger map

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2.03- Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

A stretch of the ICW north of Beaufort, NC

Just a quick shot today... A picture of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as seen from NC Hwy. 101, in Cnorth of Beaufort.

Not much traffic today.


View Larger Map


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11.18- Doin' the Ditch...

Vessels moving south on the Intracoastal Waterway near Swansboro, NC

I took this picture from the third floor balcony of a new home being built just south of Swansboro, NC.

The house fronts on "the Ditch"... the 1,090 mile long Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, a series of natural and man-made (or altered) protected waterways running from Portsmouth, VA ("Mile 0") to Key West, FL.

There was a continuous stream of sailboats and stinkpots running in front of the house all day, as the weather was nice, and has been kinda nasty the past few days. Folks who had to lay up for weather are now cruising to make up time.

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9.17- Dive Master Ralph

Dive Master Ralph Evey cruises Raccoon Creek in his Carolina Skiff

While I was helping Capt. Dave tie up Hirondelle at the Oriental Yacht Club, Dive Master Ralph cruised alongside in his Carolina Skiff (full of diving equipment) to say hello and chat... from the looks of the cup-holder in his chair, he was coming from The Bean coffee shop next to Town Dock.

Ralph runs the "Oriental Dive Company," a commercial diving enterprise here in Oriental. ODC can clean your bottom (your boat's bottom, that is) while it is still in the water, retrieve your heirloom necklace or stainless steel bow pulpit that fell in the drink, and perform any kind of diving service you may need.

He is also just about the friendliest guy in town, and in Oriental that is an extremely high standard to meet.

Ralph can often be seen cruising area marinas, harbors and creeks in a boat bearing diving flags, or driving around town in the "Big Unit," a former radio station promo-mobile (and probably an ambulance before that) which he has converted to carry his diving equipment. I will have to get a picture of that thing in a future post, for sure... it is a riot.

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8.18- Navy Special Warfare R.I.B.'s

Two U.S. Navy "NSW RIB"s ("Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boats") cruising down the Neuse River, about three miles across from Oriental's Lou-Mac Park.

According to the U.S. Navy (see NSW RIB page at NavySeals.com):

"The 11-Meter Naval Special Warfare Rigid Inflatable Boat (11M NSW RIB) is a high speed, high buoyancy, extreme weather craft with the primary mission of insertion and extraction of SEAL and other Special Operations personnel from enemy occupied beaches. The RIB hull is made of glass reinforced plastic. The 11-Meter RIB has demonstrated the ability to operate in light-loaded conditions in Sea State 6 and winds of 45 knots..."

These boats carry a crew of three, plus up to an eight person SEAL team, at upwards of 45 knots. Looked like they were cruising at 40 plus knots when I took this picture. They are powered by two 470 horsepower inboard Caterpillar 3126 diesel engines.

The boats feature a radar mast (the tallest structure sticking up from the boats), plus fore and aft weapons mounts, each capable of holding .50 cal., M60 or MK19 grenade launcher. I'm guessing that is either an M60 or a .50 cal. mounted forward on these two.

Periodically, Navy personnel stay in a hotel here in Oriental while they undergo training or exercises on these boats, and I have spoken with some of them at Oriental watering holes in the past ... apparently, the training and exercises launch from the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Hobucken, NC (on the Intra-Coastal Waterway where it meets Jones Bay, just north of the mouth of the Neuse River) and go shooting targets at the "BT-11 Multipurpose Electronic Target Complex" on Piney Island (on the south side of the mouth of the Neuse ... for more about BT-11, see my prior post of July 28.)

Since Hobucken has no hotel (or watering holes) the NSW RIB crews generally stay here in Oriental during exercises, though the boats do not.

For more about the NSW RIB, check out the following links:

• U.S. Marine Inc. (manufacturers of NSW RIB) page with pictures and videos of NSW RIBs in action (and as a background for G.W.Bush photo op.)
• Federation of American Scientists profile of NSW RIBs

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6.30- Fresh Croaker

This is a "Croaker"(Micropogonias undulatus), the namesake for Oriental's annual summer festival, "Croakerfest," held the first weekend in July. A Croaker effigy is also dropped from a sailboat mast at midnight New Year's Eve after the Running of the Dragon.

This fish was caught today from the new fishing pier at Lou-Mac Park in Oriental. The white specks out on the river (above hand) are commercial trawlers shrimping on Garbacon Shoal, across the Neuse River from Oriental.

Despite its' importance to Oriental Holidays, few locals eat croaker, complaining that it is too oily and bony, and its' large head means little edible flesh. The fisher who caught this one told me he eats them all the time.

Croaker get they're name from the fact that they make a loud croaking noise (a bit like the purring of a 20 pound house-cat), which this one was doing with abandon. They create the sound by beating abdominal muscles against their swim bladder.

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6.08- Itinerant Season

Itinerant boater season is at flood tide here in Oriental... more than a dozen boats at anchor in the harbor and Smith Creek. Here are the seven visible from the Dinghy Dock this evening:



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